Looks Like PA’s “Red Flag” Bill is Getting a Floor Vote

Vote on ERPO could happen today. Time to call.

A vote could happen as soon as today, so be sure to call. I made probably a weekend’s worth of work for myself getting my club involved.

I don’t understand why people think we need HR 2227, the “Red Flag” law, when it’s trivially easy to make someone a prohibited person in Pennsylvania by 302ing them for psychological observation, and we already have prohibitions for people who file a Protection of Abuse order. This is probably harder to get than a PFA. So what’s the point? I think the point is Bloomberg thinks he can get this, and he’s right. Republicans love themselves some law-and-order, and if you can figure out how to get them chasing after that bone, you can beat NRA.

My issue with this bill is that in certain jurisdictions, like Philadelphia, these ERPOs are going to be rubber stamped. They’ll issue the order as a matter of routine. I also don’t really like that it defines “Family or Household Member” as “other persons related by consanguinity.” I have non-immediately family members deeply concerned about my mental health because I shoot. I get their are penalties for abuse, but what about cranks that think anyone who likes guns is off their rocker? What’s to prevent an abusive husband from using this to disarm a spouse? Nothing. I am also disturbed that the evidentiary standard for applying an ERPO is “preponderance of the evidence” (a lower standard) but getting one removed is “clear and convincing evidence” (a higher standard). The default legal disposition is “easy to get an ERPO, hard to get rid of an ERPO” which is exactly how it will be done in practice.

This also won’t do jack to stop mass shooters. We’ve seen in recent cases where authorities and families don’t take the barest of measures, readily available. So what’s adding more bullshit that’s only going to get abused by the authorities? I’m so glad we have the Republican Party to protect our gun rights. So glad. Such a great job they are doing.

5 thoughts on “Looks Like PA’s “Red Flag” Bill is Getting a Floor Vote”

  1. I got the same e-mail. I’m not sure how clued into the legislative process NRA-ILA is on HB2227 for a few reasons. The last action was to report its passage out of the judiciary committee. It is now sitting in the Rules committee with no movement. I have seen no communication outside of NRA-ILA regarding its being fast tracked. There are also no pending discharge resolutions for it. Here is today’s calendar:

    http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/BI/CAL/ARCHIVE/2017/0/5319.pdf

    Nothing about HB2227. I also don’t see when the next scheduled Rules committee meeting is, nor have I seen any movement since 6/19 and there were no gun bills moved on that day…

    http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/cteeInfo/index.cfm?CteeBody=H&Code=44

    So… if anyone has any inside info that would be helpful. It should be noted that HB2227 passed with even the support of Rep. Saccone (after the amendment), so I am not sure how the amendment alters the original bill enough for him to support it.

  2. I’m sure Republicans saw Toomey’s victory as a sign that we don’t matter.

  3. “I get their are penalties for abuse, but what about cranks that think anyone who likes guns is off their rocker?”

    Maybe they’ve been listening to Ted Nugent, and reading reports of how many votes NRA members gave him.

    Seriously, the left goes out of its way to amplify everything nutty spoken by guys like Nugent who identify with the gun rights movement, while at the same time the gun rights movement’s more mainstream people effectively suppress that news by just not talking about it. So there is some chance your relatives who think you’re a nut may have reasons even you don’t know about, based on the company you appear to keep.

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