Posted on 08/04/2012 3:56:16 AM PDT by marktwain
PHILADELPHIA -
As a detective carried away the high powered AK-47 seized by SEPTA Police from a passenger on a rush hour train this week, DA Seth Williams came out firing.
"I don't care what the NRA says, they can kiss my butt," Williams said. "I don't care. There's no reason for a guy to have a gun like that."
Williams comments came after a judge hiked the bail for suspect Jermal Ponds from $100,000 to $200,000. He said SEPTA police and a brave citizen who spotted Ponds with an AK-47 assault rifle like this, averted a "real major tragedy" from occurring on the city's subway system.
"What is it like G.I. Joe or something. I mean, the whole thing is crazy," added Mayor Michael Nutter.
The DA wanted half a million dollars bail, calling Ponds a danger to the community. Ponds was spotted on a rush hour train at the City Hall station by a subway passenger. He was carrying a bag with the AK-47 and another weapon, plus a loaded 40 round magazine. Minutes later SEPTA police arrested Ponds at the Fairmount station.
"It's just amazing to think of the mayhem, the destruction, the pain and violence that this defendant could have brought," Williams said.
Ponds' attorney Lawrence O'Connor fired back "The district attorney's motion, in our opinion, was simply to further sensationalize this case."
Passengers on SEPTA believe the judge was right to increase Ponds bail. Several cited the recent massacre at a Colorado movie complex by a suspect with an AR-15 military style rifle.
"What if he would have pulled that gun out and starting shooting at everybody," passenger Marvin Ellis said.
"I wouldn't want to see him get out," another added.
Ponds lawyer says he was moving the guns from his girlfriends home to a new apartment and had no intention of using them. He said a "lapse in judgement" caused him to get on the SEPTA subway with the weapons.
Police says Ponds has three prior arrests, but no convictions. Both weapons were legally registered, but Ponds did not have a permit to carry the handgun. Police say he shouldn't have been carrying the AK-47 in the same bag with the loaded 40 round magazine.
Ponds will be back in court Aug. 17th.
I wonder if that is why the city is predominately Democrat.
Anyone who refers to an AK-47 as “high powered” doesn’t know much about guns.
The real issue is out-of-control police & prosecutors. The Gestapo & KGB didn’t just one day spring up out of the ground.
I might be a bit uncomfortable getting on a train with a guy carrying an AK but I’d be miserable living in a city with Williams as the DA.
"I don't care what the NRA says, they can kiss my butt," Williams said. "I don't care. There's no reason for a guy to have a gun like that."There's no reason for the DA to drive a car like that. There's no reason for the DA to have a home like that. There's no reason for the DA to draw a salary like that.
The law in many states prohibits a person from carrying a long gun in a vehicle unless the firearm and ammo are in separate compartments, one of which must be locked. I guess the subway car meets the definition of a vehicle -- at least according to the arresting LEO.
“In Pennsylvania a License To Carry Firearms is only required to conceal a firearm, or to carry a firearm in a motor vehicle. The law is silent on the act of openly carrying a firearm while not in a vehicle making it de-facto legal. It must be noted however that due to 18 Pa.C.S. § 6108 (Carrying firearms on public streets or public property in Philadelphia) a License To Carry Firearms is required to carry a firearm in any manner on the streets or public property of a “City of the first class” (Philadelphia.)”
More information, multiple sources (Note, there is now a useful website called “Newsfeed Researcher”, that puts on a single page the same story from different sources, so you can cross check them or find an alternative source to a copyrighted story.):
http://newsfeedresearcher.com/
“Inside the bag, in addition to the weapons, police say they found $700 (or $716) cash, seven containers (or “a bag”) of suspected marijuana and 22 (or 25, or 25 to 30) Percocet pills...a loaded handgun (.38 revolver) and a 12-inch bayonet or “hunting knife”.
“(A policeman or detective named Adorno) described the suspect as about 5-foot-10 with a full beard and tattoos on both arms. “He had a face on him, like he was up to no good,” he said. The man kept changing his stories, Adorno said. “At first he’s like, ‘What guns?’ “ Then he claimed to have just bought them, and then said he uses them at a shooting range.
“Records show Ponds has a prior weapons arrest for allegedly firing three shots at his ex-girlfriend in September 2011, then severely beating her. The charges were withdrawn after a witness failed to appear.
“(He) had carved and written his initials on both guns, apparently as proof of ownership.”
“Inside the bag, in addition to the weapons, police say they found $700 (or $716) cash, seven containers (or “a bag”) of suspected marijuana and 22 (or 25, or 25 to 30) Percocet pills...a loaded handgun (.38 revolver) and a 12-inch bayonet or “hunting knife”.
“(A policeman or detective named Adorno) described the suspect as about 5-foot-10 with a full beard and tattoos on both arms. “He had a face on him, like he was up to no good,” he said. The man kept changing his stories, Adorno said. “At first he’s like, ‘What guns?’ “ Then he claimed to have just bought them, and then said he uses them at a shooting range.
“Records show Ponds has a prior weapons arrest for allegedly firing three shots at his ex-girlfriend in September 2011, then severely beating her. The charges were withdrawn after a witness failed to appear.
“(He) had carved and written his initials on both guns, apparently as proof of ownership.”
Good information. The weapons charges are just ancillary, it appears.
If you see a guy on a train carrying an AK-47, sit down by him and talk guns with him...
There's not much you can do with/for an ahole like DA Williams -- except kick him out at the next election.
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