Inquirer columnist Tom Ferrick, Jr. (a man so hostile to firearms that he spent hundreds of dollars buying handguns he doesn't want only to have them destroyed) has devoted today's column to lobbying the Pennsylvania legislature for stricter gun laws:

While Bloomberg can go to his City Council to pass a law limiting handgun sales in the city, Street must go to the Pennsylvania legislature to get permission to do anything dealing with guns. Anything.

And the legislature never grants that authority. Never.

This has to change. The mayor says he is planning to ask the legislature to approve a series of measures aimed at helping Philadelphia stop the killings and shootings.

One such measure, already introduced, is a statewide restriction on handgun sales to one a month.

The conventional wisdom is that there is no support for this bill outside of Philadelphia. I don't buy that.

If all city and suburban legislators in the state House combined to support the bill, it would have 60-plus "yes" votes - a sizeable bloc. It takes 102 votes to pass a bill in the House.

There's only one way to find out if there is any support: Ask the legislators if they favor or oppose the bill.

That's exactly what I have done, with faxes and e-mails to all state House members and state senators in the five-county area.

Next week, I'll tell you where they stand.

However, I do believe in the democratic process, and I think it is eminently fair that we know how our elected officials intend to vote on matters of importance. I look forward to reading their replies to Tom Ferrick's faxes and emails, as it will let me know who to support and who to oppose in November.

Normally, I would have to rely on the NRA for this information. But the more the merrier. Considering that Mr. Ferrick is performing a vital function by doing hard work well ahead of the elections, I think the NRA should be grateful to him for saving them time and money. (As someone who has been accused of being a member of the "gun lobby" because of my membership in the NRA, I can say honestly that it is not always easy to get answers from elected officials on firearms issues.)

Most of the time, I don't agree with Tom Ferrick, and I don't even know the guy. The problem is, I hate to disagree with people (whether I know them or not), and I don't know which is worse; my disagreeing with them or their disagreeing with me. Fortunately, it's generally easier for me to disagree with someone I don't know than someone I know, but that still doesn't mean I like disagreements. Let's face it; disagreements tend to be, well, disagreeable.

So it always brings me emotional satisfaction to find areas of common agreement, and this time I agree with Tom Ferrick that we should know where our legislators stand.

I thank him in advance for finding out and letting us know, and I think the rest of the "gun lobby" should thank him too!