The Black Lion Party for International Solidarity turned heads and gained international headlines earlier this year when members began patrolling the streets of Philadelphia dressed in black and clutching assault rifles. Their mission, as they told The Trace in February, was to protect the public from criminals, the police, and federal immigration agents.
But the group, which models itself after the Black Panther Party for Self Defense of the 1960s and ‘70s, is waging a new battle against the City of Philadelphia after its Police Department stripped a handful of Black Lions of the right to carry their firearms.
Five group members, including Chairman Paul Birdsong, received letters in February informing them that their licenses to carry firearms were being revoked, according to an attorney representing some of the members. A copy of the letter obtained by The Trace is signed by Lieutenant Wanda Newsome, commanding officer of the Police Department’s Gun Permit Unit, and cites “good cause” and “character and reputation” as reasons for the decision.
The letter also references a January 31 encounter that the Black Lions had with a police officer at 23rd and Diamond streets in North Philadelphia. Newsome wrote that while “visibly armed,” the group engaged in conduct that “created an unreasonable danger to public safety.”…