The Murder of A Police Officer Awakens Feelings Of Anger Toward Gutless Legislators
They serve everyday. They drive through the neighborhoods, keeping the peace and allowing all Philadelphians to pursue their happiness. Sometimes, there are neighborhood squabbles, lost dogs. injured people, accidents, flat tires, and petty theft. Most of the time they walk the fragile tightrope between law and disorder, peace and danger, and in some cases, life and death.
Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski had been doing this job for 12 years, and like the other 6000 members of the Philadelphia Police Department, doing it very well. The married father of three was a man respected by his peers and the people he served. He died on duty last Saturday morning responding to a bank robbery, cut down by a ruthless assassin carrying an assault weapon that could penetrate the armor of a tank.
There are two stories that emerge from this murder.
One: although there is a deep respect for their work, it always takes a tragedy to awaken the majority of the people to the extraordinary service and professionalism of the Phila. Police Department. It’s not that people disrespect the Police. It is just easy to take the work of individual police officers for granted.
Two: Although they are not directly responsible, the lawmakers in Pa. who block special gun control legislation for Philadelphia, should be ashamed that their inaction allows these kinds of weapons to fall into the wrong hands. Gun control is a pressing issue in America. In Pennsylvania, it is time that the voters turned out lawmakers who have no compassion for the murder rate and the potential for danger in big cities.
In the aftermath of this murder, we once again reaffirm our appreciation and respect for the men and women who protect us, wherever they are, with an understanding of the sacrifices they make, and a deep sense of grief and concern for the family of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, and the thousands of men and women who served with him.
I have seen up close the dangers that Police Officers face. It is a job that requires courage and compassion, and an understanding that the danger on the doorstep can be fatal, and have a lasting impact on a young family. The courage that officers display should only be matched by the courage of some gutless legislators to stand up to weapons manufacturers, and do the right thing for the people of Philadelphia.
I have no doubt you’ve seen the dangers that the police of Philadelphia face. After all, you’ve ridden in on the R5 from the Main Line.
I think it’s a tragedy that an officer was killed, but I also think it’s silly that the media covers a cop killing to this degree. None of the people gunned down in the neighborhoods gets this kind of coverage. Not even the little kids the cops are paid to protect. Hell, even our soldiers killed in Iraq don’t get this kind of coverage. It’s absurd.
While I’m no member of the NRA (Nuts Run Amok), I don’t think that you can blame legislators for this. Whether there was a ban or not, the criminal would still have had the assault weapon. Did he buy it at Dick’s? No. I don’t think anyone should have such weapons, but merely putting a ban on the books doesn’t guarantee that no one will use such weapons to kill people.
If you want fewer murders in Philadelphia, you have to invest in the social infrastructure, not simply pass gun bans. Wake up and look at the real issues confronting the poor in the city.
THere are far too many guns out there already and the black market would be far too effective to regulate the traffic in weapons. Gun use is just like drug use. If you want to reduce the usage, you have to attack the demand for them.
Right now, because of overcrowding, there are few real consequences for the young criminal. By the time they face real time, they are hardened. I’m not afraid to admit that I don’t know how to bring about the changes in the family structure that currentlly creates parents who are incapable of raising their children. I’ve seen kids become criminals in families that I thought did a good job raising their kids. Incarceration is only part of the solution because we’ll never be able to build enough prisons or maybe even keep up.
Larry, with pandering like that, you could join the Clinton campaign. By the way, will Hillary also repeal the gas tax hike that Bill put through in the 1990s? I haven’t heard her talking about that one. Odd. Why wouldn’t she want to call attention to the fact that Bill and she raised taxes on working people in the 1990s?
There is no easy answer to it all.
There’s too many guns out there. It’s too late. Guns like the war machine used to kill this policeman should never have been out there.
