PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The mass shooting on South Street earlier this month continued to push Philadelphia to the forefront of the nation’s gun epidemic.
Last year was Philadelphia’s deadliest on record, with at least 562 killed. The city is on a similar pace this year. Halfway through 2022, the city has recorded more than 225 homicides.
There are a lot of theories as to why gun crimes are on the rise — and even more finger-pointing.
Former Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said Philadelphia isn’t alone in seeing a surge in violence. This also isn’t the first time gun violence and homicides have spiked.
“This is simply a matter of remembering how we came to control crime before,” he said. “We’re just re-learning things that we previously figured out.”
But progressive prosecutors, like DA Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, say the past is the problem. While Krasner has been very outspoken on not charging gun possession crimes and reducing mass incarceration, he said his office has been successful in prosecuting violent crimes, like shootings and homicides.
“There will be consequences if you decide to shoot someone,” he said during a recent press conference.
Hogan refutes the premise, saying waiting until someone uses the gun to kill or injure someone is too late. “The bad guys have to understand that if they get caught with that gun and they’re a felon, they’re going to jail for a long time,” he said.
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Both Hogan and Delaware County DA Jack Stollsteimer point out that only a small percentage of people are responsible for the vast majority of violent crime. Stollsteimer cited a statistic from the National Network for Safe Communities, which found less than 1% of a city’s population is responsible for 75% of gun crimes and violence.
“What we need to do is not point fingers but start talking about solutions,” said Stollsteimer.
Hogan acknowledged the more aggressive law enforcement approach of prior decades caught more people than necessary. According to the Vera Institute of Justice, since 1983, Pennsylvania has seen a nearly 300% increase in the number of people locked up, disproportionately affecting communities of color.
“There is a prosecutorial and policing sweet spot where you are taking out the most violent offenders,” said Hogan, “while for the rest of the offenses, you can absolutely put those people on probation and supervise them, get them mental health help, get them drug treatment help.”
He said it’s vital to arrest even low-level offenders in order to get them into the system.
“If you don’t arrest them ever, for what is their first offense, they are always going to be a first-time offender,” he said.
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The city is earmarking around $200 million for anti-violence initiatives. Krasner is calling on Harrisburg to help financially and also reduce the number of guns. Hogan thinks blaming Philadelphia’s rise in crime on state lawmakers is a crutch.
“It’s funny. Harrisburg was exactly the same sort of Harrisburg in 2013 and 2014 as it is right now in 2022. And there were half as many murders in Philadelphia at the same time. So something’s different.” Hogan argued. “It’s not Harrisburg.”
Last year, Philadelphia police said they took about 6,000 guns off city streets, the most in city history.
Prosecutions, though, have gone in the other direction. An analysis by the Philadelphia Inquirer found a substantial decline under Krasner’s leadership in convictions for people accused of illegally carrying guns.
“We have people in the community saying, ‘I know I will be out again, I know I can get away with this,’ I mean it’s almost a mockery,” said Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw at a December 2021 press conference.
Stollsteimer agrees that social services need to be boosted, but public safety still needs to be prioritized. “Criminal justice reform is about being smarter,” he said. “It’s certainly not about letting people who have committed serious crimes go. It’s never that.”
Not to say there is no role for the state Legislature. Prosecutors across the board agree ghost guns are a serious issue. Kits can be purchased online by anyone, regardless of criminal history or age, and then assembled at home, effectively making a working, unregistered, untraceable gun.
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In 2021 in Philadelphia, police recovered 571 untraceable guns — a six-fold increase from 95 in 2019. State Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia) said Pennsylvania needs to change the law to make the purchase of ghost gun parts illegal.
“Folks aren’t stupid,” he said. People “who want to commit crimes, get those guns putting together — you don’t have a serial number. They’re hard to trace. And in many cases, aren’t even subject to the same regulatory structure that other firearms are.
“Even if you’re not talking about gun laws, we’re sitting on a $12 billion surplus,” he added of the Legislature. “The city does not have anything comparable to that.”