PRINTER'S NO. 2838
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
604
Session of
2019
INTRODUCED BY CRUZ, McCLINTON, MADDEN, DONATUCCI, KINSEY AND
SHUSTERMAN, NOVEMBER 14, 2019
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, NOVEMBER 14, 2019
A RESOLUTION
Declaring gun violence a social epidemic that requires immediate
action and condemning the National Rifle Association's
increasingly extreme and inflammatory rhetoric.
WHEREAS, Loss of human life in any form is tragic; and
WHEREAS, When a death results from a preventable action, the
loss is that much more shattering; and
WHEREAS, Today, across the United States and this
Commonwealth, lives are unnecessarily lost at an alarming rate
due to gun violence; and
WHEREAS, Nationwide, nearly 40,000 individuals lost their
lives due to gun violence in 2017; and
WHEREAS, The gun homicide rate is 25 times higher in the
United States than in other similarly situated economies; and
WHEREAS, In 2017, gun violence caused more than 1,600 deaths
and countless injuries in this Commonwealth, leaving a
devastating impact across this Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, Gun violence has tied car crashes as the leading
cause of death for children 17 years of age or younger in this
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Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, Youths exposed to gun violence can experience
lasting trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
and chronic stress; and
WHEREAS, Economic costs include decreased future earnings;
and
WHEREAS, Gun violence results in a significant number of
accidental deaths, deaths by suicide, deaths by homicide and, a
growing threat, a number of mass casualty events such as the
domestic terrorist incident at the Tree of Life synagogue in
Pittsburgh in October 2018; and
WHEREAS, With every death, it becomes increasingly apparent
that gun violence is not only a public health crisis or a
tragedy that desperately needs to be addressed but a social
epidemic that requires immediate action; and
WHEREAS, Despite the overwhelming support of the American
public, including Pennsylvanians, for reasonable reforms to
address gun violence and save lives, the current polarizing
political climate has made any action impossible; and
WHEREAS, The largest organization in the United States
currently opposing gun reform and directing its immense
political sway toward inaction and even obstruction is the
National Rifle Association (NRA); and
WHEREAS, The NRA was chartered in 1871 with a primary goal of
promoting marksmanship; and
WHEREAS, In addition to marksmanship, the NRA promotes gun
training, safety and responsible gun ownership; and
WHEREAS, The NRA supported the first Federal gun control law
passed in the United States, the National Firearms Act of 1934;
and
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WHEREAS, The NRA supported the Federal Firearms Act of 1938,
which established the Federal firearms license program, and
supported most of the Gun Control Act of 1968; and
WHEREAS, Beginning in the 1970s, the NRA transitioned its
primary focus from promoting marksmanship to influencing gun
control policy by establishing its feared and powerful political
lobbying branch, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA)
and its persuasive political action committee, the Political
Victory Fund; and
WHEREAS, During this time, the NRA leadership was overtaken
by individuals whose ideals mirrored those of the New Christian
Right and the Moral Majority, conservative ideals invoking
rights from God and not man or government; and
WHEREAS, These beliefs are reflected in the terror-filled
narrative that the NRA uses to support its absolutist position
on the Second Amendment, that protection of the individual means
enacting violence to restore moral order as the state is unable
to do so; and
WHEREAS, The NRA can be labeled a domestic terrorist
organization by the ways in which it characterizes opponents as
monsters or evil and deploys highly publicized and potentially
damaging legislator report cards, NRA-ILA lobbyists and
Political Victory Fund donations during elections; and
WHEREAS, The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines
domestic terrorism as an offense perpetrated by individuals
and/or groups inspired by or associated with primarily United
States-based movements that espouse extremist ideologies of a
political, religious, social, racial or environmental nature;
and
WHEREAS, The FBI states that the threat of domestic terrorism
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remains persistent, with actors crossing the line from
supporting First Amendment protections to committing crimes to
further a political agenda; and
WHEREAS, The increasing number of mass shootings, including
those in Dayton, Ohio, El Paso, Texas and Gilroy, California,
and Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life synagogue, are being
investigated as domestic terrorism; and
WHEREAS, The individuals who carried out these vicious
attacks were inspired by the NRA's extreme, inflammatory
rhetoric; and
WHEREAS, Even if the NRA is not a domestic terrorist
organization, its rhetoric and actions have inspired individuals
to perpetrate acts of domestic terrorism; and
WHEREAS, Gun violence is a devastating and complicated issue
faced by this nation; and
WHEREAS, The uniquely American epidemic of gun violence
traces back to the same rhetoric and actions that prioritized
fundamentalist ideology over the preservation of life and limb;
therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives declare gun
violence as a social epidemic that requires immediate action by
elected officials at all levels of government; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives condemn the
National Rifle Association's increasingly extreme and
inflammatory rhetoric which has exasperated the gun violence
epidemic and inspired domestic terrorists.
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