PA Bill Number: HB829
Title: In preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Description: An Act amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor Code, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Last Action: Signed in House
Last Action Date: Jul 3, 2024
Pa. House continues its exploration of gun law changes :: 04/13/2018
Requiring background checks for all gun purchases and requiring anyone with a final protection-from-abuse order imposed on them to surrender their firearms were labeled by one representative as a good place for Pennsylvania to start if it wants to change its gun laws to improve public safety.
Rep. Jamie Santora, R-Delaware County, told the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that is not all that he believes needs to be done. He'd like to see steps taken to protect schools from gun violence and to help those with mental illness too.
But for him, the bottom line is something needs to be done.
"We can take steps to get to comprehensive solutions but we do not have to wait until we figure it all out to do something," he said. "If we do, we will do nothing and most important that cannot happen."
The committee is holding a series of hearings that continue on Wednesday and into next week to give House members an opportunity to make a pitch for gun law changes they favor and answer questions from their colleagues who may hold different views.
Committee Chairman Ron Marsico, R-Dauphin County, anticipated that the debate on this controversial topic could be lively but said it was a discussion that needs to be held in the wake of the rash of mass shootings in recent months. He anticipates his committee will consider some gun-related bills being discussed at the hearings later this month or next.
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A recent poll by Franklin & Marshall College shows the Parkland school shooting in Florida has Recent polls show strong support among Pennsylvania voters for tighter background checks; a ban on assault weapons and raising the minimum purchasing age from 18 to 21.
Deb Marteslo, Pennsylvania state lead for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said she is grateful that Marsico is having the hearings.
"It is important to have conversations for both sides to listen to the other's point of view," she said, after Tuesday hearing. "There is real value to start to open the dialogue."
Among the ideas bandied about during the hearing for improving school safety included arming school staff, making modifications that restrict entry points in schools, and performing threat vulnerability assessments of school building.
More generally, Rep. Mike Schlossberg, D-Lehigh County, urged passage of legislation that create an "extreme risk" protective order that allows concerned family members or law enforcement to temporary confiscate guns from those with pressing emotional or mental health issues. He also advocated for a ban on assault rifles.
Along with other ideas, Santora pushed for passage of his bill extending the state's background check requirement on private sales of long guns which include rifles, shotguns and semi-automatic rifles.
Other lawmakers called that the least effective of all the solutions that have been offered since most crimes involve handguns and not long guns.
But Rep. Dan Miller, D-Allegheny County, said there is a growing concern about the amount of long guns used to harm police officer and in intimate partner violence. Given the capability of some of those guns, he said he believes every gun transfer should require a background check through a system that is expedient and accurate.
Democratic Reps. Mike Schlossberg of Lehigh County and Carolyn Comitta of Chester County both called for passage of Senate Bill 501, which passed the Senate by 50-0 vote, to accelerate the timeframe from 60 days to within 48 hours in which firearms must be turned over to an attorney, law enforcement or licensed gun dealer from an individual who has a permanent protection from abuse filed against them.
But Rep. Barry Jozwiak, R-Berks County, argued that a similar law is already on the books. The former sheriff of Berks County said federal law prohibits anyone with a protection order against them from possessing all types of firearms.
He said in his experience, anyone going for a protection order who told a judge their life was threatened, "the judge will write in that PFA order to surrender that weapon to take that person's weapon at the time the PFA is served." But Comitta said as a matter of practice, judges in Pennsylvania use their discretion when it comes to seizing firearms in PFA orders and Senate Bill 501 would make it mandatory.
Marteslo said along with being strong proponents of universal background checks, Moms Demand Action put passage of this Senate bill as one of its main priorities to protect women.
"This is not about guns," she said. "Senate Bill 501 is about domestic violence perpetrated for the most part against women."
http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/04/pa_house_continues_its_explora.html