Everyone wants more prisons and longer sentences. No one wants to build it in their back yard or pay more taxes to fund any of it. Steve is right on about the hardening of criminals. If we can’t get some of these guys early on - they are lost forever. There needs to be a cultural shift to the need to educate people from Kindergarten up. Philly doesn’t have it, and hasn’t had it. People are still waiting for the jobs at the mill to start again. It ain’t gonna happen! And the mentality of entitlement and blame has to go. To get “IT”, you have to work for “IT”
It’s pretty daring to oppose killings while calling legilators “gutless.” Larry, how did you come to adopt this brave position of opposing cop killing?
I don’t think Larry is commuting from the Main Line. I think he’s commuting from that same planet where liberals believe that criminals aren’t the ones to blame for violent crimes. On his planet, everyone except the criminals are at fault. The inhabitants of his planet also believe that by making things like drugs and guns illegal, that criminals will suddenly have respect for the law and those problems will go away.
But in the real world, which is where I live, crimes like this are caused by:
1) Parents who could care less about raising their children. That can’t be fixed. So why bother.
2) A penal system that actually rewards criminals instead of punishing them.
The way to eliminate violent crime is to eliminate violent criminals. These three murderers had a history of armed robbery. They should have been executed after their first offense, even if no one was hurt in that robbery. If someone makes the conscious decision to commit an armed robbery, he has no right to live, period. This type of zero-tolerance policy would virtually eliminate this type of criminal behavior.
But Larry is correct about one thing…that lawmakers are gutless. They would never have the guts to implement a system that places the blame for criminal behavior squarely on the shoulders of the criminals and their worthless parents.
ADX, while the criminal bears the lion’s share of the blame, I wouldn’t agree with you that the social issues cannot be fixed. That’s defeatism. And it’s also a form of racism, given that the bulk of the disadvantaged are of a certain persuasion.
I don’t see how the penal system “rewards” criminals. (In your view, is anal rape a “reward”?) It may not be as Draconian as you’d like, but I certainly don’t see it as Club Med.
Anyway, your views are more in keeping with the systems in fundamentalist Islamic states than with those in free states of the Western world.
Larry,you are right the gutless legislators are good for one thing and that is voting for a pay raise for themselves,shame on them bums.
we need lawmakers that are tough on crime and the gun pollution in the major cities,those cowardly bums in harrisburg should dropped be off in south/west phila in the middle of the night and we will see how tough they are then,shame on those bums.
Riveting dialogue.
Can we go back to the search for free air and bashing the Ice Queen?
Everybody’s trying to find someone to blame. It’s the politicians, it’s the parents, it’s the penal system, it’s the liberals, it’s the conservatives. We have a problem. It isn’t just them people in North Philly, crime is everywhere. Even middle class kids can turn into junkies, or they can pat themselves on the back while their kids buy drugs at school, or they can hold the line on taxes when capital improvements in schools or even more prison space is needed.
WE have to live with the fact that we are letting people die while we sit at our keyboards or go on talk radio and wring our hands and tell everybody how terrible this is. We have to build more prisons to keep from releasing criminals who know they don’t have to serve their full sentences. We have to make people responsible for whom they sell guns to. We have to find a way to put people to work. We have to find a way to make the blessings of our society available to people who think they have no shot.
It’s not politicians, it’s the goddman criminals, no amount of gun laws would have prevented it. GET THIS LARRY, CRIMINALS DON”T OBEY LAWS, You’re a liberal who like FAT EDDIE, jumps on knee jerk reactions to call for more gun laws, that are ignored by CRIMINALS.!!!!
YOU REALLY HAVE TO ASK YOURSELF HOW MANY MORON JUDGES, PROSECUTORS, PLEA-BARGAINED THESE IDIOTS, THEY ARE THE ONES THAT DESERVE THE BLAME, SO TAKE NOTE “MICHAEL NUTCASE” WHAT YOU DID WITH GUN LAWS WAS JUST PLAIN ILLEGAL, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN SUPERSEDE THE STATE LAW.
Larry, you really need to get off your social, liberal soap box and quit spewing stupidity, I sent you an email a while back about gun laws but apparently since I didn’t share your liberal bias I got no reply. Most of your bloggers are right your blog stinks and had absolutely no substance. AND JR, get a life and get your nose out of LK’s butt.
