As far back as March, when the city endured a spate of 22 killings in nine days - 20 of them by gunfire - Mayor John F. Street pleaded for help in stopping the violence.
"We are stymied to protect our citizens" because of the state's permissive gun laws, Street wrote in a letter to Gov. Ed Rendell.
Help never came. As of Friday afternoon, 365 people had been killed in this city of 1.6 million, the highest number in at least seven years and up 35 from last year, according to FBI statistics.
"Permissive gun laws"? But wasn't Gov. Rendell standing shoulder-to-shoulder with NRA officials when they promised everyone that Project Exile would do the same thing for Philadelphia that it had for Richmond?
What's that?
Richmond's murder rate is climbing, too?
I see Boston's 10-year-high murder rate is mentioned as well. You know, the city that implemented Operation Cease Fire, another program hailed by NRA as a success...
Never mind.
My favorite hand-wringing Bloodance quote in this story comes from Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson:
"We have the most lax handgun law in the entire nation."Right. You can carry concealed without a permit, like in Vermont or Alaska, or you can carry openly without interference, like in Arizona.
No?
You mean a police official would tell a flat-out, agenda-driven LIE, and the ethics-obsessed Watchdog Press would swallow and print it not only without challenge, but with enthusiasm?