PA Bill Number: SB1198
Title: In plants and plant products, providing for plant and pollinator protection; conferring powers and duties on the Department of Agriculture and ...
Description: In plants and plant products, providing for plant and pollinator protection; conferring powers and duties on the Department of Agriculture and .. ...
Last Action: Referred to AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Last Action Date: May 17, 2024
Lawmaker: Pa. should get rid of instant background check system for firearms :: 05/25/2016
HARRISBURG — A state lawmaker Tuesday told hundreds of gun advocates that Pennsylvania should abolish the state's instant background check system for firearm purchases.
Rep. Matt Gabler, R-Elk County, speaking at the 10th annual Second Amendment rally, was welcomed with applause when he suggested getting rid of the state background check because there's a national system in place. He called it a bureaucratic obstruction.
Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, a gun control advocate, said the state system is “an effective way to do background checks and instead of abolishing it we need to expand it to include long guns.”
He called the notion of nixing the background checks “insanity.”
Jay Ostrich, spokesman for House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Marshall, a key sponsor of a bill to abolish the system, said delays and administrative holdups are common with the state system.
“On top of that, it's a waste of taxpayer money,” Ostrich said. “But any delay is a delay of the exercise of your inalienable rights.”
Wally Imbronone of Tobyhanna in Monroe County said he drove two hours to the rally in Harrisburg because he thinks that lawmakers in recent years have threatened gun rights.
“I'm here to support the Second Amendment,” Imbronone said.
Police checked 61 firearms at the Capitol on Tuesday morning as residents from across the state poured into the Capitol Rotunda to attend the rally.
Imbronone returned his firearm to his car when he saw the rally was moved indoors this year from the front steps.
Annie Ritter of Easton checked her .38-caliber special revolver with police before heading inside.
Three buses from Beaver County transported supporters to the Capitol. David Janicki was among them. He and two friends wore Revolutionary War uniforms and turned in their muskets at the police checkpoint.
“The Pennsylvania database and stricter gun laws, I'm opposed to (them),” Janicki said.
Rep. Rick Saccone, R-Elizabeth Township, proudly told those attending: “I carry my gun almost everywhere I go, on my hip for everyone to see. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms!”
Colt Shaw is an intern with the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents' Association.
