PA lawmakers advance gun control bills following York police shooting

Lawmakers on the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee advanced a slate of gun control bills on Monday, just days after a shooting in York County left three police officers dead and others critically injured.  

The committee held a moment of silence for the three fallen officers from the Northern York County Regional Police Department – Det. Sgt. Cody Becker, Det. Isaiah Emenheiser and Det. Mark Baker – prior to holding votes. State Rep. Kate Klunk, a Republican from York County, described the incident as a “dark day” for the community. 

“But the light of the lives of the officers and the detectives who we lost shine on,” Klunk said. “They were shining at every vigil, every prayer service and every home that is praying for them and their families. Their light will live on in so many ways.”

The four bills that advanced on Monday – all sponsored by Democrats – were reported out of the committee with party-line votes, and now head to the full House chamber for consideration. The bills advanced despite strong pushback from Republican lawmakers on the committee.

The measures seek to ban self-assembled firearms, implement universal background checks for all gun purchases and ban Glock switches and so-called machine gun conversion devices that speed up a gun’s rate of fire. A fourth bill considered by the committee proposes a process by which family members and law enforcement could petition the courts to have firearms temporarily removed from a person’s possession if they are deemed to be a threat to themself or others. 

The bills approved by the committee were: 

• House Bill 1099, sponsored by state Rep. Morgan Cephas, would ban self-assembled guns that are constructed entirely from non-metal substances, which are sometimes referred to as ghost guns.
• House Bill 1593, sponsored by state Rep. Perry Warren, would remove a background check exemption for long guns, which would effectively require background checks for all gun purchases.
• House Bill 1859, sponsored by state Rep. Jennifer O’Mara, would establish Extreme Risk Protection Orders in Pennsylvania, which would allow courts to issue orders that temporarily prohibit a person from possessing or buying a gun if that person is determined to be a threat to themselves or others.
• House Bill 1866, sponsored by state Rep. Mandy Steele, would ban Glock switches and other machine gun conversion devices that accelerate a gun’s rate of fire.

Democrats on the committee said the legislative efforts would improve public safety in Pennsylvania. 

On the topic of self-assembled ghost guns, Cephas said a state-level ban is needed “to fix a gap” in the state’s gun laws. “These firearms can be obtained by anyone without a background check, a criminal record, or simply someone with access to a credit card,” she said, later adding: “It is our duty to make sure untraceable and undetectable firearm parts and components are unavailable to anyone who tries to possess them.” 

Democrats on the panel also said that an Extreme Risk Protection Order law, also known as a red flag law, could prevent gun suicides and save lives in Pennsylvania. “We are creating a system that allows people to get the help that they need without committing an atrocious and unfixable act,” said state Rep. Emily Kinkead. “It saves lives, and that is a government responsibility, too – to save lives.”

Republicans looked to separate firearms from those who use them to commit crimes and violent acts. State Rep. Tim Bonner said blaming the gun rather than the person who used it to commit a crime is a “failed approach to this problem.”

“The individual’s constitutional rights to bear arms, sacred in our Constitution, sacred in our history, continues to be under attack every time a person is killed by a firearm, failing to recognize that it is the gunman, and not the gun, which is the cause of the attack,” Bonner said. “Blaming the instrument and not the person is a failed approach to this problem.”

GOP state Rep. Stephanie Borowicz also pushed back on claims that guns are behind the violence being seen across America. “The leftists are pushing an ideology to mutilate children, which is child abuse, telling them they are a different gender than how God made them, which is demonic,” she said. “They’re pushing that, and yet they want to take away law-abiding gun owners’ rights and ration them – that’s not going to happen.” 

Borowicz later added, “Cain killed Abel with a rock. We don’t have a gun problem. We have a sin problem in this nation.”

At one point during the hearing, Minority Chair Rob Kauffman offered an amendment to HB 1593 that would have replaced the background check language with “constitutional carry” language that would allow for the permitless concealed carry of firearms in Pennsylvania. A similar proposal made it to then-Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk in 2021, but the Democratic governor vetoed it. 

“The Second Amendment is a fundamental right, and just like you don’t need a permit to speak freely, or go to church, you shouldn’t need one to carry a firearm,” Kauffman said. The amendment was defeated with a 14-12 vote. 

All four bills now await votes before the full House of Representatives.