By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Sometime later today, the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on legislation ostensibly designed to update state gun sales records, but opponents are reportedly calling House Bill 1891 a “backdoor registration scheme.”
According to a report at Guns.com, the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America oppose this legislation. The NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action is telling its members, “The proponents have touted HB 1891 as a ‘modernization bill’ allowing for electronic record submissions; however, the devil is in the details. In reality, this is nothing more than an effort to bring firearm registration to Pennsylvania under the guise of ‘convenience.’”
Guns.com says passage of the measure in the House “would send it to the state Senate, where Republicans have a four-seat majority.”
“A universal background check measure, HB 1593, has already passed the House with the support of five GOP members,” Guns.com noted.
GOA is telling its members the bill “will set up all the conditions necessary for the Pennsylvania State Police to enhance their so-called “Record of Sale” system which is nothing more than a backdoor gun registry.”
The Pennsylvania GOA declared in an online alert, “Make no mistake, the House Democrats are implementing Bloomberg’s agenda to register and track all firearms sales in Pennsylvania. And history informs us that when guns are registered, confiscation eventually occurs.”
Last year, Keystone State gun rights activists helped defeat a similar bill in the House, GOA noted.
Democrats hold the majority in the Pennsylvania House, and the GOA is telling its members, “Gun owners across Pennsylvania are not fooled by the rhetoric claiming that the Pennsylvania State Police ‘Firearm Application/Record of Sale’ form (SP4-113) is not a handgun registry. We know better. And HB 1891 would allow the efficient collection of any additional data the government would decide to ask for at the point of sale using this electronic form.”
Rep. Anthony Bellmon (D-Philadelphia) is the prime sponsor, and he is joined by 14 of his colleagues.