If these types of guns are so bad and have no lawful purpose, please explain to me why the police are specifically exempt from gun bans? What possible use could the police have for these so-called “weapons of war”? In Philadelphia, the police are specifically exempt from complying with Philadelphia’s proposed gun bans. Can you please answer these questions Larry Kane?
Mike, I think your shouting is justified in this case. Larry’s solutions are almost always watered down pasty-faced liberal ideas. He’s probably secretly supporting Mumia, or at least understands his rage at the system. Did anyone see the Chinese assualt rifle those guys were carrying? They had another bigger agenda; they believe they are engaged in a race war, and they look at white police officers as enemy combatants and have no remorse for their “collateral damage” to what they beleive is an oppressive system. Thank God one was shot dead, hopefully the other goes down in a hail of righteous police bullets.
Mike,
How come you only show up in full rant when the gun issue shows up?
I’ve always wrestled with the Rendell/Raging Lib image. Here’s a guy who was a tri-level prosecutor. He sent people to jail who were innocent and dragged his feet when the evidence exonerated them and it was time to admit the mistake.
BTW - the District Attorney’s office determines the plea bargain. That is an office that answers to the electorate. The people obviously want what they have.
I read LK’s post several times. It is bland but I can’t find the sympathy for criminals.
Lock all the criminals in the Spectrum , give each a gun and turn out the lights. Problem solved.
Larry,you’re right on the money,there must be a crack down on guns coming in the city,i don’t have sympathy for these dumb ass criminals either,
Larry,i think there is a racial undertone to arm robberies on black on white crime on the city streets and a black criminal will fire at a white cop out hatred for white people.
Larry,Mikes rants and raves but has no solutions,how many more police have to die? before the cowardardly lawmakers in harrisburg do the right thing.
Oops, Annie you forgot to lock the doors.
Larry, you need to institute a suicide watch on Jack Russell tonight. He will be pounding down Milkbones and Jack Daniels tonight after the Ice Queens debacle. I beg you, Larry, send in the paramedics.
SMG, first word was “lock”
Did you hear that Rush Limbaugh was imploring Republicans to go out and vote for Hillary in Indiana today? He is licking his lips over another 4 years of bashing the Clintonistas…
With her loss in NC, Hillary is down and out.
Hello Larry,
It’s 3 am and i will have a shot of wild turkey topped off with a cafe latte to celebrate Barry Obama’s big night,it looks like he’s the winner of the forty eight state race,his speech was very good tonight and he looked more alive then in the last eight weeks.
Watching Hillary give her speech tonight with Bill and Chelsea in the background,win or lose the Clinton’s truly are America’s First Family.
Hillary put up a hell of a fight against all odds,and the biased media seemed to be her toughest foe.
Good Bye Larry.
First Felons, not First Family.
I’ll buy a round of Milkbones and Jack Daniels.
Ah, JR, stop it with your goodbyes. It’s like a Clinton flip-flop or a gas tax holiday. You’ll be back.
Obama won the race some time ago. With any luck, the handwriting on the wall is big enough that even the myopic senator from New York can read it. She canceled her morning talk show appearances because she can’t handle the hard questions they’re sure to ask following such a poor showing on her part. She turned her so-called PA momentum into, well, a dead stop, barely winning a state with a similar demographic. It’s telling that she couldn’t make more headway even as the Wright issue resurfaced and took Obama off message for five or six days. Biased media indeed.
Enjoy your Crown Royal, JR.
LB, JR never really goes away he just regroups and refocuses his message and changes screen name.
How many First Families have a serial philanderer for a husband? I guess that’s where the comparison to JFK starts… and ends.
Milkbones?
OOOJ, he is a total dog. Maybe that’s why JR is all hot for him.
By the way, Larry, what about those police who beat the suspects? You see that FOX29 helicopter footage? Did those goons fall off of the tightrope?
I’ll bet you anything he did not own that weapon legally. So tell us again how making it even more illegal would have saved this cop?
