HARRISBURG — The gun control debate is heating up in Pennsylvania again.





The re-emergence of this volatile issue throws a new wild card into state legislative and congressional races in 2008 and the presidential election itself.

Several factors are pushing gun control to the forefront: the shooting of police officers in Philadelphia and rising gun violence in cities like Reading and Harrisburg, Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell’s ramping up of pressure to vote bills to restrict handgun sales and the U.S. Supreme Court decision last week to hear a case on the District of Columbia ordinance banning handgun ownership.

The rhetoric was hot and heavy on both sides after the House Judiciary Committee spurned Mr. Rendell’s personal appeal to move a package of gun control bills that have support from law enforcement.

On bipartisan votes, the panel rejected measures to allow for local gun ordinances and limit handgun purchases to one a month. The panel tabled a vote on a bill to require gun owners to report lost/stolen guns to police. The panel passed one bill to require a 20-year prison sentence for anyone who fires a gun at a police officer with intent to injure.

GOP lawmakers hailed the votes as a victory for Second Amendment rights. Rep. Todd Rock, R-Franklin, called Mr. Rendell “a gun-grabbing governor.”

Speaking afterward, Mr. Rendell said he’s out to form a coalition to counteract the influence of the National Rifle Association. The NRA is effective because it goes after lawmakers who switch their position on gun legislation and persuades its members to turn out at the polls, he added. The governor used especially strong words to lambaste the impact of NRA lobbying on the judiciary committee vote.

“What you saw was a number of people who have alternately been brainwashed or threatened into submission,” said Mr. Rendell.

Caught in the uncomfortable middle are House Democrats representing districts outside Philly and its suburbs. Democrats from western Pennsylvania tipped the outcome against Mr. Rendell on the judiciary committee.

Pennsylvania Democrats carry long, painful memories of U.S. Sen. Joe Clark’s 1968 re-election defeat, which was blamed on his pro-gun-control position. The gun issue is viewed as a contributing factor in the Pennsylvania Democratic party’s collapse in the 1994 election.

If Mr. Rendell hopes to prevail, he will have to get law enforcement groups like the Fraternal Order of Police actively involved, said Dr. Thomas Baldino, political science professor at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre.

“It’s almost hopeless without their complete and vocal support,” he added.

In that respect, the presence of delegations of uniformed police officers from Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Reading in the judiciary committee room may portend something.

Agency shuffle

It’s been a decade since state government tinkered with structural changes.

But moves are afoot to rearrange the agency flow charts.

Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, sponsored a bill last week to create a Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs. This would carry out a recommendation made in a report on veteran services from the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee.

An outside consultant hired by Mr. Rendell to examine the Valentine’s Day highway mess is recommending creation of a Cabinet-level Pennsylvania Department of Emergency Management. This would merge the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security.

Mr. Rendell said he will seek legislation to create the new department. Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, chairwoman of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, says the recommendation by James Lee Witt & Associates will help restore public confidence in the state’s ability to handle emergencies.

ROBERT SWIFT is Harrisburg bureau chief for Times-Shamrock newspapers. E-mail: rswift@timesshamrock.com.



©The Times-Tribune 2007

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