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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | September 8, 2022 01:26 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Christopher B. Quinn |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Ghost Gun Legislation |
| With violent crime afflicting our state, and too much of that violence fueled by illegal firearms, we must support a number of different approaches both to address the underlying causes of violence but also to deter and punish those who brazenly defy the law. Indeed, violent crime with firearms is driven by previously convicted felons who illegally obtain firearms despite being prohibited from possessing them by both current federal and state law. The vast majority of criminals illegally obtain a firearm through theft or a straw purchaser. But a small, alarming trend among these criminals relates to the recent proliferation of homemade, or so-called “ghost,” guns. No matter how a firearm is obtained – whether it is homemade, stolen from a law abiding person’s home or vehicle, or purchased through a gun trafficker – when a prohibited person possesses a firearm, that prohibited person has committed a new felony. But the special risk of ghost guns demands that we deploy special penalties for prohibited persons who possess them, and for those traffickers who sell them illegally. Therefore, my bill will apply special sentencing enhancements to prohibited persons who illegally obtain ghost guns, and further enhancements if those ghost guns are used in subsequent crimes. Further, my bill will apply sentencing enhancements to those who traffick in ghost guns. In addition, my bill will add to the public education about ghost guns. Pennsylvania law already charges the Office of Attorney General with operating a “Straw Purchase Prevention Program” to provide grants to educate the public about the illegal nature of straw purchasing. I believe this program should be expanded to educate members of the public about homemade firearms. The benefit of this public education would be to ensure that persons who have reformed their lives, but who still are prohibited from possessing firearms due to their prior misconduct, do not obtain ghost guns for their own protection, thinking it to be permissible, only to unwittingly commit a new felony. I hope you will join me in sponsoring this commonsense legislation. |
Introduced as HB2833