PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio, AP) — As the nation wrestles with the aftermath of Tuesday’s mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 children and two adults, a move to advance a bill to ban assault weapons failed in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Wednesday.
The measure, originally introduced in December 2020, would have outlawed high-capacity semi-automatic assault rifles such as the AR-15, which was used during Tuesday’s incident in Texas in addition to the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, the Parkland school shooting in 2018, the 2016 Pulse night club shooting in Orlando, and the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012.
A motion to consider the bill was rejected Wednesday at the state capitol in a 111-87 vote.
Democratic Rep. Danielle Friel Otten (D-Chester) worked to take up the bill after Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Centre) argued it should have to go through a committee first.
The bill has been stalled in the Judiciary Committee since being introduced in December 2020.
During floor debate, Otten said the massacre of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary Tuesday created a “moral obligation to act today, before this happens one more time."
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Minority Leader Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, listed communities across Pennsylvania that have recently been the site of gun violence.
The bill would not apply retroactively and result in people losing firearms they already lawfully bought, McClinton said.
Benninghoff responded that because of the “magnitude" of the proposal it “needs to be vetted through the committee process" so that lawmakers can “get it right."
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Just one Republican, Rep. Todd Stephens of Montgomery County, and one Democrat, Rep. Chris Sainato of Lawrence County, crossed party lines in the vote to suspend the rules to allow the measure to be considered.
Both men are in swing districts and expected to face tough reelection campaigns this fall.
The GOP-majority legislature has long rejected appeals by Democratic governors over the past two decades to tighten gun control laws, rejecting such ideas as expanding background checks or limiting the number of handgun purchases one person can make in a month.
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