Gun Violence Prevention Advocate, 

Pennsylvania has a deadly gap in our background check process. Our law allows people who are already prohibited from buying long guns like AR-15’s from licensed firearm dealers, to then turn right around and buy those very same weapons from private sellers without going through a background check. This means people with felony convictions or a history of being involuntarily committed to a mental health facility can easily get their hands on guns that have increasingly become the weapon of choice for mass shootings from Pittsburgh to Uvalde. 

Thanks to you, we just passed bipartisan legislation¹ through the PA House that would close this gap and enact universal background checks. But now we need you to contact your Senator to ask them to publicly support this life-saving bill and urge Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lisa Baker to schedule a vote.

Gun extremists and the manufacturers who finance them will try to muddy the waters with cynical lies that background checks are ineffective at stopping guns from getting into the wrong hands. Don’t believe them. 

Just look at the data:

In the first quarter of 2023 alone, there were more than 2,000 people who were referred to law enforcement after a PA background check and further investigation confirmed they were a prohibited purchaser but tried to buy a gun anyway.² The only reason they were stopped: a background check. This data comes directly from the PA State Police, which administers our state background check system. 

And here’s the kicker: 25 of those individuals had warrants for their arrest for some other crime. They were arrested ONLY because the state police were flagged by our background check system. 

This proves without a doubt that background checks not only work at keeping guns out of the wrong hands, but they are a critical public safety tool for law enforcement. They should be expanded to cover every gun sale, every time.

States with laws requiring background checks on ALL gun sales have 10 percent lower homicide rates.³

We must get HB 714 passed in the Senate quickly so that Governor Shapiro can sign it into law, as he publicly pledged after it passed the House last month.⁴ Reach out to your State Senator today!

Sincerely,
Adam Garber
Executive Director
CeaseFirePA Action

1. https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2023&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=0714

2. https://www.media.pa.gov/pages/pa-state-police-details.aspx?newsid=811#:~:text=State%20Police%20Announce%20First%20Quarter%20Firearms%20Purchase%20Denial%20Investigations,-04%2F11%2F2023&text=Harrisburg%2C%20PA%20%E2%80%93%20The%20Pennsylvania%20State,the%20first%20quarter%20of%202023

3. https://www.everytown.org/solutions/background-checks/

4. https://twitter.com/GovernorShapiro/status/1660760090750713857?s=20