(Originally published in American Thinker.)
Plan on being cold this winter if you live in Philadelphia.
Why? Because the Philadelphia City Council passed a ban on ski masks, and the reason for that is that it covers the face of potential criminals.
So once again, law-abiding citizens have to pay the price of criminals because leftist politicians won’t address the actual problem. It’s the same type of thinking that people follow with gun bans. Because a gun, or in this case, a ski mask, can be used by a person to commit a crime, we’ll ban it.
Of course, criminals being such fine examples of obeying laws, they will give up their guns and ski masks, and the crime problem is solved.
How’s that working out?
Just recently, a college professor in Nevada went on a rampage on campus shooting students. Gun control doesn’t work and neither will this ban. The bans don’t address the root problem and only punish people who have done no wrong.
Despite evidence to the contrary, the Philadelphia City Council voted 13-2 Thursday to pass legislation banning facial coverings in the city.
“We must send a message that masks are of no discernible public or private good when they just create fear and anxiety,” Councilmember Anthony Phillips said.
If the mayor signs the bill, the new law will prohibit people from wearing ski masks in parks, schools, and on public transit. Violators can be fined $250 or $2,000 if they commit a crime while wearing a mask.
Interestingly, the bill has exceptions for religious expression and “First Amendment activities,” such as protesting.
The city recently saw protesting that turned into rioting targeting downtown businesses. Many of those protesters covered their faces. So would they have been exempted from this new legislation? They were protesting after all.
The problem is that too many of the left-wing protests turn into violent riots. So the city council gave an exemption to one of the leading contributors to violence perpetrated by people wearing masks.
And the city is not the first group to believe that a key to stopping crime is to ban ski mask. The city’s transit authority, SEPTA, passed a similar ban months ago. Passengers on city buses and trains must remove masks, or they will be removed from SEPTA property.
The ban came after a 15-year-old high school student was killed on a bus in the city.
Think about that for a moment. The city bans guns on the buses, but the killer had one, despite the ban, and SEPTA somehow thinks another ban on ski masks will make a difference. Why? Because the gun ban is working so well?
Philadelphia officials said there are similar bans in Virginia, West Virginia, Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Here’s an idea. Rather than punishing law-abiding citizens, punish the criminals. Allow the police to arrest them, and make sure district attorneys prosecute them. If they are guilty, punish them appropriately. Do that consistently, and you will reduce crime.
Of course, it makes no sense to leftists to actually do something to address crime that doesn’t involve restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens. Or maybe it does make sense, and they are just too afraid of imprisoning so many of their voters that they would endanger their re-election chances.
Michael A. Letts is the CEO and Founder of In-VestUSA, a national grassroots non-profit organization helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bulletproof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs.
