Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Seth Grove and Daryl Metcalfe are courting Beretta, Winchester, and MAGPUL. CeaseFirePA is concerned that move would make Pennsylvanians "less safe". Sorry, but I can't connect the dots the same way that that the left wingnuts at CeaseFirePA do.
Some other states have passed are or are moving toward tougher gun-control laws.
By ED MAHON Daily Record/Sunday News
Updated: 03/23/2013 07:27:33 PM EDT
York, PA -
As some states pass or move toward tougher gun-control laws, two Republican state representatives said they are hoping firearms and weapons components manufacturers move to Pennsylvania.
"They are looking for friendlier states. ...We'd be more than happy to have some jobs and some great manufacturing," said state Rep. Seth Grove, R-Dover Township.
Grove and state Rep. Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, said last week that the facilities could bring hundreds of jobs to the state. One of the companies they mentioned was Beretta USA, which has a manufacturing plant in Prince George's County, Maryland.
Shira Goodman, executive director of CeaseFirePA, called the Grove and Metcalfe announcement a gimmick and a distraction.
"I don't think that what our legislature needs to be focused on is making Pennsylvania safe for gun manufacturers," Goodman said. "I think they need to be focused on making Pennsylvania safe for Pennsylvanians."
Metcalfe said Pennsylvania's high number of National Rifle Association members, hunters and anglers make it a natural fit for companies "that are currently looking for a new home due to the imposition of senseless, gun-grabbing legislation by their state or local governments."
Grove acknowledged that companies might be raising the possibility of leaving other states to try to influence lawmakers there.
But he said other states have contacted the companies.
"I think it's prudent to start making the case for Pennsylvania, in case something does happen," Grove said. "...It's worth just sending a letter and letting them know we'd be happy to have them."
He said Beretta recently responded to his invitation by saying they appreciated it, but didn't make any commitment.
"Right now, they basically said, 'We're going to fight it out in Maryland,'" Grove said.
'Not much interest'
In the wake of recent mass shootings, including in Newtown, Conn. in December, lawmakers in some states have moved toward tighter gun-control measures.
But G. Terry Madonna, a pollster and political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, said there's not much
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chance of Pennsylvania doing the same.
"There's just not much interest at all out of the leaders of the legislature to do anything with gun control," said Madonna. "...They're all caught up right now in a big set of issues -- with privatization and pension reform and roads and bridges. The likelihood they take up something controversial like that seems rather minimal to me."
The Maryland Senate in February passed a bill that would ban assault weapons, require people who buy handguns to submit fingerprints as part of a licensing requirement, and implement other gun-control measures, according to The Associated Press. The legislation still needs to pass the House.
The Denver Post reported that Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed three gun-control bills Wednesday, including one that prohibits the sale of gun magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. Ammunition magazine manufacturer Magpul Industries responded by saying it would leave the state.
The Associated Press reported earlier this month that there have been concerns about the future of Remington Arms Co. in New York, after lawmakers there passed a law banning the sale of military-style rifles.
Officials with those companies could not be reached for comment for this story.
Grove said he considers Beretta the most realistic option because it has relocated operations in the past under similar circumstances and because of its proximity. He said his letter to the company included locations in York County they could move to, as well as multiple benefits to being here.
"We're close to a great transportation system," he said. "...We have world class employees here."
'Different issue'
State Sen. Rob Teplitz, D-Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County, said he supports the Second Amendment, and the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms to defend themselves and to hunt.
He said lawmakers should focus on keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, the mentally ill and unsupervised children. As far as Beretta and other companies, Teplitz said lawmakers should want to encourage all types of legal businesses to create and retain jobs in Pennsylvania.
"But that's a very different issue from what happens to those products when they're in the hands of people who shouldn't have them," Teplitz said.
Other measures
State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, introduced legislation in January that he said would prohibit the enforcement of any new federal restriction, prohibition or registration requirement for firearms, magazines and ammunition.
"My legislation would also require the state to intercede on behalf of Pennsylvania citizens against any federal attempt to register, ban or restrict the purchase or ownership of firearms and firearms accessories which are currently legal products," Metcalfe said in his co-sponsorship memo.
Co-sponsors include state Reps. Seth Grove, R-Dover Township; Ron Miller, R-Jacobus; Will Tallman, R-Reading Township, Adams County; and Stan Saylor, R-Windsor Township.
Shira Goodman, executive director of CeaseFirePA, said the law would be unconstitutional and unenforceable.
"Proposals like that are a distraction," she said.
Goodman said there have been some good administrative actions. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported in January that the Pennsylvania State Police began sending hundreds of thousands of mental health records to a national database with information on people prohibited from buying guns because of involuntary mental health commitments.
In February, state Attorney General Kathleen Kane closed the so-called "Florida loophole," which Kane said had allowed Pennsylvania residents to obtain a concealed carry permit from the state of Florida, if they had been denied, found ineligible or had gun permits revoked in Pennsylvania.
"But we need the legislature to take up some of these initiatives," she said.
State Sen. Rob Teplitz, D-Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County, said after the shootings in Newtown, Conn., lawmakers introduced many gun related bills. He described bans as one end of the spectrum and making firearms more common in the community as the other end.
"And, quite honestly, I don't think that either of those are realistic, in terms of passing," Teplitz said.