As gun violence rages on, the flow of illegal firearms — whether stolen or lost — continues to plague our communities.
 
Research shows that this flow transcends county and city boundaries. Many of the firearms recovered by law enforcement originate in counties surrounding the urban centers where we’ve seen the most gun violence. And with more than 3,000 federally licensed firearms dealers across Pennsylvania, we must determine which establishments are complicit in this public health crisis — focusing on the bad actors while providing support for good-faith dealers seeking to modernize their operations.
 
Consider this: Pennsylvania has nearly seven times as many licensed gun dealers as Starbucks locations. It has more gun dealers than there are ATF special agents in the entire country.
 
Ardent supporters of the Second Amendment emphasize that the best way to address gun violence is simply to enforce the laws already on the books and steer clear of further government restrictions on the rights of law-abiding firearms owners. This bill takes them at their word.
 
In addition to other substantive approaches to reducing gun violence, we need to address this epidemic from the supply side — without infringing on Pennsylvanians’ Second Amendment rights. In this vein, this forthcoming bill (formerly HB 1852) centers on the critical need for a unified statewide approach, because individual counties cannot implement these compliance measures in silos.
 
This bill seeks to reduce gun violence in three ways.
 
First, it would require the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) or their designees to conduct annual inspections of federally licensed firearms dealers.
 
Second, it would codify a duty to report lost or stolen firearms or ammunition.
 
Third, it would establish two programs: one to provide grants to federally licensed firearms dealers to modernize their operations, and another to fund PSP-led recruitment, training, and oversight of designees who verify that dealers properly store and secure their firearms sales records, consistent with federal law. It bears emphasizing: the more we empower law enforcement and their designees to inspect gun dealers, the safer we make our streets for everyone — including the officers tasked to protect and serve.
 
Data collected through this process can help identify which of the state’s firearms dealers account for a disproportionate share of handgun sales later linked to homicides. The legislation would also authorize random inspections of dealers fitting that sales profile, and would treat firearms held on consignment as inventory.
 
As legislators, we have a duty to identify and resolve the issues that put the lives of our fellow Pennsylvanians in danger.
 
By codifying a duty to report lost or stolen firearms, establishing annual and targeted random inspections of dealers, and ensuring that firearms sales records are properly stored and secured, we can do our part to promote deeper community safety in every county in Pennsylvania.
 
Please join us in co-sponsoring this common-sense legislation to stem gun violence across our commonwealth.