The number of murder victims this year in my beloved city of Philadelphia climbed to 264 over the weekend, keeping the city well above pace to break last year’s mark of 406. In Philly most folks are united in lobbying for stronger gun control laws, but local politicians are essentially powerless since legislators at the state and federal level are beholden to the powerful gun lobby.

I was pretty steamed yesterday when I read Walter Williams’ column at Townhall yesterday. Williams, a prominent libertarian who is asked every election cycle to run for president (this year, Ron Paul suggested he’d like to have him as his running mate), argues that the lax gun control laws that have enabled dealers to flood urban areas with firearms have nothing to do with rising rates of gun violence. Furthermore he claims that making it more difficult for, say, malicious crack kingpins to get their hands on guns would be a step in the wrong direction. This seems straight ridic coming from a guy who was born and raised in North Philly, so I responded to him over at HuffPo.