On Tuesday May 7, about 500 people arrived at our state capitol building for CeaseFire PA’s Advocacy Day to speak with our representatives, senators, and administrative assistants; and with one another.
Sixty organizations demanded action on six gun-safety bills to address PA’s gun-violence public health crisis. At least 4,600 people die by suicide, murder or mass shooting in PA each year.
“Just imagine staring at the young unnamed person before you, now lifeless and you hear something – their phone starts to ring. You answer the phone and it’s the small voice of a confused young child looking for their mother who never came home,” said Kristen Chreiman, a Trauma Nurse of 29 years and a Trauma Program Manager at one of Pennsylvania’s busiest Level 1 Trauma Centers.
“I’ve been wearing this badge for a long time, but never did I imagine being up against things like ghost guns, 3D printable weapons, high capacity magazines, military-style rifles and ‘Glock Switches’ that can easily turn a handgun into a weapon of mass destruction,” said York City Police Commissioner Michael Muldrow. “All we ask is our leaders and legislators to listen, and do all you can to help us in the fight.”
Six members from Gettysburg for Gun Sense asked Rep. Ecker to vote for:
House Bill 2206 to mandate use of Electronic Records of Sale (EROS). The current 6 – 9 month paper backlog of recording gun sales makes it difficult and untimely for law enforcement to trace sources of crime guns or to interrupt illegal gun trafficking rings.
House Bill 335 to enact the Ban of Machine Gun Conversion Devices. Glock Switches allow hand guns to fire 1,200 rounds per minute and can be bought on the internet or be 3-D printed.
Angela Milbourne, from Philadelphia — shown in the featured image for this article — lost her son Amir on his way home from visiting his grandmother. Angela now helps to raise Amir’s son with his mother, now a widow. The case is still being investigated 3-1/2 years later while Angela sees her son’s murderers on the street because we do not have laws that hold people accountable when buying guns.
Gun laws are not about taking firearms from responsible owners, but to make it difficult for bad actors to get firearms and easier for police to apprehend criminals who use firearms to kill innocent people.