Pa. Senate committee has ‘no plans’ to move House-approved gun safety measures

A Democratic-led state House committee on Tuesday advanced two more firearms safety bills despite fresh indications that gun reform remains largely intractable along partisan lines.

The measures — requiring secure gun storage around children and imposing parental liability — are the latest pitched in the Democratic-majority House this session. Two previous bills were approved by the full House over the summer and moved to the Republican-controlled Senate, whose judiciary chair said this week she has no intention of running them.

“I have no plans to advance the bills,” Senate Judiciary Chair Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne County, wrote in an email Monday regarding the two House bills already in her committee.

“I said we would invite proposals from anyone that represented something of a consensus on approaches deemed constitutional, enforceable, and practical,” Baker said, referencing her committee’s prior hearing on the matter. “To date, we have not received such a proposal.”

One of the new bills approved by the House Judiciary Committee on party-line votes would make parents and guardians liable for actions — negligence or willful misconduct — committed by their child with a firearm if the parent granted them access to the gun.

The statute would apply only if the adult knows that the child has a delinquent or criminal background, or has reason to believe the child is prone to violent or criminal behavior. The original version of the bill established criminal and civil liability, but was amended to be limited to only civil damages

The second bill requires that guns be housed in a locked container or “a location which a reasonable person would believe to be secure” if they know that a child could gain access to them. The bill also requires gun retailers to have signs notifying buyers of this requirement.

Violations would start as a summary offense with subsequent offenses a misdemeanor; the original bill included language allowing for felony charges if the gun is used in a crime or causes injury or death, but this was amended out.

Bill sponsor Rep. Darisha Parker, D-Philadelphia, pointed to recent mass shootings — such as the 2021 Michigan high school killings — which resulted from “irresponsibility and lack of situational awareness” by parents who ignored warning signs and allowed their child access to guns.

Republicans countered that disincentives for this already exist, with Rep. Tim Bonner, R-Mercer County, saying “I’m not sure that this bill is needed, or that the prior bill is needed,” given that “we have remedies under the criminal code that can be used, and are being used,” such as reckless endangerment and even involuntary manslaughter charges in cases of gross negligence on the part of gun owners.

The two bills address the same issue as a much broader safe-storage bill passed earlier this year by the committee, but which has not been brought to the House floor for a full vote. That bill was part of a four-piece package, of which two bills — universal background checks and a “red flag law” — cleared the House, while a measure on mandatory reporting of lost or stolen guns failed by a single vote.

“Our committee wants to make this a clear priority, that we’re going to be advancing gun violence prevention,” said Judiciary Committee Chair Tim Briggs, D-Montgomery County, when asked if the two new bills were intended as a replacement for the waylaid safe storage bill.

“It’s a conversation we have to have with the larger membership of the caucus,” Briggs continued. “Right now, it’s our committee sending a bill out and we’re going to advocate for a floor vote.”

Democrats’ firearm bills have picked up only a handful of Republicans in past floor votes, with most GOP members saying the issue can be addressed with stiffer enforcement of existing laws, particularly in Philadelphia.

“I can support no further gun control and punitive measures against my law-abiding gun owners when laws are not being enforced — yes, I will go there — in the City of the First Class,” said Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin County, the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking Republican.

The use of Philadelphia as a scapegoat is “deeply disturbing and offensive,” shot back Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Philadelphia, and it’s “problematic that we keep centering this conversation around perceived lawlessness in Philadelphia” given the serious gun issues — particularly suicides — in rural parts of the commonwealth.

Rabb also faulted Republicans’ rhetoric on law-abiding gun owners, given that the bills under debate are intended to address situations that are technically legal but not ethical.

“Those parents often are law-abiding gun owners who leave their guns around for their kids to do any number of things. That’s legal, but it’s a problem,” Rabb said. “The irony of this critique is we are law makers. We decide what is law-abiding by creating, amending, and repealing state law.”

Since the initial run of bills moved in the spring, gun safety advocates have pressed to get them across the finish line. At a press event Monday, CeaseFire PA unveiled a countdown clock that will stay in the Capitol’s East Wing lobby, tallying the number of days Baker and Senate Republicans have not acted on the House bills.

“It is a failure of the Senate chamber that we have failed to move or pass this bill,” Sen. Amanda Cappelletti, D-Montgomery County, said of the universal background check bill.

That bill would require background checks for all gun sale, including the sale of long guns between parties who are not licensed dealers who are currently exempt. The second bill that passed the House would establish “extreme risk protection orders” or ERPOs, often called “red flag” laws, which allow judges to order the temporary confiscation of a person’s firearms if they are found to be a danger to themselves or others.

Republicans have rejected such ideas. Baker said Monday the issue would be “more appropriately addressed through a modernization of the mental health procedures law as it relates to gun rights to ensure those in need of treatment receive it and that due process is maintained.”

Pennsylvania’s has a statute for involuntary mental health commitments, which also bars a person from possessing guns, potentially for life. Advocates for red flag laws have said their goal is to create an option that falls between allowing a troubled person unfettered access to firearms and institutionalizing them against their will.

Some Democrats have suggested some of the gun measures could pass the Senate if GOP leadership would call them up. Given the 28-22 split, Democrats would need the support of three Republicans.

“I would like to believe there would be a handful that would, but I can’t speak for them,” Cappelletti said.