HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gun rights supporters met on the Capitol steps Monday morning for the 18th annual Right to Keep and Bear Arms Rally. Republican lawmakers and gun rights advocates used the rally to call for fewer restrictions on gun ownership.
The event comes after a new Democratic majority in the state House helped pass two gun safety bills in May.
One of those bills would require universal background checks for firearms purchases, including sales of long guns between parties who are not licensed dealers, which do not currently require background checks. The other bill would enact “extreme risk protection orders” (ERPO), also known as “red flag” laws that allow the temporary confiscation of a person’s firearms if they are deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.
The bills face long odds in the Republican-controlled Senate, where 14 conservative lawmakers joined to create the Pennsylvania Senate Second Amendment Caucus in May.
“Red flag laws and universal background checks, unfortunately, made it to the Senate, but now that we have a strong Second Amendment Caucus in the Senate, I am sure they will be taking up that fight,” State Rep. Abby Major (R-Armstrong/Westmoreland) said at the rally. “It is the right of every citizen to own a firearm, regardless of what you look like, who you love. And we want everyone to exercise that right legally and as afforded to them by the Constitution.”
State Sen. Cris Dush (R-Jefferson), who serves as chair to the Second Amendment Caucus, spoke at the rally. Dush has also introduced a bill to remove the state requirement for a license to carry a concealed firearm.
“Our sacred right to arm and protect ourselves and our loved ones is non-negotiable and we will defend it,” Dush said.
In response to the rally, Democratic lawmakers said they respected Second Amendment rights but wanted measures to ensure gun safety.
“I don’t like to personally count chickens before they’re hatched, but when I think of almost every district across the Commonwealth, they have people who are dying from firearm homicides and firearm suicides. It doesn’t really discriminate between red counties and blue counties,” said State Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El (D-Lancaster). “We are trying to save lives and frankly, I think there are more Republicans on board with that idea than they like to think.”
Gun rights advocates at the rally voiced support for legal gun ownership, and some had more nuanced views toward the proposed laws.
“I have no problem with the background check. Everybody should do it. It should actually be longer. I have no problem waiting a couple days to pick up a gun,” said Christopher S. of Avondale, Pa. “Red flag is not correct. It’s just enough is enough. Don’t say I’m guilty of a crime until I commit a crime.”
Speakers also included Philadelphia-based gun rights advocates Karise and Jerel Crew, who founded firearm training club “That Gun Talk.”