Cognetti says her dream is a world where neither law-abiding citizens nor police officers carry firearms.
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Paige Cognetti at a virtual town hall on ECTV, June 5, 2020 (minute 40:55–42:09). Cognetti states she wants to "get to a world where… police don't have firearms and where we don't have firearms that citizens aren't carrying them either."
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In Her Own Words
I would love to get to a world, a country, where police don't have firearms and where citizens aren't carrying them either… That would be something that would be a great reality for us to live in.
ECTV Virtual Town Hall · June 5, 2020 · Min. 40:55
I've lived in Japan for a couple years. There are no guns there and it's lovely. We don't have to worry about some of these things because there are no guns there.
ECTV Virtual Town Hall · June 5, 2020 · Min. 41:10
I do want to get to a point where we don't have to worry about any officers having holsters or guns in them. That is ideally where we get in our whole country.
Instagram Live / Black Scranton Project · June 6, 2020 · Min. 30:33
That next phase is the demilitarization of police and getting to where we have, just culturally, a very different way that we police our people in the United States.
Conversation With the Black Scranton Project · June 6, 2020 · Min. 31:33
I commit to work toward gun control policies and making sure that the policies of our police force are as progressive and proactive as possible… We have a long, long way to go in our country.
ECTV Virtual Town Hall · June 5, 2020 · Min. 41:32
What She Wants to Do
She calls it a "long-term" goal. But she's already working toward it.
Cognetti explicitly said she wants a country where civilians do not carry firearms, calling it a "great reality for us to live in."
Source: ECTV, 6/5/20Cognetti wants to "get to a point where we don't have to worry about any officers having holsters or guns in them" and called that "ideally where we get in our whole country."
Source: Black Scranton Project, 6/6/20Cognetti called police demilitarization the "next phase" of her agenda and wants to fundamentally change "the way that we police our people in the United States."
Source: Black Scranton Project, 6/6/20Cognetti cited Japan's near-total civilian gun ban as her policy ideal: a country with strict government licensing, no concealed carry, and confiscation of virtually all handguns.
Source: ECTV, 6/5/20Cognetti is endorsed by Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which publicly called to defund the police, and Action Together NEPA, which has pushed to decriminalize offenses and organized protests against Rob Bresnahan.
Source: Planned Parenthood Action Fund · Action Together NEPACognetti pledged to make Scranton's police force "as progressive and proactive as possible", a direct commitment to the radical reimagining of public safety she described.
Source: ECTV, 6/5/20