A Democrat who was hijacked revealed that when she looked back over time, all she could think about was Congress’s failure to address gun reform and how closing “loopholes” and funding of the ATF could have prevented her robbery.
Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Penn., represents South Philadelphia, where the House Judiciary Committee held a field hearing Friday on crime in the city.
“Two and a half years ago, I was attacked at gunpoint by three teenagers with a gun they brought from out of state,” Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Penn., said during the hearing.
“It was obviously scary to have a gun pointed at my chest,” Scanlon said.
“But as I looked down the barrel of that gun, my mind raced, thinking of all the ways Congress could have prevented that meeting.”
Scanlon was robbed of her car at gunpoint in FDR Park (pictured) after a meeting there. She was walking to her parked car when two men in a dark-colored SUV approached her, demanded her keys and fled in her 2017 Acura MDX.
Scanlon’s car was found later Wednesday evening at the Christiana Mall in Delaware. The police arrested five suspects in the car
Scanlon was the victim of a high-profile carjacking by two teenagers in 2021, during which she had to surrender her purse and keys, leaving her and an employee stranded.
“Closing loopholes to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, including children,” is one of the policies she put forward Friday to prevent carjackings.
“Giving ATF the funding it needs to enforce gun trafficking laws” was another idea.
She also said that “addressing the trauma of poverty and the social conditions that led these children to pick up a gun in the first place” could also have helped.
Friday’s hearing was titled “Victims of Violent Crime in Philadelphia” and brought together witnesses to testify about City District Attorney Larry Krasner’s “pro-criminal policies that encourage criminals at the expense of victims and residents of Philadelphia.” .’
Democrats, like Scanlon, called the hearing a sham and likened it to a “traveling circus.”
Republicans, however, have focused on policing in the city, saying crime has risen due to poor law enforcement and lax prosecution by local law officials.
Josiah Brown, who was sentenced to seven years for carjacking Scanlon, was on probation at the time of his arrest for armed robbery.
He had previously been arrested for a series of car burglaries and had previous convictions for resisting arrest, ignoring a police officer and robbing a 7-Eleven.
Brown also admitted to carjacking another man outside a Philadelphia supermarket.
Four other minors were also arrested in this case.
They were charged in a Delaware juvenile court with receiving stolen property.
The hearing included testimony from Pauline and Joel Fitzgerald, the parents of Christopher Fitzgerald, a local police officer who was shot in the city last year.
Other family members of fallen law enforcement officers also testified and condemned District Attorney Krasner.
Local criminals “know Krasner is giving them a free pass,” Joel Fitzgerald testified.
“Things are far from OK in the city,” he added. ‘If the rule of law is not enforced, there will be anarchy.’