The commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department said on ABC’s “This Week” this morning that he didn’t think a theater patron carrying a gun during the Aurora massacre would have helped stop the killings.
“You had tear gas in there, and unfortunately, many states, and I don’t know about Colorado, but many states that authorize concealed carry have no provisions at all for people to receive training, marksmanship, proper handling of firearms, or whatever,” said Charles Ramsey. “So now you got two people randomly shooting in a movie theater. I don’t know how that helps.”
He acknowledged that gun control wouldn’t “totally stop this sort of thing from happening,” as James Holmes had a clean arrest record, but lamented that the attack was “just one incident where people are able to get their hands on firearms.”
“I don’t know why people need to have assault weapons,” Ramsey said. “There needs to be reasonable gun control put in place. And we talk about this constantly, and absolutely nothing happens, because many of our legislators, unfortunately, at the federal level, lack the courage to do anything.”
The commissioner said he wouldn’t ban all guns, as “most people are reasonable and legitimate gun owners.”
“But why not have registration, why not have mandatory recording of any sale or transfer of a firearm that’s done privately? Why not ban assault weapons and large capacity magazines?” Ramsey said. “I mean, we don’t need this stuff. And you have got to have serious consequences for people who commit crime using a handgun, and I mean very, very, stiff prison sentences.”
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