Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
FBI agent turned lawmaker Brian Fitzpatrick on Tuesday became the only Republican in the U.S. House to back a bill preventing a potentially dangerous person from owning or buying a gun.
The Democratic proposal, introduced in May, gained Fitzpatrick’s support after a Florida teenager shot and killed people at a high school. The measure would create what supporters call gun violence restraining orders.
It’s among a series of gun-control measures that Fitzpatrick is supporting as he and other lawmakers push to break the cycle of congressional talk but inaction that has followed mass shootings across the country in recent years.
He’s also the only House Republican co-sponsor listed on a proposal introduced this week to raise the minimum age for purchasing semiautomatic rifles to 21. An AR-15 type weapon was used in Florida, police say.
Fitzpatrick, who as a federal agent carried a weapon daily and prosecuted gun crimes, says he cried Tuesday in response to meeting with students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
He plans to work on his colleagues — including House leaders who control which bills will make it to the floor for a vote — so that he’s not the only Republican backing these proposals.
“This should not be controversial,” Fitzpatrick told The Morning Call regarding the gun violence protection order legislation. “Giving family members and cohabitants the right to petition a court for someone they deem to be dangerous, I don’t see how everyone can’t get on board with that. That seems common sense to me.”
He also views the proposal as in line with the Second Amendment’s constitutional protections to bear arms, pointing to the due-process rights involved in seeking judicial approval for a potential restraining order.
“It’s important for Second Amendment advocates to want these things,” Fitzpatrick said. “If these tragedies keep occurring, their arguments get a lot tougher. So I think it’s in everybody’s interest to solve it.”
Fitzpatrick said the response to the latest shooting has felt different, and he’s been hearing from constituents in his moderate, suburban Philadelphia district on all sides of the gun debate.
In 2016 Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton by less than 1,000 votes in Fitzpatrick's 8th District, which is expected to remain very competitive under Pennsylvania’s new congressional court-drawn map.
While he’s the only House Republican so far backing the gun violence restraining order, several other GOP officials have signaled support. Florida Gov. Rick Scott has indicated support for similar laws, which have passed in several states, as has U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who tweeted that the concept “can be crafted to respect 2nd Amendment & right to due process."
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., also expressed openness during an interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Toomey said “there’s an important discussion to be had” about allowing temporary restraining orders on those showing signs of dangerous behavior, but emphasized that such a system requires due process protections.
Still, Fitzpatrick’s show of support drew praise from Democrats during a news conference Tuesday urging a vote on the legislation.
“This is not liberal legislation. It’s already the law in Indiana, in Texas, places like that,” said U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, D-Virginia. “I’m so proud that Brian Fitzpatrick is here, brave enough to take on the NRA’s stranglehold on his party.”
Fitzpatrick also was an original co-sponsor of a background check bill from U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif. As with the legislation from Toomey and West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, that measure would expand the existing background check system to cover all commercial firearm sales, including those at gun shows and over the internet.
He also supports banning the rapid-fire bump stock accessories used in the Las Vegas concert shooting, and reversing restrictions preventing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from studying gun violence.
House Republican leaders showed little interest Tuesday in taking up any of the proposals being discussed in the wake of the latest shooting.
Asked about proposals for stricter background checks or barring assault weapon sales, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Congress shouldn't be “banning guns from law-abiding citizens.” He also said he thinks President Donald Trump's idea of arming teachers is best left to local governments.
On the other side of the U.S. Capitol, senators have been discussing legislation to penalize federal agencies that don't properly report required records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and to reward states that comply by providing them with federal grant preferences.
The House previously passed a bill that included such a fix, but paired it with a provision to broaden the right to carry a concealed weapon — an addition that dooms its fate in the Senate.
Another Senate bill put forward Tuesday was a proposal to prevent those on the no-fly list from purchasing guns. Toomey was among three Republicans, five Democrats and one independent introducing that measure.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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