Threat prompts Pa. lawmaker to carry gun

A state lawmaker who received an e-mail threatening that he should be shot for supporting tougher gun-control laws said Thursday he may wear a bulletproof vest and carry his gun more often.

Rep. Jewell Williams said he asked police to investigate the e-mail that came two days after a gun-rights rally Tuesday where two participants held up a banner calling for fellow Philadelphia Democrat Rep. Angel Cruz to be "hung from the tree of liberty."

Cruz's bill would require gun registration and a $10-a-gun annual fee.

"Now that I hear this attitude of people recommending lynching, I'll probably be wearing my gun more and possibly wearing my bulletproof vest, because we now think we're being threatened," said Williams, a former police officer.

Black lawmakers denounced the banner's message as racist and "a terroristic threat."

Democrat Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland sent a letter Wednesday to the state police commissioner, Col. Jeffrey B. Miller, in which he demanded a "thorough and full investigation" of the banner. The rally attracted hundreds of gun-rights supporters.

"I believe that certain members of this organized rally were so displeased with Rep. Cruz's legislation that they wanted him dead," wrote Kirkland, chairman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus.

A spokesman for Miller said Thursday that had he had seen a picture of the banner and would refer Kirkland's letter to Capitol Police.

A spokesman for the Capitol Police said no formal complaint had been filed Thursday about either the banner or the e-mail Williams said he received.