REPUBLICAN state Rep. (and lieutenant governor candidate) Daryl Metcalfe from faraway Butler County yesterday offered up a little reminder of the diversity driving Pennsylvania politics.
Metcalfe, arguably the state’s most pro-gun lawmaker, hosted his fifth Right to Keep and Bear Arms Rally at the Capitol with several hundred gun fans and, as advertised, its “biggest-ever lock-and-loaded lineup.”
Speakers included NRA executive vice president Wayne La-Pierre, Gun Owners of America director Larry Pratt and former Texas lawmaker and national right-to-carry advocate Suzanna Hupp.
The annual gig is a direct response “to that gun-grabbing liberal Ed Rendell coming up from Philadelphia,” Metcalfe said.
The rally’s far from subtle. It once featured a suggestion that gun-control supporter Rep. Angel Cruz, D-Phila., be hanged from the “tree of liberty.”
Cruz, Rendell and others push for controls such as restricting gun sales to one a month per buyer. There was no lynching suggestion yesterday, but plenty of evidence of Pennsylvania’s love affair with firearms.
Metcalfe called for “celebrating” Ed’s last year in office and drew cheers and loud applause with:
“We have defeated that man every step of the way.”
Attendees said it’s important to visually remind the Legislature of same.
“It’s a good cause,” said Harry Gromo, 69, a retired Beaver County steelworker holding a sign: “Gun control means using both hands.”
He said he came because “every day there’s something new” threatening gun rights.
The current targets are Philly and other municipalities enacting local gun laws.
A bill sponsored by Metcalfe requires locals to foot court costs, attorney fees and “actual damages” in successful challenges to local gun controls.
The control-advocacy group CeaseFirePa says 37 municipalities have resolutions or ordinances requiring reporting lost or stolen guns.
Rallygoers Garin Moore, 50, unemployed, and Connie Miller, 51, a floral designer, both of Tower City, in Schuylkill County, said local laws don’t work.
“Only the law-abiding cooperate,” said Miller.
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