From CeaseFirePA (http://www.ceasefirepa.org):
Recently President Biden signed a bipartisan bill to reduce gun violence into law. It’s the first major piece of gun reform legislation in about thirty years. This law does not create extreme risk protection orders (ERPO), but it chips away at the opposition to it, providing federal money to help implement such frameworks at the state level. We need to push, push, push, to pass an ERPO law through Harrisburg, and we believe we will, with your voice at https://ceasefirepa.salsalabs.org/220624ERPO/index.html.
Here is why we are so optimistic: extreme risk protection orders are wildly popular. A recent poll says that across political affiliation, geography, and life experience, 80% of Pennsylvanians support this policy. That includes 67% of Republicans, 61% of Conservatives, and 70% of gun owners¹.
And here’s the impact it will create. Researchers estimate that a suicide is averted in approximately one in ten gun removal cases brought under Connecticut’s Extreme Risk law². In 56% of mass shootings, investigations have found that the perpetrator had shown clear warning signs prior to the incident³, but without an ERPO law in Pennsylvania, we have no recourse in these situations to save lives.
² Swanson J. and et al. “Implementation and Effectiveness of Connecticut’s Risk-Based Gun Removal Law: Does it Prevent Suicides?”Law and Contemporary Problems. (2017). https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol80/iss2/8
³ Everytown for Gun Safety. “Mass Shootings in America 2009-2020”. Everytown for Gun Safety. (2021). https://bit.ly/3fQBlc2
Leave a Reply