PA Bill Number: HR541
Title: Recognizing the month of October 2024 as "Domestic Violence Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania.
Description: A Resolution recognizing the month of October 2024 as "Domestic Violence Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania.
Last Action:
Last Action Date: Sep 27, 2024
Anti-gunners: Mayor Bracey: Mandate background checks for rifles :: 05/14/2016
As mayor of York, I’m no stranger to the number of funerals for young people taken from us far too soon. For mayors and law enforcement, gun violence is the life-and-death issue of our time.
Many in the media, and frankly, many in positions of power, think of gun violence as a city problem, a calamity experienced by a few concentrated in urban areas. But we in York County know that it can strike in unpredictable places – and when we least expect it.
Last summer, a man in Springettsbury Township killed his wife and himself, apparently with a shotgun. There were four murder-suicides in York County last year. In total, there were 18 murders, about half outside of the city.
On Monday, I’ll drive to Harrisburg to speak in support of the bipartisan background checks bill. I’ll speak for the victims of gun violence; not just the victims I represent, but all the victims of York County, and every victim across the country whose life was cut short by gun violence. I’ll speak about basic public safety policies that can begin to cut down this carnage and crack this culture of violence.
I’ll speak for the innocent victims of the mass shooting in Wilkinsburg, where assault weapons were used to destroy a family as they relaxed on a warm evening. I’ll speak for Officer Lloyd Reed of St. Clair Township, Cpl. Bryon Dickson, and retired York City Officer Ron Heist, three Pennsylvania law enforcement officers murdered with rifles.
I’ll be joined by people from all over the state who will come together for the biggest gun violence prevention rally ever in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania law already requires us to get background checks when buying handguns from private, unlicensed sellers, but it exempts rifles, shotguns and assault weapons. (Photo: Twister40, Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Background checks work
We’re often at a loss to conceive how someone could sink low enough to want to kill himself and take another with him. But we’re not puzzled by what to do about it.
Basic, logical firearm regulations like background checks prevent criminals and people with severe mental illness from getting guns. Pennsylvania’s criminal background check system blocked almost 12,000 gun sales to people who shouldn’t have them in 2014 alone. Nationally, background checks have stopped more than 2.4 million gun sales since 1998.
Of course, some very determined criminals will find other ways of getting guns, and some will decide it’s not worth it. For others, it may just slow them down long enough to cool off, or long enough for someone to intervene.
States with stronger gun laws have fewer gun deaths, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. States with background checks for private sales see fewer gun suicides and fewer gun homicides by intimate partners, according to FBI data.
Pennsylvania law already requires us to get background checks when buying handguns from private, unlicensed sellers, but it exempts rifles, shotguns and assault weapons. Handguns are used more frequently in crimes, probably because they tend to be cheaper and easier to conceal, but long guns are no less dangerous, as the examples above illustrate. Long guns were used in half the gun murders of Pennsylvania law enforcement officers over the past 10 years.
Stronger than ever
As voters have become aware of the loopholes in our gun laws, and with each new shooting, they are waking up and speaking out about gun violence.
There was a perception after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 that this movement would inevitably fade. But today we are stronger than ever – and still growing.
Monday’s rally will draw hundreds from around the state, and it will call even more attention to the daily tragedy of gun violence that hits in places like Ross Township, Feasterville, Hawley, Albany Township, and the City of York.
Gun violence is a problem for everyone who values our families and their lives, and doing something about it is everyone’s responsibility. On Monday in Harrisburg, I’ll ask our legislators to close the long gun loophole and require background checks for every gun sale.
You can join this effort by calling your legislators and asking if they’ve co-sponsored the background check bill – HB 1010 in the House and SB 1049 in the Senate. Together, we can slow the tide of gun violence and save lives in Pennsylvania.
C. Kim Bracey is mayor of York.
