The mayor of Philadelphia, Jim Kenney, suggested to reporters on Monday night that the US should shift to a Canada-style gun control policy, that would see guns heavily restricted. Kenney falsely stated that the only people in Canada that had guns were police officers. Kenney made the comments after two police officers were shot at the Fourth of July festivities in downtown Philadelphia.
Kenney said that he was waiting for his time as mayor to be over so that he could “enjoy some stuff.”
Kenney told media that he can’t even enjoy watching the NFL draft because he’s too worried about what’s going on in his city: “Everything we have in the city over the last seven years, I worry about,” said Kenney. “I don’t enjoy Fourth of July, I don’t enjoy the Democratic National Convention, I didn’t enjoy the NFL draft, I’m waiting for something bad to happen all the time.”
"This is a gun country. It's crazy. We're the most armed country in world history and we're one of the least safest," Mayor Jim Kenney said after two police officers were shot in the area of the Ben Franklin Parkway during Fourth of July festivities. https://t.co/nV54amQyDB pic.twitter.com/GGnB6AI7lL
— CBS Philly (@CBSPhilly) July 5, 2022
“You’re looking forward to not being mayor?” one reporter asked after Kenney’s comment, to which he said “Yeah.”
Kenney also spoke out against the Second Amendment and the Supreme Court, saying: “Weather was beautiful. Concert was beautiful. But we live in America and we have the Second Amendment, and we have the Supreme Court of the United States telling everybody they can carry a gun whenever they want.”
Kenney then talked about his time spent in Canada a few weeks ago, where he said he never even thought about a gun.
“I was in Canada two weeks ago, I never thought about a gun,” he said.
“The only people I knew that had guns in Canada were police officers,” he said. “[The United States] is a gun country, it’s crazy. We’re the most armed country in world history and we’re one of the least safest.”
“We have the Second Amendment and we have the Supreme Court of the United States telling people they can carry a gun wherever they want,” Kenney continued.
Kenney’s comments came just moments after officers were sent to hospital for gunshot wounds suffered on Monday night. The two officers have since been discharged from hospital.
The officers, ages 36 and 44 respectively, were stationed at the area of the Fourth of July celebrations, where gunshots were heard. Attendees were seen fleeing the area in several videos.
People run for blocks from the Welcome America Festival on the Ben Franklin Parkway after two police officers were shot while working in the area of 2500 Spring Garden Street. A truly terrifying scene on what was supposed to be a night of celebration. @CBSPhilly pic.twitter.com/Bye1OEzQmF
— Joe Holden (@JoeHoldenCBS3) July 5, 2022
“The officers were the only ones hurt during the shooting, as bullets grazed the highway patrol officer’s forehead and the bomb squad technician’s right shoulder. The shooting is under investigation by the Philadelphia Police Department, which is still trying to locate a suspect and determine if the officers were deliberately targeted,” CBS News reports.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said that “We don’t know if this was ricochet from celebratory gunfire [or] whether this was intentional.”
No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting as of Wednesday.
