proposed laws

PA Bill Number: HB777

Title: In firearms and other dangerous articles, further providing for definitions and providing for the offense of sale of firearm or firearm parts without ...

Description: In firearms and other dangerous articles, further providing for definitions and providing for the offense of sale of firearm or firearm parts without ...

Last Action: Third consideration and final passage (104-97)

Last Action Date: Mar 27, 2024

more >>

decrease font size   increase font size

Gun control group urges Pat Toomey to ditch his background checks bill and support a more comprehensive proposal :: 08/21/2019

Gun control advocacy group CeaseFirePA is urging Sen. Pat Toomey to abandon efforts to revive a failed background checks proposal in favor of what they say is a more comprehensive measure.

CeaseFirePA has intensified its pressure on Toomey, Pennsylvania’s Republican senator, to get behind SR42, the Senate version of the background check bill that passed the House earlier this year. The organization argues that the Manchin-Toomey bill has several provisions that make it weaker than SR42.

“We’d like to move forward rather than backwards,” said Shira Goodman, the executive director of CeaseFire PA. “It passed the House already so we would like to see him get behind the Senate version of that bill and see if we can get them to reconcile and get it to the president’s desk rather than go backwards to the older bill, which isn’t as strong.”

Toomey’s office on Tuesday afternoon responded to CeaseFire’s call:

“No one in the U.S. Senate has worked harder than Senator Toomey to achieve a bipartisan consensus on expanding background checks to keep guns out of hands of violent criminals and the dangerously mentally ill. Even now, while some groups engage in partisan antics, Senator Toomey is actively working with Democrat and Republican senators, President Trump, and gun safety groups in order to achieve an outcome. It’s a shame, but not surprising, CeaseFirePA has flip-flopped on its support for a bipartisan background check bill.”

CeaseFirePA previously supported the Manchin-Toomey measure, noting in 2015 that:

“We need to thank Senator Toomey for standing firm in his support for this important measure that will keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them."

In the wake of several recent mass shootings, the Lehigh Valley Republican renewed his pitch for the expanded background checks measure that he and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) introduced six years ago in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre. The so-called Manchin-Toomey bill would expand background checks to all gun sales.

The bipartisan background check bill was defeated in the Democrat-led Senate in 2013. Only four Republican senators voted in favor of it. The measure got the support of 54 members; 46 members opposed it. It needed 60 votes to move forward.

Toomey has continued rigorous talks with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to shore up support for his measure.

CeaseFirePA argues that Toomey’s measure would leave critical loopholes and weaken other aspects of gun control laws. The organization’s call to Toomey to back the Senate bill has recently intensified.

Manchin-Toomey, the organization argues, expands background checks only to cover gun show or online sales, leaving loopholes for most private sales. The Senate bill, which earlier this year passed the House as HR8, would close background check loopholes and cover private sales (including sales by unlicensed dealers).

The Senate bill would expand to 10 business days the time allotted to complete a background check. The current law extends 72 hours. Manchin-Toomey would shorten the time frame to 24 hours to conduct background checks at gun shows.

Gun control advocates Everytown for Gun Safety and former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a shooting survivor, previously supported Toomey’s measure.

A perennial hot-button issue, the gun debate has emerged a focal point of the national discourse in the wake of a spate of mass shootings in this country that have claimed the lives of hundreds of people. The rancor and outcry is poised to shift national outlooks on the issue of gun control.

While opposed to any bans on military style semi automatic weapons, Sen. Pat Toomey is seeking to revive a measured sponsored by him that would expand background checks.

For instance, in its latest survey a Republican polling firm finds compelling evidence that a key bloc of swing voters want stricter gun control. Pollsters from Public Opinion Strategy surveyed 500 suburban women in five districts, including Pennsylvania’s first congressional, and found that out of seven options, the women said their highest priority issue is guns. That option got first choice ranking from 30 percent of respondents. The next, healthcare, garnered 24 percent. National security, at the bottom, had eight percent.

Republican support for some gun control measures has increased at the state level, including for a measure that would allow expedited gun seizures if a person is provably dangerous to themselves or others. At the federal level, a majority of Americans support such so-called red flag laws, which allow family members or law enforcement to petition courts to temporarily remove guns from a person who is seen to be a risk to themselves or others.

President Donald Trump, who had previously expressed support for such legislation, on Tuesday afternoon, signaled that background checks measures were off the table, according to The Atlantic.

The National Rifle Association has assailed the proposals.

Toomey in August said a Congressional ratification of his proposal was long overdue.

“This is a common sense and very, very broadly supported measure that fully respects the right of law abiding citizens and respect the rights of the Second Amendment," he said.

A majority of Americans favor tougher gun laws, according to research by the Pew Research Center. Nearly six-in-ten U.S. adults (57%) say gun laws should be more strict, while smaller shares say they are about right (31%) or should be less strict (11%), according to a survey conducted in September and October 2018.

CeaseFirePA argues that the Manchin-Toomey measure would weaken current laws regulating interstate handgun sales. The measure would allow out-of-state gun dealers to conduct business at any gun show in any state.

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/08/gun-control-group-urges-pat-toomey-to-ditch-his-background-checks-bill-and-support-a-more-comprehensive-proposal.html