For Immediate Release:
August 1, 2023
For More Information:
Adam Garber, CeaseFirePA Action Executive Director, (267) 515-1220, adam@ceasefirepa.org
CeaseFirePA Action Releases 2023 Legislative Scorecard
Gun Violence Prevention Advocates Applaud Harrisburg’s Champions & Hold Opponents Accountable for Voting Records on Safer Communities
PENNSYLVANIA — Today, following the historic passage of two gun safety bills in the PA House of Representatives with bipartisan support this past May, CeaseFirePA Action released its 2023 legislative scorecard. The scorecard grades each PA State Representative’s record on key votes so far this session on life-saving gun violence prevention policies. The searchable online legislative scorecard can be accessed on CeaseFirePA’s website HERE.
“Harrisburg can be a mysterious place for many Pennsylvanians who are focused on living their lives and don’t necessarily have the time to closely follow the legislative process. But what happens in the Capitol is a matter of life and death when it comes to gun safety policy. CeaseFirePA Action’s new legislative scorecard breaks it down clearly for any Pennsylvanian to quickly and easily understand their State Representative’s record on gun safety and learn if their lawmaker champions or opposes safer communities,” said Adam Garber, CeaseFirePA Action’s Executive Director. “As this slow-moving catastrophe claims more and more lives across our Commonwealth, we will continue to applaud those legislators who act to protect their constituents, and expose the culpability of lawmakers who actively stand in the way of gun violence prevention.”
A broad analysis of the scorecard shows the following scores:
- 100 State Representatives received a perfect score of 100
- 10 State Representatives received low to middling scores of 20-60
- 91 State Representatives received an absolute failing score of 0
The PA House had two vacancies at the time of the scored votes
The scorecard release comes amid new CDC provisional 2022 mortality data showing that gun violence continues to rise: 1,939 Pennsylvanians died by firearm in 2022, up from 1,896 in 2021, 1,752 in 2020 and 1,528 in 2019.
2023 has seen numerous high-profile and preventable deadly shootings in Pennsylvania, from the killing of a PA State Trooper in Central PA, to a mass shooting in Philadelphia over the July 4th holiday. Hundreds of others have been lost to this crisis, whose stories have not gotten widespread media coverage, spanning firearm suicide, community-based homicides, unintentional shootings, and domestic violence.
Two of the pieces of legislation graded in the scorecard were passed with bipartisan support by the PA House of Representatives, and now await action in the PA Senate:
- HB 1018 would establish Extreme Risk Protection Orders, which have been shown to prevent firearm suicides, mass shootings, and domestic violence killings.
- HB 714 would institute universal background checks, closing a deadly gap in PA’s safety system that allows long guns to be sold or transferred privately with no background check.
CeaseFirePA Action and its statewide network of 50,000 advocates and hundreds of organizational coalition partners will continue to advocate for the passage of the above bills in the PA Senate and additional gun safety bills in the PA House.
More information about gun violence in Pennsylvania can be found at CeaseFirePA.org.
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As the Commonwealth’s leading gun violence prevention organization, CeaseFirePA Action organizes with communities closest to the issue, holds those in power accountable, and maximizes the strengths of every member in its broad coalition.
