Gov. Tom Wolf was right to follow through on his veto threat, rejecting Republican-sponsored legislation to allow people to carry a firearm openly or concealed, without a permit.
Wolf correctly called the bill “dangerous.”
The governor’s veto Dec. 2 comes amid a surge of deadly gun violence in Philadelphia, the state’s largest city. Philadelphia has reached a grim and tragic milestone of more than 500 homicides, the highest in decades.
The same day that Wolf rejected Republican-sponsored legislation to allow people to carry a firearm openly or concealed without a permit, a lawmaker called for a state of emergency in Philadelphia.
State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta called on Wolf and Mayor Jim Kenney to declare a state of emergency in Philadelphia to stop the gun violence in the city.
“We need to treat this like the crisis and emergency like it is,” said Kenyatta. In September 2020, City Council voted unanimously to get Kenney to call for a state of emergency, but the mayor refused, and said it would result in fear and would be a distraction.
We commend and support Wolf’s position of making the gun violence crisis a top priority, an issue affecting largely African Americans and other minority communities. But the Republican-controlled legislature has rejected nearly all the Democratic governor’s proposals.
The bill Wolf vetoed would have removed the requirement that gun owners get a permit to carry a gun that is concealed, such as under clothing or in their vehicle’s glove box. It also would have eliminated a law, applying only to Philadelphia, that requires gun owners to get a permit to openly carry a firearm in the city. Pennsylvanians otherwise are generally allowed to openly carry loaded firearms, although the law is silent on it.
The GOP-dominated state legislature is moving in the wrong direction on gun laws. Republican legislators should join Democratic lawmakers in passing several stalled pieces of common-sense gun-safety bills including requiring background checks on all gun sales except family transfer, increasing penalties for straw purchases, and a 72-hour waiting period before someone can purchase a semi-automatic assault rifle.
Some have questioned the governor’s frequent use of the veto. In our view Wolf has not abused his power. When Republicans in the state legislature push unreasonable bills such as the permitless gun carry bill, the governor should exercise his veto powers.
Reprinted from the Philadelphia Tribune