P.S. There is no rifle that can penetrate the armor of a tank.
Larry I would love to know what type of magical rifle this criminal stumbled upon that “could penetrate the armor of a tank.” The one of the only rifles that know of that could possibly (And I stress Possibly)penetrate a tanks armor is the .50 Barret Rifle equiped with Armor Penetrating ammo. First off I would love to know how a criminal got his hands on a Barret Rifle considering they start at around $2,500 - $7,500, are roughly 4 1/2 feet long (Depending on barrle length), and the fact that Armor penatrating rounds are NOT available for civilian purchase. Considering all three I find your statement false and misleading about fire arms, I suggest you do some research into your topic before spewing inaccurate facts to your readers.
“He died on duty last Saturday morning responding to a bank robbery, cut down by a ruthless assassin carrying an assault weapon that could penetrate the armor of a tank.”
Really? Are you sure about the armor penetrating capabilities?
“ruthless assassin carrying an assault weapon that can penetrate the armor of a tank”
Thats funny. :) Light weapons don’t have that much kinetic energy. They have about as much kinetic energy as the 1894 winchester rifles you see in old Jon Wane westerns.
Its very sad that this officer died, but i agree with previous posts in that his life was no more important than any of the others who die from various causes every day. nobody cares about them… its sad.
Sad as these events are, there is no reason to believe that the gun was the cause of the crime. Criminals don;t like cops because they stop them from committing crimes. Before we had guns, lawman were getting shot with bow and arrows. Its the criminal, not the weapon.
These so called “assault weapons” are no more dangerous than the hunting rifle that you would use for small game. In fact, these firearms aren’t even used by hunters because they are too weak and inaccurate. Before you start quoting vague performance characteristics like piercing tank armor, familiarize yourself with what it is you are talking about.
Gun bans do nothing to prevent crime, since the guns would already be illegal in the hands of the criminals.
What you are inevitably proposing is a ban on semi-automatic rifles, which is all that an “assault weapon” really is. Assault is a verb. The vast majority of rifles owned by the civilian population will never be used in an assault.
Many people use semi-automatic firearms for hunting, target shooting and, above all, self defense. These weapons do indeed serve a purpose. They are the tools that keep all men free. The 2nd Amendment exists for a reason, but this reason seems to be over many people’s heads.
We can’t keep drugs out of the US, we can;t keep illegal invaders out of the US, but you think we can keep banned guns out of the US? HA!!! I think you’re smoking some of those drugs we can’t keep out.
Take a serious look at a revolving door justice system, open borders, and lack of sufficient number of officers on the street. THAT is what needs fixing.
Hey, everyone, lighten up. Larry was obviously talking about a septic tank.
I say we make all guns illegal. Then we give Larry a metal detector so he can find all the illegal guns and retrieve them for the state. There’ll be free air at the gas stations, and kids will stop beating people to death on SEPTA property. And maybe Alycia Lane will stop by with bikini photos to pose with the confiscated weapons.
Here’s a criminal. Pass another law and he ignores it like all the rest. Take away his tools (in this case guns) and he finds other tools to use.
BUT
Take away the criminal…no more problem.
Let’s keep problem ownership firmly where it belongs, the criminal who decides that the rules of society don’t apply to him. (because, you know, firearms restrictions are really gonna stop a guy who doesn’t care about MURDER!)
ZeSpectre, and the solution is to take away the criminal before he becomes a criminal. There needs to be investment in social infrastructure to give people other options so they don’t despair and turn to drugs and crime.
Leo Bloom
6 to 17 felonies isn’t about locking up someone before they are criminals, it’s about not letting them back into society and committing MORE felonies.
The parole board and everyone who ‘thought’ that it was safe to let these animal loose need to be held accountable for being an accessory to the crimes committed.
This is about crime control, not gun control. Control the criminal or be held responsible for their actions. Revolving door policy if criminals isn’t working.
I’m sorry your feelings are hurt, but you should do some research before you begin scolding people.
