PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania’s new budget has earmarked $50 million to help law enforcement fight gun violence, and state lawmakers are encouraging eligible law enforcement to apply for the funding.
State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-Doylestown, expects the application process to open in the coming weeks, with particular attention paid to areas with the highest levels of gun violence.
“With priority given to applications focusing on the important issue of straw purchases and firearms trafficking. purchasing technology systems including gunshot detection technology, initiatives to support the tracing of firearms used to commit crimes,” Santarsiero said.
Bucks County Deputy District Attorney Dave Keightly Jr. said the money will be helpful in investigating straw purchasers and tracking down illegal sales, but he says those investigations are time-consuming.
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“Our need right now is with manpower and with technology, and that is exactly what this grant money will be used for, if we were to receive it,” said Keightly Jr.
“We don't want to just be satisfied with working backwards. We want to be able to work forwards. We want to be able to use a lot of this money to figure out purchase trends, suspicious trends among people who keep buying firearms and their guns keep winding up on the streets, for example.
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Santarsiero said the grants are a great step to help law enforcement, but he added he’ll continue to push for legislation that would require universal background checks and the mandatory reporting of any lost or stolen guns.
“When you talk about straw purchases, if you don't have universal background checks, if you don't have a requirement that when guns are lost and stolen, they have to report that to the police,” said Santarsiero. “It makes it that much harder to be able to track that illegal market for guns.”