Biden comes to Philly to talk gun violence

Girard College hosted another stop of Vice President Biden’s listening tour on gun violence.  Biden invited elected officials and law enforcement, but not gun-rights groups.

 “If we can save the life of one single person, one child without any impact on an individual’s constitutional right, why in God’s name should we not do that?” he asked to frame the Philadelphia discussion.

 Biden says after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary, something has to be done to help fight gun violence. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Philadelphia) says limits have to be placed on military-style weapons.

“In L.A. we have a person running around with assault weapons shooting police officers,” said Fattah. “We saw the incident in Newtown where kids were shot down. We have to decide that we don’t want to have people running around with military style assault weapons. We have to go as far as we possibly can to save as many people as possible.”

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, who is part of Biden’s national panel on gun violence, says the effort needs to be comprehensive.

“We’ve got to work with Congress, we’ve got to work with responsible gun owners we’ve got to work with the American public to fight the kind of violence that is going on on the streets of our cities,” said Ramsey. “Status quo is not acceptable.”

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter wants to regulate oversized ammunition clips.

“A person with virtually no sight, you give them a gun with 15, 17 rounds or if they have something with higher capacity you shoot a whole lot of bullets out there you are going to hit a something and even if you don’t hit a vital organ,” said Nutter.  “And if you are shot six times you’re literally just going to bleed out before we can get you to the hospital.”

The group also called for more police officers to help with the fight against violence.