Your contention that an “assault rifle” could penetrate the armor of a tank is ludicrous. (You must mean the steel sides of a propane tank, not a battle tank) Being impervious to rifle/machine gun fire and some missiles is why the army uses big heavy tanks in the first place. Otherwise they would just drive around in jeeps.
That big gun on a battle tank- those often have rifled barrels too so do you mean those when you say “assault rifle,” because they could penetrate the armor of a tank. But don’t worry 120 mm tank guns are already banned.
If you think “assault rifle” = “machine gun.” Why on earth do you want to take them out of the hands of law abiding citizens? Law Abiding citizens don’t use them to commit crimes. Criminals do- but criminals are not allowed to have guns anyway.
“Since 1934, only one legally owned machinegun (of some 100,000+)
has ever been used in crime, and that was a murder committed by a
law enforcement officer. On September 15th, 1988, a 13-year veteran
of the Dayton, OH police department, Patrolman Roger Waller, then 32,
used his fully automatic MAC-11 .380 cal. submachinegun to kill a
police informant, 52-year-old Lawrence Hileman. Patrolman Waller
pleaded guilty in 1990, and he and an accomplice were sentenced to
18 years in prison.” - http://stason.org/TULARC/society/pro-guns/99-APPENDIX-I-The-Biggest-Myths-of-Gun-Control-A-Look.html
There you go I have done your research for you, write an article on that.
Lemme see if I have straight what this Mr. Kane and his anti-freedom bootlickers actually believe:
1. The FEDERAL law ALREADY in place actually prohibited (in theory at least) this convicted felon from owning or possessing ANY firearm whatsoever.
2. But yet, if the state legislature’s pre-emption doctrine would have been suspended to allow Mayor Nutjob’s bans to stand, banning so-called “assault weapons”, including this SKS rifle, then this criminal would have said to himself: “Ya know, I don’t mind breaking the federal law that prohibits me from possessing ANY gun at all, but I respect Mayor Nutcase and his attempt to rid the city of guns that criminals such as myself like to use, and so I’m not going to use this SKS, but instead use some other gun.”
You must literally believe that in order to believe that the state legislature is to be blamed for this murder. What are you leftists smoking?
By the way, if this multi-felon HAD substituted the SKS with a typical deer rifle, it would have been FAR more powerful than the fairly anemic rifle round used in the SKS, and then this good officer would have died even if NOT hit in the femoral artery as he was. Get a clue, folks.
where is your compassion for this policemans family? How can any of you just chat on and on about assault weapons,guns,laws.A man is dead,a father, a husband, a brother, a son,a friend.What is wrong with you people? I have been throutgh this horror, a friend, apoliceman was shot in the head,he left 6 children,he never even had his gun out and was brutally murdered.pray for this family and pray for compassion.
Wow. There are a lot of nuts out today.
Just keep in mind that part of the revolving door justice system is a result of overcrowding. Otherwise, there would be no room for the criminals that just got convicted.
Memory, the M1’s main gun (like most tank guns) is smooth bore. The rounds are fin stabilized instead of spin stabilized.
Pat.
Our compassion for the policeman’s family is to see that justice is done (that would be to the criminal) not that this tragedy is used to bolster a political agenda (gun control) that has failed, Failed, FAILED!
How does passing more blanket laws (affecting millions who never did anything wrong) do one single thing to help this officer? Stopping proven criminals from returning to society, that’s a different matter.
Put 50 multiple repeat offenders on an isolated island. Give them weapons. Tell them they are on the ultimate reality show. Sole survivor released back into society. Better to release one bad guy than 50.
Where did all the nra members come from?
next topic please.
It’s Hillary Hangover - you know Annie Oakley Clinton. Besides the national press portrayed PA as a state of dissatified hunters.
Trying to get Larry to change blogs is as hard as finding free air these days.
