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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 23, 2022 04:05 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator John I. Kane |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Reasonable and Responsible Firearm Purchasing Rules |
| All too frequently we turn on the news and are greeted by the horrifying scenes of mass shootings. Newtown, CT, Parkland, FL, and now Uvalde, TX. These scenes are just reminders for the devastation and harm firearms can bring to innocent people. Ensuring that actions like these are rare, and children should be able to go to school without fearing for their lives should be our utmost priority. Simply raising the minimum age required to purchase an assault weapon in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania would go a far way in securing the safety of our children and grandchildren. As it stands, being able to acquire assault weapons at the age of 18 is a danger not only to teenagers but their community as well. Two weeks ago, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill to raise the minimum age for the purchase of most semiautomatic rifles to 21 years old. As quoted by NPR reporter Anya Kamenetz, gun safety researchers have found that “18 years old is too young to be able to buy a gun; the teenage brain is just too impulsive”. Raising the age on substances and goods that are deemed harmful to the growth of teenagers has always been one of the first steps to ensuring that they are able to grow properly and safely. A 2013 National Institutes of Health study found that 17 percent of the convicted offenders would have been unable to commit their crimes simply by having stricter gun purchasing limits. Common sense and carefully crafted assault weapon purchase and possession laws is the right step in accomplishing our roles as public servants to prevent mass shootings and protect the people of Pennsylvania. For this reason, I will be cosponsoring legislation to prohibit the sale or possession of assault weapons for individuals under the age of 21. This legislation would bring Pennsylvania gun laws in line with Federal law regarding the minimum age of purchasing handguns and would promote safer and more responsible firearm ownership and is a companion bill to Representative Pete Schweyer’s House Bill 717. Members of the armed services would be exempt from this law. Please join me to support this common-sense measure that will help promote public safety, prevent mass shootings, and promote greater respect for firearms within this Commonwealth. |
Introduced as SB1307