As long as he’s chair, no ‘red flag’ gun laws will get through the Pennsylvania house | PennLive Editorial

Shira Goodman is right. It’s going to take a real fight to stay alive in Pennsylvania.

Despite increasingly louder calls for laws to prevent another mass shooting, Pennsylvania’s House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rob Kauffman, a Republican from Franklin County, can’t hear them.

The Republican from Franklin County can’t hear the mothers with Moms Demand Action and the increasingly angry voters with Ceasefire PA yelling in the Capitol Rotunda for what they call “commonsense gun laws.”

Moms Demand Action

Declan Haley stands with his sign abouve the crowd outside Boston city hall. He talked about the ALICE drills at his school. “[It’s] scary, everyone’s joking around and screaming,” said 10 year-old Declan. “I get kinda worried.”(Douglas Hook / MassLive)

He can’t hear the teenagers marching and protesting, demanding something be done about the very real fear they feel when they step into their schools.

And he can’t hear the cries of the battered women – and yes, men, too – who don’t want their home-grown terrorist to be able to stalk them with an assault weapon.

A crowd of red-shirted Moms Demand Action supporters fill the Capitol Rotunda steps behind Rep. Todd Stephens who stands at the podium.

Rep. Todd Stephens, R-Montgomery County, (at podium) called for passage of his legislation that would establish an extreme risk protection order, or red flag, law in Pennsylvania at a Moms Demand Action rally at the Capitol on Tuesday.

Kauffman is standing in the way of getting what millions of very reasonable people are demanding as a logical step to reduce gun violence – passing “red flag" laws.

Kauffman’s committee would have to act on the legislation before it can go to the full House for a vote. His decision to not allow that move creates a major obstacle to what many see as a vital step to help prevent needless deaths from gun violence.

“We will not be considering 'red flag’ in the House Judiciary Committee so long as Chairman Kauffman is chairman," Kauffman said last week.

Kauffan also said he will not allow his committee to consider any other gun-control measures during this legislative session. The legislative session runs through 2020, so if that’s accurate, it means Kauffman won’t bring up any gun-control bills for the rest of this year and all of next year.

The red flag bills that Kauffman has refused to consider would provide a way for courts to intervene quickly to take guns away from people whom family members or law enforcement say are clearly dangerous.

Taking a gun away from someone who is suicidal, depressed or dangerous – as red flag laws would do – is just common sense. It’s a protection for the person who could turn the gun on himself. It’s a protection for his family and friends. And it’s a protection for the rest of us.

Seventeen other states have passed some form of extreme risk protection orders. Twelve states passed such laws after the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

How is it that this Pennsylvania representative thinks he can block action that could save countless lives and prevent unspeakable tragedies?

Goodman, Ceasefire PA’s executive director, is right. Kauffman’s vow to block red flag bills from coming before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for a vote is not the end. It’s just the beginning.

“We see those as fighting words, not a final declaration,” she said. “If that means we’ve got to battle in the Senate or try discharge petitions or try to amend other bills that are moving [to get an extreme risk order bill considered], we’re going to do it."

It's a rallying cry for anyone who has lost a loved one or been personally threatened by gun violence. It’s a rallying cry for anyone who has kids that have to hide in a closet during active shooter drills. It’s a rallying cry for the rest of us who think twice when we go into Walmart, a synagogue, a church or a school.

Let’s remember we’re approaching the first anniversary of the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh.

Tree of Life Synagogue

In this Dec. 2, 2018 photo, a menorah is tested outside the Tree of Life Synagogue in preparation for a celebration service at sundown on the first night of Hanukkah, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. A $6.3 million fund established in the wake of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre will primarily be split among the families of the dead and survivors of the worst attack on Jews in U.S. history. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh made the announcement Tuesday, March 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)AP

Goodman and her colleagues have a plan of action, and it’s a good one. Keep the pressure on legislators, put a spotlight on lawmakers such as Kauffman who are standing in the way of public safety – and stir up the base.

Too much is at stake to back down. It’s time to call out lawmakers who are ignoring the real and present danger from people who have guns and want to kill anybody they see.

Goodman put it well: “2020 is an election year, and we’re going to make sure that everybody who can vote knows about this.”

Ultimately, voters will have the final say. And you can be sure this is a compelling issue for millions of Pennsylvania voters determined to protect their most fundamental right – the right to live.

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