proposed laws

PA Bill Number: HB2311

Title: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program.

Description: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program. ...

Last Action: Laid on the table

Last Action Date: Sep 23, 2024

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Pa. senator calls for handgun licensing law :: 12/15/2015

PHILADELPHIA (WHTM) – A state Senator has unveiled legislation that would require Pennsylvanians to obtain a firearms eligibility license before they could buy a handgun.

Senator Art Haywood (D-Montgomery/Philadelphia) said handgun buyers would have to be at least 18 years old and a Pennsylvania resident to qualify for the license. They would have to pass a fingerprint background check, and they must have completed a firearms safety course within the last three years.

Law enforcement officers, armed forces members and retirees, and licensed firearms manufacturers would be exempt.

Haywood said 13 states and the District of Columbia have already passed legislation similar to his measure, Senate Bill 1029.

He said a 2015 study by the John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research found homicides dropped 40 percent after Connecticut implemented handgun licensing and universal background check laws while the repeal of similar laws in Missouri led to at least 49 additional murders each year.

[For a refutation of the statements of the John Hopkins Study cited above go to this link https://www.foac-pac.org/CPRC-Bloombergs-School-of-Public-Health-Cherry-Picked-Claim-that-firearm-homicides-in-Connecticut-fell-40-Percent-because-of-a-gun-licensing-law/News-Item/2346]

http://abc27.com/2015/12/14/pa-senator-calls-for-handgun-licensing-law/