Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (D) criticized Republicans in the Pennsylvania state legislature following a shooting in the city which killed five people and injured a number more. The statement occurred after a 40-year-old opened fire in the Kingsessing neighborhood.
Krasner held a press conference following the attack. In his closing remarks, the district attorney said, “Finally, I just want to say this: it is disgusting, the lack of proper gun legislation that we have in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
“It is disgusting that you can go to New Jersey and find a whole list of reasonable gun regulation that we don’t have, that you can go to Delaware and there’s almost as long a list of reasonable gun legislation that we don’t have,” he said.
In particular, Krasner criticized Republicans who wore an AR-15 lapel. Rep. George Santos (R-NY) recently wore such an ornament.
Progressive Philadelphia DA unleashes on Republicans after latest mass shooting: 'Against your safety' https://t.co/5VVdDNtq26 >><> should have unleashed on his mirror.
— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) July 5, 2023
“It is time for every one of them to face the voters,” he said.
Krasner has been a target of Pennsylvania Republicans in the past. The district attorney was impeached last year over what Republican legislators called “misbehavior in office.”
According to the November 2022 impeachment resolution, Krasner’s “lack of proper leadership serves as a direct and proximate cause of the crisis currently facing the city of Philadelphia.”
Prior to the impeachment, the state House of Representatives voted to hold Krasner in contempt for refusing to turn over documents to its Select Committee on Restoring Law and Order. Following the vote, the Pennsylvania State Senate indefinitely postponed the conviction hearings.
State Rep. Timothy Bonner (R) said that Krasner had “put himself above the law and has arbitrarily decided what laws are valid.”
“A prosecutor has discretion in deciding what charges will be initially filed, but that power is not absolute, and it can be abused,” Bonner said.
The statements and impeachment came after it was revealed that the Philadelphia Police Department underreported crime statistics to the FBI.
The city has seen a significant increase of crime since 2020 and is generally considered among the nation’s least safe.
