Legislation to Prevent Gun Trafficking Advances with Bipartisan Support Through PA House Judiciary Committee
CeaseFirePA Supports Bipartisan Bill to Require Electronic Records of Sale for Firearms, Urges Swift House Floor Vote To Support Law Enforcement Efforts
HARRISBURG, PA – Today, a life-saving piece of legislation to help law enforcement address firearm trafficking advanced through the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support. While three other gun safety bills have passed the PA House this legislative session on a bipartisan basis, House Bill 2206 is unique in that it is the first bill this session to be initially co-introduced by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers and to win bipartisan support at the early committee phase of the legislative process.
“You can’t solve a problem that you don’t understand. And for too long, Pennsylvania communities have confronted a tidal wave of illegal guns that have been trafficked into the hands of people who want to commit crimes, while recordkeeping systems have failed to modernize to give timely insights to law enforcement as they investigate the sources of these guns,” said Adam Garber, Executive Director of CeaseFirePA Action. “House Bill 2206 would change that. It would give police better access to real-time electronic records to track and trace where crime guns were purchased or transferred, allowing them to better identify patterns and interrupt straw purchasing that funnels deadly weapons onto our streets and fuels gun crime across Pennsylvania.”
Under current state law, licensed gun dealers are required to submit their records of firearms transfers to the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) by an electronic or paper record of sale. House Bill 2206 would require licensed firearm importers, manufacturers, and dealers who conduct over 20 transfers a year to use the Electronic Record of Sale system (EROS), giving law enforcement immediate access to the data. Under the current paper-based system, if a legally-purchased gun is used in a crime shortly after it is purchased, the data from the paper version of the record of sale/transfer may not be input into the system and shared with the proper law enforcement agencies until months after the crime occurred. This hampers efforts to understand and interrupt gun trafficking patterns.
CeaseFirePA and its statewide coalition of partners, gun violence survivors, and safety advocates will urge the PA House of Representatives to pass this life-saving legislation to make our communities safer on May 7th for End Gun Violence: PA Advocacy Day.
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As the Commonwealth’s leading gun violence prevention advocacy organization, CeaseFirePA Action organizes communities closest to the issue, holds those in power accountable, and maximizes the strengths of every member in its broad coalition.
