HARRISBURG – Lt. Gov. Austin Davis applauded the Pennsylvania House for taking action on gun safety legislation and passing two key bills with bipartisan support today during legislative session.
“Every Pennsylvanian deserves to be safe from gun violence, and the Pennsylvania House took bold steps today to address the epidemic of gun violence in our communities,” said Davis. “This violence is unacceptable, and we’ve waited too long to take action. Firearms are the leading cause of death for young people in Pennsylvania, and on average someone is killed with a gun every five hours in Pennsylvania.
“As Lieutenant Governor, I urge my colleagues in the Pennsylvania Senate to bring these bills up for consideration. Let’s have a full, open and honest debate about what we can all do to make our schools and neighborhoods safer. The Shapiro-Davis Administration is ready to participate in this conversation, but we cannot allow this unacceptable level of violence to shatter families and communities any longer. Pennsylvanians are counting on us to get this done.”
The Pennsylvania House today passed gun safety bills that would:
- Require background checks on every sale of a firearm (House Bill 714)
- Provide a mechanism for loved ones, family members or law enforcement to ask a judge to hold a hearing to temporarily disarm someone in crisis (House Bill 1018).
The bills now move to the state Senate for consideration.
In March, Gov. Josh Shapiro appointed Davis to serve as chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The Shapiro-Davis budget invests heavily in public safety, including funding nearly 400 new troopers to protect and serve the Commonwealth, increasing state funding for violence intervention and prevention grants to a record $105 million and providing tax credits to help communities to hire more police officers.
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