Competing against chants from counter-protesters outside the office of a local Republican state lawmaker, gun safety advocates warned that a new bill allowing permitless concealed carry in Pennsylvania would make communities less secure, put children at risk and undermine public safety.
Dozens of demonstrators used Rep. Natalie Mihalek’s Upper St. Clair office as a backdrop on Monday to criticize the Republican lawmaker and State Sen. Devlin Robinson, R-Bridgeville, for supporting the bill, which was passed by the Senate last week and would allow anyone 18 and older to carry a loaded gun openly or concealed, without a permit.
Gov. Tom Wolf has said he will veto the bill, but the demonstrators said their state lawmakers should be held accountable for pushing a bill that, they claimed, would give potential shooters the right to take guns into public spaces and endanger safety.
“Saying that you don’t need to carry a permit — that you can be 18 years and older and carry a concealed weapon — does that sound sane to you?” asked the Rev. Sally Jo Snyder of Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church, alleging that the bill is only intended to score political points and would do nothing to make Pennsylvanians safer.
The demonstrators, led by gun violence prevention advocacy organization CeaseFirePA, were met by a handful of gun rights protesters who chanted “USA” loud enough, at times, to drown out the speakers — some of whom had lost family members to gun violence and were recounting their experiences.
The counter-demonstrators reiterated some of the same arguments that Republicans in the state legislature had made, as the bill heads toward a vote in the coming days in the state House — then on its way to the governor’s desk, where it will receive a veto.
Republicans have argued that decriminalizing the carrying of guns without a license — and making Pennsylvania the 22nd state allowing permitless carry of firearms — will ultimately make communities safer. A GOP memo applauding the bill’s passage in the Senate cited a story from October, when a bystander carrying a concealed handgun stopped a shooting at a mall in Lancaster. Bill supporters have maintained that law-abiding gun owners shouldn’t need permission from their government to carry a firearm.
“This is about our Second Amendment and our right to bear arms,” Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, said during floor arguments, according to The Associated Press. “The Second Amendment doesn’t say anything about restrictions on our right to bear arms.”
Some of the nation’s leading gun violence prevention groups spoke out against the bill last week, saying that permitless carry takes away a tool that law enforcement uses to “differentiate between responsible gun owners and those who should not be able to carry a loaded weapon in public.”
Mr. Wolf said the bill would “lower the bar for unvetted, permitless people to carry hidden weapons while they walk our streets and mingle in our communities and to dismantle the commonwealth’s system for responsible gun ownership.”
“We need to stop this nonsense – we should question why we would want anyone who hasn’t undergone a background check to carry a concealed weapon,” Mr. Wolf said in a statement.
At the rally outside Ms. Mihalek’s office, Gina Pelusi, a constituent who said her mother was shot and killed in another state by a convicted felon “who should have never had access to a weapon,” deemed the bill a threat to public safety.
Valen Tasser, whose brother was shot and killed in New Kensington, said the legislature should instead act to require the reporting of lost and stolen firearms, expand background checks to cover every gun sale and require that guns be safely stored in the home when not in use, among other regulations.
“People are dying. Children are dying. And now these lawmakers want to decrease regulation,” Ms. Tasser remarked.
Asked why she supports the bill, Ms. Mihalek, in a written statement passed along by her office, said, “As part of a legislative body, I am constantly in search of a balanced approach to the issues of the day. On this issue, I look to put forth meaningful legislation that would protect Pennsylvania communities while also honoring Constitutional rights of law abiding citizens.”
Mr. Robinson said some of the safest sates in the U.S. are “Constitutional Carry states,” and — noting that the use of firearms is still controlled by other state statutes that remain unchanged — said “criminals don’t apply for and wait for a license to carry to arrive before they commit a crime.”
“Every American and every Pennsylvanian has the right to be safe in their homes, in public and in their communities and possesses an inalienable right to defend themselves,” Mr. Robinson said.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
First Published: November 15, 2021, 9:58 p.m.
