Pennsylvania House Panel Advances Gun Legislation

The Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee advanced four proposed gun laws to the state House of Representatives in the wake of an ambush attack that killed three police officers on Sept. 15.

A fifth law is being held for future consideration.

The bills are a list of gun control measures backed by gun control and gun safety groups nationwide.

Democratic members of the committee said legislators must do something to address violent crime involving firearms.

Republicans on the committee countered that most of the bills were redundant and were practically identical to existing federal laws. They said the legislation would not solve the crime issues facing Pennsylvania.

Each bill advanced on a party-line vote of 14–12, reflecting the committee’s Democratic majority.

It is not clear when the bills will come up for a vote.

The committee approved HB 1593. If enacted, it would repeal language in the current state law requiring background checks for certain firearms. This would expand the requirement to include rifles and shotguns.

Republican state Rep. Rob Kauffman had amended the legislation, turning it into a “Constitutional Carry” law. This would have removed the state’s requirement for a license to carry a firearm.

“The Second Amendment is a fundamental right,” Kauffman told the committee. “Criminals will carry guns regardless of permits.”

Kauffman’s amendment failed by the same margin that advanced the bill.

HB 1859 would establish Emergency Response Protection Orders, so-called “Red Flag” laws.

Supporters say the law will save lives by preventing suicides and disarming those who have made credible violent threats.

Detractors say the laws trample an individual’s Second, Fourth, Fifth, and 14th Amendment rights.

“That’s not how it works in America. It’s called due process, the Fifth Amendment,” said Republican state Rep. Stephanie Borowicz.

Democratic committee members disagreed.

Democratic state Rep. Emily Kinkead said the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a similar law in its 2024 decision in United States v. Rahimi.

In that decision, the court ruled that a person who poses a credible threat to another person may be temporarily disarmed under the Second Amendment.

Kinkead said the decision confirms that no constitutional right is unlimited.

“Your right to do harm to other people is not protected,” she said.

The committee also voted to send a bill on undetectable firearms to the House.

If signed into law, HB 1099 would require that all firearms contain enough metal to make them detectable by conventional detection devices, such as airport metal detectors.

The bill’s sponsor, Democratic state Rep. Morgan Cephas, said that several municipalities have instituted such laws. She said the state should follow their lead.

“It’s the least we can do to protect our children, our law enforcement officers, and everyone else in our communities,” Cephas said.

Committee Chairman Democratic state Rep. Tim Briggs pulled HB837, a bill to limit handgun purchases to one per month. Briggs said at least one representative had said he would vote against the bill.

“So, I am not going to be bringing this bill up at this point. We will bring it up in the future,” Briggs said.

The committee began the hearing with a moment of silence for Detective Sgt. Cody Becker, Detective Mark Baker, and Detective Isaiah Emenheiser, of the Northern York County Regional Police Department.

The three veteran officers were killed, and two others were wounded, by a man they were attempting to arrest on Sept. 15.

The killer ambushed the officers as they entered his girlfriend’s house, York County District Attorney Tim Barker said soon after the crime.

Republican state Rep. Kate Klunk, who represents part of York County, opened the hearing honoring the officers.

“Last Wednesday was a dark day for our community, but the light of the lives of the officers and the detectives who we lost shines on. They were shining at every vigil, every prayer service in every home that is praying for them and their families,” Klunk told the committee.

Republican state Rep Tim Bonner said the legislation presented won’t solve the problem. He said the bills address issues that are already illegal.

Bonner said the solution is enforcement of existing law, based on constitutional principles.

“If we abandon the rule of law, we will find ourselves in a state of chaos,” Bonner said.

Borowicz agreed. She said cities with the strictest gun laws, such as Chicago, often have very high rates of violent crime.

She said the nation needs a spiritual awakening.

“What needs to happen every day in this country is a walking away from evil,” she said.

In response, Democratic state Rep. Christopher Rabb decried “bigotry that’s being spewed in our committee today.”

He said Bonner and Borowicz’s arguments ignored the real causes of violent crime.

Rabb accused Borowicz of using a “racial trope” that he finds offensive when she mentioned the city of Chicago.

He said some people are blaming “black colleges hundreds or thousands of miles away” for the violence in their communities.

“The violence that we’re seeking to address through the Legislature is born out of hatred and ignorance and unnecessary division,” Rabb said.

“And there were references made to cities, but no mention of Utah, where the violence happened between white Christian men.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.