The City Council of Philadelphia passed a bill on Thursday to prevent police from pulling over drivers who are committing minor traffic violations, such as driving without an inspection sticker, driving with a broken brake light, or driving without a vehicle registration, among others, WHYY reported. Why? Because a recent report showed that police pulled over a disproportionate number of black drivers for these infractions. Except laws such as these sometimes lead to recovering illegally owned guns. But, even though Philadelphia is in the midst of a homicide wave unlike any the city has ever seen, Philadelphia Democrats pass another bill to make it easier for criminals to commit crime.
The so-called Driving Equality Bill was put into effect because allegedly too many black drivers were being stopped. However, just because too many black drivers were being stopped does not indicate racial injustice. If there are more black drivers breaking these laws than other races, then that would be the reason for the discrepancy. The city has neither confirmed nor denied this part.
Additionally, one of the main reasons the bill was passed is because the report used as justification for the bill showed that “only a small percentage of these stops result in an officer confiscating any kind of contraband, including illegal guns.”
However, whether it was coincidence or impeccable timing, the bill’s passage comes just days after a captain of the Philadelphia Police Department tweeted that he pulled over a vehicle with an expired license plate. During this stop, the police found that the person was in possession of an illegally owned firearm and had a previous firearm arrest.
With Philadelphia experiencing a murder wave, the city should be taking every step it can to remove every illegal gun from the streets, not providing laws that make it easier. The mayor just announced his commitment to fighting the city’s gun crime problem. To pass this law is an affront to justice.
If black people are being targeted for such violations, that is one thing, and that would be categorically wrong. Yet, if they are just the most frequent violators of the law, then that means it is their fault. With this precedent, the city will get rid of homicide as a crime because black people disproportionately commit homicide in the city. The city should be passing laws to protect innocent people, not enable criminals to commit crime.
