reported in May<\/a> about the Philadelphia police revoking the carry licenses of several members of the Black Lion Party for International Solidarity. The group \u2014 which models itself after the Black Panther Party of the 1960s \u2014 conducts community-safety patrols in the city armed with assault-style guns.<\/p>\nDuring one such patrol in late January, Black Lion members got into a heated, verbal clash with a Philadelphia police officer. Five members \u2014 including the group\u2019s leader, Paul Birdsong \u2014 received police letters the following month saying their gun licenses were being revoked for \u201cgood cause\u201d and \u201ccharacter and reputation,\u201d as allowed under state law.<\/p>\n
Two Black Lions members who were not present during the January clash have since had their licenses reinstated, said attorney Paul Hetznecker, who is part of the group\u2019s legal team. The other members await hearings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a process and a purpose for why we would take a gun from someone.\u201d \u2014 Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is another example of the city of Philadelphia\u2019s military-style policing tactics, and their effort to undermine the rights of a Black radical organization by using the permitting process to take away their right to carry their weapons,\u201d Hetznecker said.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering a bill that would bar police from revoking a carry license based on \u201ccharacter and reputation.\u201d The measure was introduced by Republican State Representative Eric Davanzo, who criticized the standard as vague. \u201cThe current language provides no definitions, standards, policies, or limitations as to what constitutes a proper character and reputation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel have maintained that the Black Lions\u2019 revocations were lawful. Bethel has expressed confidence that the federal investigation would exonerate his department.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce they get behind the scenes and see what we do and why we come to that place of revocation, they will hopefully understand that we do it with purpose,\u201d Bethel told The Trace. \u201cWe have a process and a purpose for why we would take a gun from someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner questioned the motives behind the federal probe and said he supported the police revoking more licenses. \u201cThere\u2019s way too many guns out there. There\u2019s way too many permits out there,\u201d he said. \u201cWe see homicides by people with a permit to carry all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB2aWV3Qm94PSIwIDAgNjAwIDM5IiB3aWR0aD0iNjAwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjM5IiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\"\/)
<\/p>\n
MORE FROM THE TRACE<\/p>\n
A police officer holds a rubber-bullet gun while standing in front of a row of police on horseback as they prepare to disperse a crowd gathered near the Federal Building and Metropolitan Detention Center on June 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, after protesters participated in the “No Kings” demonstration. Tens of thousands of protesters rallied nationwide Saturday against Donald Trump ahead of a huge military parade on the US president’s 79th birthday — as the killing of a Democratic lawmaker underscored the deep divisions in American politics. “No Kings” demonstrators took to the streets in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Atlanta and hundreds of other cities across the United States to condemn what they call Trump’s dictatorial overreach. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN \/ AFP) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of gun carry licenses revoked by the Philadelphia Police Department jumped nearly two and half times…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12472,758,336,69,71,70,595,8957],"class_list":["post-232668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-gun-control","tag-gun-violence","tag-larry-krasner","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-philadelphia-police-department","tag-the-trace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}