|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
|
State
Rep. Dan Frankel |
|
Editor: Please publish this op-ed by state Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny. Please contact Ben Turner at 717-787-7895 or bturner@pahouse.net if you have questions.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Nov. 28, 2007
Fact and fiction on handguns
by state Rep. Dan Frankel
I have received a tidal wave of public input on three handgun bills that Gov. Rendell and I support. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, which recently failed to approve these bills, I would like to set the record straight.
Here are some key points that are often overlooked:
- These bills would affect only handguns -- not hunters’ rifles or shotguns. One bill would limit the purchase of handguns only – not hunting weapons – to one per month per adult.
As the Post-Gazette noted recently, that would still be 24 new handguns per year for a married couple, and the limit would not affect shotguns or rifles used to hunt deer and other animals. Handguns are used to hunt humans.
The goal of one-handgun-a-month is to shut off “straw” purchases made by people with clean backgrounds who give or sell these weapons to drug dealers, terrorists and others who can’t buy them legally. And the limit would not apply to law enforcement agencies, licensed dealers or people whose handguns are lost or stolen. Instead, it would allow us to knock out the illegal competitors of legitimate gun dealers.
- Right now, you have to report a stolen car, but not a stolen handgun. One of the bills recently voted down in committee would correct this bizarre law and require reporting of lost or stolen handguns within 24 hours. This would be a tool prosecutors could use to lock up straw purchasers, and it would help police to track and catch criminals who steal handguns from law-abiding owners.
- Your community can vote to go “dry” on liquor licenses, but you and your neighbors have no local control over deadly handguns. The governor and I support a bill to enable local communities to enact their own limited restrictions on the flow, distribution and use of handguns, but only with local voter approval. This would allow cities like Pittsburgh to exercise local control against handgun violence -- without affecting people in rural communities.
- Pennsylvania has already been doing more to enforce current laws – police and prosecutors want and need these limited additional tools to keep us safe. As the governor testified, “Our law enforcement and our prosecutors are enforcing the laws on the book. They are aggressive, and their efforts have resulted in 16,000 additional criminals behind bars in the last decade. … the statistics indicate we have not slowed the problem of gun violence – it’s only increasing.”
- Most Pennsylvanians support common-sense handgun laws. Perhaps opponents are so vocal because they are in the minority. A statewide poll of likely voters taken in February and March showed 71 percent support for a one-handgun-a-month limit – including 61 percent support among gun owners -- and 81 percent support for requiring reporting of lost or stolen handguns.
The governor, a former prosecutor, and I believe that none of these bills affect the state or federal constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. Most Pennsylvanians appear to agree.
We already have two little-noticed victories to build on. In the past two years, legislators from both parties and organizations with widely differing views have come together to improve the Commonwealth’s gun laws.
In 2005, the General Assembly passed a law that keeps weapons out of the hands of most people who are subject to protection-from-abuse orders. And earlier this year, we passed a law that requires police to trace the source of firearms illegally possessed by anyone under 21. That allows police to seek out and shut off those sources, such as theft or “straw” purchases.
Both of these laws focus on illegal and dangerous conduct, not law-abiding gun owners. Like the new bills, they focus on preventing murders, rather than having to mourn more victims and punish their killers after the fact. Now we need to make more common-sense changes to our handgun laws and save more lives.
Rep. Dan Frankel (www.pahouse.com/Frankel) represents the 23rd Legislative District and is chairman of the state House Allegheny County Democratic Delegation.
|
MEDIA CONTACT: Ben Turner |