Urge Passage of Important Legislation to Protect Potential Victims of Gun Violence

Thanks to your advocacy efforts, HB 2060, legislation that would require persons subject to final protection-from-abuse orders to surrender all guns in their possession within 24 hours, passed in the House on September 26. Your calls, emails and letters made an impact and the house passed this bill by an overwhelming 131-62 margin. We’ve been working for several years to pass this type of measure, and now we’re entering the home stretch. The bill now moves to the Senate, where the first step is a vote in the Judiciary Committee, which should happen on Tuesday.

However, we still need your help to push for passage of HB 2227, Emergency Removal Protective Order (ERPO) legislation, which would provide a mechanism to address situations where individuals demonstrate they are at extreme risk for harming themselves or others through possessing a gun. It would enable family and law enforcement to ask a Judge to temporarily prohibit such individuals from possessing firearms or ammunition. If an ERPO is issued, the individual will need to surrender firearms, and this information would be sent to the PA State Police to prevent firearm purchase until expiration of the Order.

This bill requires second consideration, then a final vote in the House before it can go to the Senator for consideration. As with HB 2060, if not passed soon, it will need to be reintroduced next year.

Send a message to your Representative urging passage of HB 2227 at http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/5415/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=26497, then send a message to your Senator to support it if/when it comes before the Senate. Then consider following up with a call to your Representative (find contact information). Message: Push House leadership to bring SB 2227 back to the floor of the House for consideration because it would remove (at least temporarily) guns from individuals who present extreme risk to themselves or others, then vote YES on the legislation.

Once you do this, please urge your Senator to support passage of both HB 2060 and HB 2227 at http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/5415/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=26498. It would be helpful to call your Senator as well (find contact information).