For the first time in more than a decade, multiple bills aimed at getting guns out of the hands of potentially dangerous people passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. But now, the three measures are stuck, with the Republican-led Senate all but certain to forgo action on them before the current legislative session ends November 30.
That’s because, the bills’ supporters say, Republican leadership has shown no interest in the legislation, despite a recent poll that found that at least 80 percent of Pennsylvanians support federal proposals to implement red flag laws and to require background checks for all gun purchases, actions that are included in the measures. Because of the holdup, the bills will likely not become laws; their sponsors in the House will have to start from square one in January.
[This story originally appeared in The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here.]
During the last two weeks of October, The Trace repeatedly requested interviews with the Senate’s Republican leaders, Kim Ward, the Senate president pro tempore, and Majority Leader Joe Pittman. Neither responded.
They “could decide to move the bills tomorrow and help Pennsylvanians stop this crisis,” said Adam Garber, executive director of CeaseFirePA, a statewide anti-gun violence organization. “I would not make a bet on that happening. But every day they wait, we’re losing people.”
The state Legislature last approved a gun safety bill in 2018. It allowed judges to remove guns from those convicted of domestic violence or who are the subject of final protection from abuse orders. Before that law’s adoption, no gun safety bill had become law in more than a decade, according to gun safety advocates.
Democrats took control of the state House in 2022 with a one-vote majority, 102 to 101. In the Senate, Republicans have a 28 to 22 majority.
“We’re only one catastrophe away from the senators changing their minds, and it would be much better if they did it before we lost more Pennsylvanians rather than after.” — CeaseFire PA’s Adam Garber
State Representative Perry Warren, sponsor of the background check bill, said he’s disappointed that the gun legislation is stuck — but said that the upcoming election, in which four Senate seats are considered competitive, might change things.
“Is it a wall or is it a door that is presently closed?” he asked of the bills’ opposition. “There is bargaining, and hopefully, it would be great if the Democrats could pick up the three seats to even the Senate and (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis would have the tie-breaker vote.”
The holdup on passing gun safety laws comes as homicides statewide trend downward following a record spike during the Covid-19 pandemic — but even with that dip, guns kill about 1,800 Pennsylvanians annually. In recent years, suicides have increased from 1,694 in 2020 to 1,955 in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Three ‘common sense’ bills
The bills that narrowly passed the House were sponsored by Democrats and include reforms that a growing number of states are implementing to quell gun violence.
One measure calls for expanding background checks for firearm purchases. The second, a red flag bill, calls for allowing courts to issue extreme risk protection orders in cases involving gun owners who are determined to be a risk to themselves or others. The third bill would impose felony charges on anyone who sells or purchases a ghost gun — meaning a firearm or firearm parts that lack serial numbers.
“We made history this session by advancing several common sense gun safety measures that garnered bipartisan support, and more importantly, are widely supported by the people we represent across Pennsylvania,” said House Speaker Joanna McClinton, a Philadelphia Democrat. “Unfortunately, like so many other priorities of people across the state, Senate Republican leaders have responded with inaction, opting to do nothing on the issue of gun safety.”
The background check bill, sponsored by Representative Perry Warren, passed 109 to 92; the extreme risk protection orders bill, sponsored by Representative Jennifer O’Mara, passed 102 to 99, while the ghost gun bill, sponsored by Representatives Morgan Cephas and Malcolm Kenyatta, passed 104 to 97. Perry and O’Mara represent districts in the Philadelphia suburbs, while Cephas and Kenyatta represent Philadelphia districts.
A triple shooting and its aftermath
The ghost gun bill passed in March, two weeks after a man in the Philadelphia suburb of Bucks County used a home-assembled firearm to kill three relatives in two separate homes. Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn plans to seek the death penalty against the shooter, who is about to turn 27. She charged him with first-degree murder in the deaths of his stepmother, Karen Gordon, 52; his sister, Kera Gordon, 13; and Taylor Daniel, 25, the mother of his two children.
Schorn said she supports the ghost gun bill, especially in the aftermath of the tragedy. “If additional legislation is passed that makes guns used in crimes more identifiable, we will use that intelligence to investigate and prosecute those crimes to the fullest extent,” she said.
Garber, of CeaseFirePA, said the triple shooting helped the measure win passage, and should serve as a wakeup call for lawmakers who oppose it.
“We’re only one catastrophe away from the senators changing their minds, and it would be much better if they did it before we lost more Pennsylvanians rather than after,” Garber said.
“The largest percentage of death from firearms is actually suicide, not homicide. Those rates are higher in Pennsylvania in rural counties and among middle-aged White men.” — Representative Jennifer O’Mara
After the shooting, three Republican representatives — one from Philadelphia and two from Bucks County — signaled their support and voted for the bill, he said, which helped secure its passage in the House.
While the ghost gun proposal has stalled in the state Senate with the other two bills, Philadelphia won a decisive victory in its fight against the devices in April after settling its lawsuit against Polymer80, one of the nation’s leading ghost gun manufacturers.
A red flag law for Pennsylvania?
O’Mara said her father’s 2003 gun suicide inspired her to sponsor the extreme risk order bill. The bill, she said in an interview, would save lives lost to suicide and homicide.
“The largest percentage of death from firearms is actually suicide, not homicide. Those rates are higher in Pennsylvania in rural counties and among middle-aged white men,” she said. “My colleagues from rural Pennsylvania are now having to be confronted with the fact that their own constituents are dying by suicide at a higher rate.”
Under her bill, a relative or law enforcement officer can seek an extreme risk protection order after demonstrating that someone is a danger to themselves or others. A judge would be able to issue an order for three to six months, when the gun’s owner would lose access to their weapon.
O’Mara is frustrated that the Senate never held a hearing for her bill, but she plans to reintroduce it in early 2025 — and sees the House vote as a step in the right direction.
Closing the gun show loophole
Warren’s background check bill would close a loophole in state law that allows people to buy long guns in private sales and at gun shows without undergoing a background check.
“Assault rifles and automatic guns are long guns, and consequently aren’t subject to the background check provision,” he said. “My bill would close that exception and make sure that background checks are required for all gun purchases.”
In the meantime, Garber and other gun safety advocates are calling on senators to reconsider the legislation in the new year. “This is a problem of political will,” Garber said. “They’re going to have to decide whether they’re going to stand to protect children or protect the gun industry.”
O’Mara said she feels hopeful. “Now we have a demonstrated record of where your state rep stands on this policy.”
Mensah Dean is a staff writer at The Trace. Previously he was a staff writer on the Justice & Injustice team at The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he focused on gun violence, corruption and wrongdoing in the public and private sectors for five years. Mensah also covered criminal courts, public schools and city government for the Philadelphia Daily News, the Inquirer’s sister publication.
