Fairfax, Va. – The Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee today struck down three gun control bills and successfully preserved Second Amendment rights for law-abiding gun owners in the Commonwealth. The National Rifle Association was opposed to all three bills.
House Bill 18 would have gutted Pennsylvania’s pre-emption law and would have allowed local municipalities to place further restrictions on the sale, possession, carrying and use of firearms. Without preemption there would be countless local firearms laws, making compliance impossible for law-abiding gun owners. This bill was struck down by a bipartisan vote of 19-10.
House Bill 22, commonly known as “one gun a month” legislation, was denied by a vote of 17-12. This bill would have prevented law-abiding citizens from purchasing more than one handgun at a time and would have imposed a 30-day waiting period between single handgun purchases.
House Bill 29, “lost or stolen firearms” legislation, was tabled by members of the committee. This legislation would have criminalized theft victims by making it a crime to fail to report the loss or theft of a firearm to police within 24 hours of discovering the firearm missing.