March 19, 2016
Hon. Anthony M. DeLuca
7205 Saltsburg Road
Pittsburgh PA 15235
RE: Gun violence in Wilkinsburg PA: March 9, 2016
Assault-style rifle used—no background check in PA
Dear Representative DeLuca:
I am a member of St. James Catholic Church at 718 Franklin Avenue, Wilkinsburg, PA. On March 9, 2016, our church, as part of a Catholic diocesan-wide initiative, was open to the public from 6 pm to 9 pm. During that time, a service and 2 meetings were also being held in our chapel and 2 meetings were occurring in our school building. Thus, many people were at our church participating in these peaceful activities during that time.
Two hours later, 6 blocks east of our church property at a home at 1304 Franklin Avenue, 8 people, one a pregnant mother, were shot in an ambush by 2 gun men. Six were killed.
The first gun man shot 18 times with a .40 caliber handgun into a residential back yard where a family of siblings, cousins, their children and friends were having a barbecue on a 70 degree winter evening. The picnickers ran up onto the back porch, toward the back door. The second shooter approached up a walk along the side of the house, stopping at the porch, shooting victims 49 times with a military assault rifle which the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on March 12, 2016, was similar to a Soviet AK-47. The Post Gazette’s article quoted an agent of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as saying that this weapon “….is a common rifle you see at gun shows….It’s cheap. You can buy it anywhere.”—with no background check! One victim’s body was riddled with 50 bullet holes, as the shots from the military weapon traversed more than one victim’s body.An aged mother lost 3 children, 2 nieces and1 unborn grandchild; 1 son remains in critical condition from his wounds, as does 1 other person. Eleven children lost a parent, one child seeing his mother dead, bleeding from her wounds, who ran, frightened, up the stairs.
Additionally, in December, 2015, a man was shot and killed directly behind our church and adjacent to our elementary/middle school. The shooter was arrested based on a video from a camera we installed for the safety of our parishioners, students and employees. Moreover, 2 members of our church have been murdered by shooters in Wilkinsburg.
The foregoing facts compel me to ask you to publicly support universal background checks for every firearm sale, every time. I ask you to support House Bill 1010 and Senate Bill 1049, both of which would require such checks. I ask you to oppose House Bill 505 which would eliminate background checks anytime there is a glitch in the checking system. After these critical events, now, more than ever, it is time for a statewide lost or stolen gun reporting law and to relegate to the waste basket forever pre-emption laws which would forbid municipalities from enacting lost or stolen gun ordinances.
The District Attorney has said this was the worst crime scene he has ever seen in 18 years. Violence such as we have experienced it in Wilkinsburg must end.
Very truly yours,