Prospects grim for gun bills cleared in state House

(The Center Square) – Two controversial gun bills cleared the state House on Monday with bipartisan support, but that doesn’t mean they’ll get anywhere near the governor’s desk any time soon.

That’s because, despite Democrats’ slim margin in the lower chamber, Republicans still control the Senate by six votes – and they believe stricter laws, including universal background checks and emergency protection orders, won’t solve the problems the proposals purport to fix.

Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, told The Center Square that increasing safety and security remains of “chief importance” to Republicans, but said their policies to do so involve supporting law enforcement; leading school safety initiatives; and examining ways to provide “greater mental and behavioral health support.”

“Pennsylvania currently has robust laws in place pertaining to guns, which must be enforced in every corner of our commonwealth,” he said.

Democrats argue, however, that enacting universal background checks for gun sales and setting up a legal process to take firearms from owners in crisis – typically referred to as a “red flag” law – are two policies with broad public support.

House Speaker Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, said the “meaningful action …. was long overdue.”

“While this is just the first step, by passing these commonsense and responsible gun safety measures we’ve shown our neighbors and communities that we are listening and we are acting, and that we stand with them in combatting senseless gun violence,” she said.

House Bill 714, which would require background checks for all firearms – regardless of barrel length – cleared the lower chamber 109-92 after nine Republicans crossed the aisle to support the measure. Private sales and gun show sales would be subjected to the new rule, too.

Critics argue the measure makes ownership more burdensome for law-abiding residents while doing nothing to prevent criminals from buying firearms illegally.

The second measure, House Bill 1018, passed the chamber with a much slimmer majority of 102-99. The legislation would create a legal framework for extreme risk protection orders. The “red flag” law lets relatives and law enforcement seek a judge’s approval to temporarily disarm a gun owner in crisis.

Rep. Jennifer O’Mara, D-Springfield, said she sponsored the legislation in honor of her father, a veteran Philadelphia firefighter who shot himself in 2003. O’Mara and other supporters of red flag laws say the policy prevents both homicide and suicide, the latter of which accounted for 53% of gun-related deaths in Pennsylvania in 2021.

Critics argue the proposal’s broad language leaves the door open for bad actors to weaponize the orders against gun owners. Getting firearms back afterward could be a years-long process, they add.

A third proposal to criminalize failure to report a stolen firearm to law enforcement, House Bill 338, failed to pass by one vote. Democrat Rep. Frank Burns, who represents a district in Cambria County, sided with all 100 Republicans against the measure because it punishes the wrong people, he said.

“Instead of proposing stronger penalties for the criminal who actually steals a gun and uses it to shoot someone, ‘progressives’ want to make criminals of the gun owner, punishing him or her for not acting quickly enough to report a lost or stolen gun,” he said. “It’s ironic that many of the backers of bills like this would raise a ruckus if police were to stop and frisk people looking for any promptly reported lost or stolen weapons.”

Notably, Burns voted against the other two proposals, as well, because he “refuses to dilute Second Amendment rights.”

“These three bills may have gotten out of the House Judiciary Committee with party-line votes, but they didn’t pass the House that way because I voted my conscience,” he said. “I refuse to chip away at the Second Amendment rights of the people of Cambria County and Pennsylvania, which is the crystal-clear aim of this legislation.”