Bad news from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-- just when we thought legislators from the Philadelphia Black Caucus were ready to show some backbone against the NRA, they walk out of a meeting with the gun lobby, and it seems they've drunk the koolaid again.

The president of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus said yesterday that after meeting with House Democratic leaders and the National Rifle Association, he would not seek to hold up the state budget over gun-control legislation.

"They have made a commitment to doing something, maybe not today or next week, but next month," said Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland (D., Delaware), chairman of the 17-member group.

Kirkland said late yesterday that he had yet to discuss the results of the meeting with the members of his caucus and did not know if they stood with him on his budget pledge.

Last week, Kirkland and other members of the caucus forced a floor debate on gun violence, threatening to withhold critical votes on the budget unless the chamber took action on gun-control bills.

But yesterday, with budget negotiations at a standstill two days into the new fiscal year, Kirkland said he was satisfied with the progress made during yesterday's unusual meeting with the NRA, the powerful interest group that has stood firmly on the opposite side of gun-control measures.

Please. One more month in Philadelphia means more shooting, more gun violence, and sadly, more dead children. We can't wait any longer for the NRA to decide (or, more likely, to pretend to decide) any longer whether they're going to stand for or against the safety of American citizens. The people of Philadelphia have suffered too long under the policies the NRA has implemented in Harrisburg (including a law that actually makes it illegal for the Philly city council to pass their own gun laws and fix the problem), and so Kirkland's feeble explanations on behalf of the NRA are unacceptable.

If he actually believes the junk about "a commitment," then he's just eating the NRA's lies right out of their hand. They claim they want to work for a compromise, but then they blast even the most reasonable of firearms legislation proposals.

The NRA's Pennsylvania lobbyist agreed.

"We both want the same results; we want to attack crime in Pennsylvania, particularly in Philadelphia," said John Hohenwarter. "We are hoping to come to agreement on a package that fulfills everyone's needs."

But the most controversial bill, to limit handgun purchases to one a month, and other gun-control measures that Philadelphia lawmakers and Gov. Rendell believe can have the greatest impact on gun violence were not part of the discussion.

Hohenwarter called one-handgun-a-month laws a "fraud" and contended they had failed in states where they had been tried.

No legitimate firearms owner needs more than one-handgun-a-month, period. 12 handguns a year from gun dealers is plenty, and if you need more than that, you're buying too many firearms. And while one-handgun-a-month laws in states bordering Pennsylvania haven't kept firearms out of criminal hands, they haven't "failed" at all-- criminals are still getting their guns from Pennsylvania, where gun laws are so loose that criminals can buy crates full of handguns and transfer them into states all across the nation.

But still our legislators preach compromise, when what we need is relief.

Rendell, amid budget negotiations last week, has remained unmoved, saying he would make the passage of gun-control legislation a priority in the fall. In Philadelphia, as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, the death toll stood at 203 for the year.

House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D., Greene), a gun-rights supporter, said he was willing to continue talks and to negotiate on several bills involving penalties and sentencing that "meet the threshold of compromise."

There's nothing to compromise about. 203 people have died in Philadelphia alone this year, and thousands more all across the country with firearms obtained from "legal" gun dealers in Pennsylvania. Citizens need relief, plain and simple. There's no reason to compromise about it-- legislators in Harrisburg need to start standing up for their constituents and carry out on their promises. Anything less is simply kowtowing to the NRA. It's fine if you call that hypocrisy (after all, we just called the NRA out for not budging on even the most reasonable of gun legislation). But after all these years of death in Philadelphia, there's no reason citizens should have to give in to the NRA and their inane policies any more. The NRA's policies and the firearms they put in the hands of criminals have already taken enough.