The political games in Harrisburg have reached full swing.
After getting Constitutional Carry (HB659) through the House Judiciary Committee, Pennsylvania Firearms Association’s members and supporters worked tirelessly to force action on the House chamber before the summer recess — signing petitions, making phone calls, and writing letters to members.
It looked like it was all set to pay off when the bill was put on the calendar for floor debate in late June! But then the betrayals started.
Several anti-gun members of the House Republican caucus began working on House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff to convince him to strike the vote and leave town before taking action!
Kathryn, if we do not respond with overwhelming grassroots pressure when the General Assembly reconvenes in September, I’m extremely worried that Bloomberg’s Harrisburg militants could succeed in KILLING Constitutional Carry.
This petition insists that Leader Kerry Benninghoff and Speaker Bryan Cutler stop running cover for anti-gun Republicans and pass HB659.
My plan is to bury House Leadership and the General Assembly under an avalanche of petitions from THOUSANDS of Pennsylvanians to generate the pressure needed to get the Pennsylvania Constitutional Carry Bill to the House floor.
As you know, Constitutional Carry simply gets government out of the rights-regulation business by restoring the right to carry a firearm to protect yourself without going through Tom Wolf’s bureaucratic rigmarole or paying expensive fees.
So if you are legal to own a firearm, you are legal to carry it. PERIOD.
The great news is, Constitutional Carry is spreading across the country like wildfire. Just this year it has passed in Montana, Utah, Tennessee, Texas and battleground Iowa.
But it was not just hard-red Republican states that have passed it, either.
The fake news hates it when people like you know this, but it has even passed in states under Democrat governors, like it did in West Virginia and Missouri.
And despite screams from the cradle-to-grave nanny-staters, states with Constitutional Carry are not hotbeds of Old West shootouts or vigilante justice.
Studies show that the more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens, the safer our communities are. It is common sense.
And more Americans than ever are realizing that taxes, fees and regulations never keep guns out of the hands of kidnappers, killers and rapists.
They understand that violent criminals, madmen and Antifa terrorist thugs don’t submit to trainings or apply for a plastic-coated permission slip to carry their firearms legally.
All these INFRINGMENTS on our God-given right to keep and bear arms do is create roadblocks for law-abiding gun owners to protect themselves.
The fact is, the Second Amendment and Article 1, Section 21 of the Pennsylvania Constitution enumerate the right of self-defense as a limitation on GOVERNMENT, not We the People, and the necessity for such restrictions is becoming more evident every day!
But the good news is, as I have told you before, the majority of the House Republican caucus – a staggering EIGHTY members – are cosponsors of the bill.
But when Representatives Todd Stephens (R-North Wales), Christopher Quinn (R-Media) and other metro-Philly anti-gun Republicans started pressuring Republican Leadership to block Constitutional Carry, all hell broke loose in Harrisburg.
You see, Republicans control the Pennsylvania House of Representatives by a count of 113 Republicans to 89 Democrats.
The Speaker, Majority Leader and the rest of the “leadership” team are elected to their positions of power by those 113 Republicans during leadership votes.
With Constitutional Carry poised for a full-blown floor vote, the anti-gun Republicans can take their leadership votes elsewhere if Leader Benninghoff and Speaker Cutler don’t kill Constitutional Carry.
So instead of fighting for the gun voters who elected their majority, House Republican Leaders are protecting anti-gun Republicans in their caucus so they can keep their grip on power – killing gun-rights bills in the process!
And even worse, by blocking Constitutional Carry from getting a vote, they are also blocking pro-gun voters who live in a backstabbing Republican’s district from knowing their “Republican” is a total fraud!
Your signed petition is a big part of proving that.
But I hope you won’t stop there.
I hope you’ll agree to make a generous contribution as well to help Pennsylvania Firearms Association launch a full-scale statewide mobilization program I’ll conduct throughout the summer, including:
>>> Collecting at least 100,000 signed petitions from Second Amendment supporters across Pennsylvania insisting that their legislators take action on Constitutional Carry;
>>> A massive mail and email program all across Pennsylvania designed to generate maximum pressure on politicians;
>>> Hard-hitting Internet, radio and newspaper ads calling out anti-gun politicians who oppose Constitutional Carry.
I know this plan is ambitious. It is not cheap either.
But I’m afraid it’s the ONLY way you and I are going to defeat the Marxist Democrats and BILLIONAIRE anti-gun activist Michael Bloomberg’s hand-picked Republican gun-grabbers in Harrisburg.
Thanks to your continued support, I truly believe we’re on the verge of something very special. But we have to double-down on the House leadership team this summer to get the Pennsylvania Constitutional Carry Bill moving when they return in September!
My hope is you’ll agree to a generous gift of $250.
I know I’ve asked a lot of you recently. But with so much at stake, I’m asking all of Pennsylvania Firearms Association’s members and supporters to stretch.
Of course, if $250 is just too much, I hope you’ll agree to $100 or at least $25 right away.
Without your support today, I’m afraid the deep-pocketed gun-grabbers in Pennsylvania backed by Bloomberg’s BILLIONS may neutralize the momentum we have built on our side.
For Freedom,
Chris Dorr
Executive Director
Pennsylvania Firearms Association
P.S. I could hardly believe my eyes as I watched our “friends” on the House Republican Leadership team refuse to put the Pennsylvania Constitutional Carry Bill on the House floor for a vote before the summer recess.
But if you and I can crank up the pressure this summer, I am confident we can force the House Republican Majority to act when they return in September.