Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney (D) conceded city residents should be worried about their safety as crime continues to rise in the area, particularly homicides, but he does not want law-abiding citizens to carry guns to protect themselves.
"I think people should be concerned about their safety. There’s too many guns on the streets. I don’t think they should go hiding in the basement, but I would be concerned about my surroundings, be concerned about in a car, what's around me. It's what you do in a city," Kenney said on Tuesday.
"I don't advocate carrying guns for anybody, to tell you the truth, other than law enforcement officers and FBI agents and ATF agents. Nobody else should be carrying one," he continued.
LISTEN: “I think people should be concerned about their safety. There’s too many guns on the streets. I don’t think they should go hiding in the basement.” ?@PhillyMayor? after carjacking/murders arrest. Asked should people legally arm themselves? ??@FOX29philly? pic.twitter.com/fyTucKboJ5
— Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) February 22, 2022
"We should focus on shootings when the crisis is shootings," Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said in January, according to WHYY. "I don’t think that’s complicated," adding, "This is a slight increase from terrible to terrible. That’s where we are with homicides. This is truly a terrible crisis that we are suffering through."
In 2021, Philadelphia had a record-setting 562 homicides, more than any year since the city started tracking them in 1960. So far in 2022, Philadelphia has seen 64 homicides, slightly down 4 percent from this time last year, according to The Hill.
