Grove, Briggs Introduce Commonsense Legislation to Close Gun Loophole
HARRISBURG – With support from the law enforcement community, Reps. Seth Grove (R-York) and Tim Briggs (D-Montgomery) introduced responsible legislation to keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons.
Under current law, people convicted of certain crimes, such as murder, kidnapping and burglary, are prohibited from carrying a firearm. However, a dangerous loophole exists. People convicted of certain attempted and conspiratorial crimes – such as attempted rape, conspiracy to commit murder or solicitation to commit robbery – are permitted to carry firearms despite the seriousness of the crimes for which they were convicted.
“To be quite blunt; this makes no sense,” Grove said. “As shocking as this problem is, the legislative fix Rep. Briggs and I came up with is straightforward and simple, and will not affect any rights of any law-abiding individual to possess a firearm.”
The Grove and Briggs legislation,
House Bill 2275, would simply add “attempted,” “conspiracy to commit” and “solicitation to commit” to the very same list of serious crimes which already prohibit a person from possessing a firearm under state law.
“Closing loopholes in our gun laws is a commonsense approach to keeping our communities safe. Attempting crimes and conspiring to commit crimes should result in the same firearm restrictions as committing the crimes,” Briggs said. “This bipartisan bill takes another step in preventing criminals from getting dangerous weapons.”
The bill has been committed to the House Judiciary Committee for review. It has the support of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association.
“I applaud the bipartisan approach that representatives Grove and Briggs have taken in drafting this commonsense legislation to correct this loophole in our laws,” said York County District Attorney David Sunday. “From a law enforcement and prosecutorial perspective, it is vital that we keep firearms out of the hands of those who have demonstrated a propensity for violence.”
Representative Seth Grove
196th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Greg Gross
717.260.6374
ggross@pahousegop.com
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