All the crazy gun talk is fun to read while watching Philadelphia police beat the crap out of criminals. We need more agressive policing, this is Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love , where mayor rizzo once said he’d make attila the hun look like a faggot. Those were the days! Philadelphia police were once brutal, and its time for them to reassert themselves. Had a right wing nut job from rural Pa shot a black cop with a similar assualt rifle, and he was linked to a radiacl religious faction, the city would be burning. Why doesnt Larry expsoe who these cop killers really are? He never will, it makes him uncomfortable to scrap below that surface of sound bites and politcally correct leftist rhetoric. The real issue Phiadelpia and the Big Story is Jimmy Carter’s anti semitism!
Did anyone else see Nutter and Ramsay on ABC’s morning show talking about the beating video? Nutter was awful. He was evasive and sat there mouthbreathing when he wasn’t talking. As they kept showing the footage of the beatings, Nutter said that he, Ramsay, and the ABC interviewer hadn’t been there at the scene. WTF? How does that possibly explain or excuse the fact that these police took it upon themselves to act as criminals?
Actually, here’s a bit from an Inquirer story on the subject:
I know what was in his mind. Race hate.
It’s impossible to know what’s in people’s minds. The cops were taking down men beleived to have just commited a drive by shooting. These guys are also known criminals. Pehaps police got a little carried away and should have to take a refresher seminar on proper procedeures, but the criminals are in jail and are alive and will receive medical treatment if needed. Had these criminals been in any African nation the police would have just killed them, and would not care if it was caught on tape. I think they are fortunate to now be getting three meals a day, free housing and free defense lawyers, it’s actually quite a sweet deal they have.
George, though your views are spot on, beware the bleeding hearts… Most of the people on this blog have never even been in a scuffle at any point in their lives and really aren’t qualified to speak.
LARRY, BLOG CHANGE PLEASE. This is a spurious debate.
Two ideas:
1) Should Democrat Party officials coerce Hillary Clinton out of the race for “the good of the party” now that it is clear that she is highly unlikely to get nomination?
2) Has Obama’s mystique been permanently damaged by Reverend Wright, Tony Rezko, wife Michelle, etc or are we just not liking him more the more we get to really know him?
George, The cops are under a lot of pressure now. That gets factored in.
But,guilty or not, the police are not the branch that handles judgement. Getting beaten by someone who thinks you MAY be guilty of something is not a sweet deal. We are not living in another country and we have laws and even the cops have to obey them. I’ve seen a maniac guy subdued by cops on Bustleton Ave and it didn’t look anything like this.
Those police are criminals and should be treated as such. Wearing a blue uniform doesn’t give you license to use Gestappo tactics. As FJ points out, we do have laws and a system here. This isn’t another country. (But nice job using Africa as a race-driven example.)
OOOJ, I’ve been in a few “scuffles.” What’s show on that tape in no way resembles a scuffle. That resembles plantation justice. If there had been a tree nearby, I can imagine what would have happened.
LB, not implying in anyway that beating a suspect is acceptable. Only that if you haven’t been in a tussle, you don’t know how the adrenalin takes over.
Philly cops = not so good at their jobs.
Larry’s blog + stale = not so good at his job, either.
Math is cool because the equation can always be solved.
For instance, Larry’s touted political credentials (minus) blogging about N.C. and Indiana primaries = irrelevancy.
I agree with Leo..we must invest in social infrastrututre..so far, for the past 40 years, the social engineers have brainwashed our youth to have high expectations of getting whatever they want without working for anything…also, our social engineers have been successful in degrading crimes, like illegal drug use and trafficing into minor crimes…so here ya go Leo: I say that the City of Philaddelphia provide free drugs, of any kind, to anyone who wants drugs…kinda like a buffet type menu…you know, crack, crank, dope, H, whatever…and in order to pacify the liberals even more, free drug use “kits” should also be given out, free of charge…and the amount of drugs given away should be unlimited, all ya want, dopehead! Thus, we immediately eliminatae drug dealing and crimes involved with stealing, selling and distributing drugs. And as a side beneift, the dopes will use so much drugs that ODs will be rampant to the point that all drug users will be eliminated, as they use…and all we need to pay for is the final arrangements for each drug user.
Good plan, no, Leo?