PA Bill Number: HB1441
Title: Providing for tenants' rights in cases of violence.
Description: Providing for tenants' rights in cases of violence. ...
Last Action: Laid on the table (Pursuant to House Rule 71)
Last Action Date: Apr 16, 2024
Anti-Gunners: Gun-control group backs McGinty - she says she'll work with hunters :: 08/24/2016
Picking up the backing of the gun-control group CeaseFirePA in a war of endorsements, Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Katie McGinty pledged Wednesday to work with Pennsylvania sportsmen and hunters on gun measures if she is elected.
McGinty said her Republican rival, Sen. Pat Toomey, views gun control "as a political calculation, as compared to a matter of principle" and slammed him for not acting on gun measures since sponsoring the failed Manchin-Toomey bill for background checks in 2013.
"I would bring responsible sportsmen and hunters from Pennsylvania to the table and work with them to bring new partners [and] alliances, and frankly, diffuse the vitriol from this issue," McGinty said.
Her remarks, on a conference call Wednesday morning, came two days after Toomey was endorsed by Americans for Responsible Solutions, the gun-safety group founded by former Democratic Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head in a 2011 attack in Tucson that killed six. Toomey was also endorsed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his gun control-focused PAC, Independence USA.
"The gun safety organizations that are serious about achieving bipartisan results, such as those of Gabby Giffords and Michael Bloomberg, are supporting Pat Toomey," said Toomey spokesman Ted Kwong in response to the CeaseFirePA endorsement.
McGinty would be a "constant, consistent leader" on gun issues, said Shira Goodman of CeaseFirePA on the Wednesday call.
McGinty is "the candidate we believe who will make gun violence prevention a cornerstone of her work in Washington," Goodman said.
CeaseFirePA surveyed both candidates before and after the primary election, she said. McGinty supported the group's measures: expanding background checks, regulating assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, closing the "terror gap," and supporting a bill from Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) to prohibit people convicted of misdemeanor hate crimes from buying guns.
Toomey, Goodman said, responded with support for background checks but did not respond with support for the full agenda.
The gun groups that have endorsed Toomey are looking to line up Republican support on an issue on which Democrats are already united. More important, McGinty said, is electing enough Democrats to tip the Senate majority.
"Democratic leadership would bring a focus and priority on this critical issue and I am certain that we would build the coalition needed to see progress on these critical issues," she said.
