Pa. lawmakers lack courage to vote on gun violence bills
If Pennsylvania’s casinos took bets on the cowardice of our Republican state lawmakers when it comes to addressing gun violence, I would have hit the jackpot Monday.
The agenda for Monday morning’s state House Judiciary Committee meeting indicated votes were planned on several long-languishing bills, including one that would ban future sales of assault weapons.
Yeah, right.
Trump will concede he lost the 2020 election before that happens, I thought.
I tuned into the livestream, eager to see what kind of sham would be pulled. My chips were all in on the bills not being voted on by the committee. Surely, some scheme was in the works. Bingo.
It took only a few minutes into the meeting for the Republicans in charge to chicken out.
Committee Chairman Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin, immediately turned to Rep. Johnathan Hershey, R-Juniata.
Hershey suggested the committee recommend the four bills be reassigned to the Local Government Committee.
How clever. They no longer would be the Judiciary Committee’s problem. But they wouldn’t be any closer to the finish line, either.
Hershey was a safe fall guy to take any criticism for such cowardice. He’s a lame duck. He lost his reelection bid in last month’s primary, so he won’t be in the Legislature much longer. Happy trails, Johnathan.
“I certainly recognize the importance of these issues that we’re bringing up today,” Hershey said.
Then he said state lawmakers didn’t need to act now because of the news from over the weekend that the U.S. Senate had reached a tentative deal to address gun violence. Hershey also said one of the bills, which would allow municipalities and counties to regulate guns, would be in conflict with current state law.
The most appropriate thing to do, Hershey said, was “to have this conversation at a later date.”
When? How many more people need to be gunned down for lawmakers to do something?
Admittedly, there’s no guarantee any actions that lawmakers take will be the solution. But you don’t know until you try.
Blaming mental health and bad intentions isn’t the answer. Nothing that was proposed in the four bills — banning assault weapon sales, requiring safe gun storage, creating a red-flag law and allowing municipalities and counties to regulate guns — would prevent law-abiding gun owners from arming themselves.
But state lawmakers can’t count on federal lawmakers to solve the problem. The agreement announced by a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including retiring Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomey, is far from a done deal.
Monday’s stall tactic to vote the bills from one committee to another was particularly slimy.
It created a conundrum for Democrats and at least one Republican on the committee, Rep. Todd Stephens of Montgomery County, a rare voice of common sense in the GOP who supports addressing gun violence.
They opposed stalling.
They wanted votes on the bills Monday.
But if they voted against sending the bills elsewhere for consideration, that meant the bills would remain in the Judiciary Committee, where they would be dead and buried.
So, five of the 10 Democrats grudgingly supported the move. They hoped there would be a better chance of getting the bills voted on and advanced by the Local Government Committee.
Rep. Tim Briggs, D-Montgomery, called the committee’s decision to pass the buck “irresponsible” and a “dereliction of our duties.”
Rep. Jared Solomon, D-Philadelphia, said the committee has a moral imperative to act now and should be “encouraged and emboldened to act” based on the tentative agreement by the U.S. Senate.
“We need to be leaders in keeping people safe,” echoed Rep.
Melissa Shusterman, D-Chester.
She said a police chief recently begged her to “get the military-style weapons away from people. We cannot compete with that.”
Rep. Mike Zabel, D-Delaware, said moving the bills from committee to committee is just another way to bury them.
“This isn’t moving the ball forward. This is kicking it under the bleachers,” he said.
I’d love to share what some of the Republican members of the Judiciary Committee said Monday. But their lips were sealed, with the exception of Stephens.
Chairman Kauffman tried to limit debate. He repeatedly asked representatives to stick to discussing only the motion recommending the bills be moved to the other committee.
Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-Schuylkill, is majority chairman of the Local Government Committee. It would be his call whether to allow the four bills to be voted on there. I contacted his office Monday to ask about his plan but I did not receive a response.
It’s obvious why Republicans do not want to have votes about gun violence. They really can’t win.
If any of them side with reform supporters and have the courage to vote their conscience, they could face the wrath of Second Amendment worshipping conservative voters in future primary elections.
And if they vote against plans to reduce gun violence, they are marked as cold-hearted and provide ammunition to Democrats who are gunning for their seats.
The only winner is anyone who bet on the GOP to do nothing. And that doesn’t pay off for anyone.