The Pennsylvania House of Representatives advanced a bill (HB 777) that would ban homemade firearms to the Commonwealth’s Senate, where it will face a tough battle to pass in the Republican control chamber.
The bill will ban Pennsylvanians from owning, transferring, or making homemade guns without serial numbers. It will also prohibit 3D-printed firearms and modular frames with serial numbers. Anti-gun politicians refer to these firearms as “ghost guns” and blame them for the rise in crime in cities like Philadelphia.
All but one Democrat, Frank Burns (D-72), voted to pass the bill. Three Republicans crossed the aisle to join their left-leaning colleagues in voting for the bill. Ultimately, the bill was passed with a vote of 104-97. Democrats hold a slight margin of 102 to 100. The Republicans who voted for the bill were KC Tomlinson (R-18), Martina White (R-170), and Joe Hogan (R-142).
Their votes drew the ire of many gun rights advocates and gun rights groups. This anti-gun vote isn’t the first time that two of the three voted for anti-gun bills. Hogan and Tomlinson have previously voted for red flag laws and universal background checks. Gun Owners of America (GOA), which has a significant presence in Harrisburg, downgraded its rankings for the Republicans to an “F.”
While most derided the Republicans for voting for constitutionally dubious anti-gun laws, one Pennsylvania state-level gun group has started running cover for the three Republicans, which has upset many in the gun community.
Firearms Owners Against Crime (FOAC) sent out an email stating that the three Republicans didn’t have a choice other than voting for the bills. They claimed that the three would have lost their seats in the House if they voted against gun control.
“I would encourage members to realize that Republicans who voted in favor of this bill did so knowing they would lose their seats if they did not, not because they wanted to,” the email read. “I would encourage members to understand that even with those three Republicans voting against this bill, it would have passed 101 to 100, even with Democrat Frank Burns voting against the bill. Understand these Republicans know this bill will NOT become law because their fellow Republicans in the Senate will kill it promptly. Understand the ONLY reason the Democrats ran this bill was to make these Republicans either vote this way and get attacked by 2A groups, which has already started, or vote our way and get attacked by their local voters over a vote they could not win. Try to remember those Republicans are in heavy Democrat districts and we need them to stay in their seats to regain the House and stop this nonsense.”
FOAC has a mixed track record on homemade firearms. FOAC’s late President Kim Stofer was instrumental in getting JSD Supply banned from Eagle Arms Gun Shows for selling Polymer80 kits. The deal was brokered with the gun show owner, Amen Brown, then-Attorney General and now Governor Josh Shapiro. Mr. Stofer told this reporter that he wanted a paper trail for “ghost guns.” JSD Supply’s owner, Jordan Vinroe, would end up buying the gun shows and return to selling kits.
FOAC did fight against this bill, but the pressure wasn’t enough to stop it from passing the House. AmmoLand News asked current FOAC President Jim Stoker to comment on the bill passing to the Senate. Mr. Stoker believes it is more critical to protect Republicans who backed the bill than to hold their feet to the fire for their bad votes.
“FOAC Institute is non-partisan. We are neither pro-Democrat nor pro-Republican; we are pro-gun,” Stoker said in a state released to AmmoLand News. “Right now, the pro-gun legislators in this Commonwealth’s House consist of Republicans and only ONE Democrat. Our strategy moving forward is to attack specific anti-gun politicians in Democrat controlled districts where we can replace with pro-gun legislators and return control of the House to the pro-gun party in Pennsylvania. The result would be maintaining existing Republican seats and gaining two or three seats back from the Democrats who benefitted from the Democrat controlled courts handing them control of the House in 2022.”
The bill will now head to the Senate. It faces an uphill battle if the Republicans hold the line. Governor Josh Shapiro will sign it into law if it does pass the Senate.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. Mr. Crump has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
They can ban them but they can’t stop people from making them.
All who voted for it are traitors to their oath of office and the Constitution. They must be removed. We made our own firearms and other weapons long before the country existed and will continue to do so long after it inevitably falls. It’s a God-given right to defend oneself from any who would seek to take your life, liberty or property, including the government, as one of the founders wisely noted. We will never comply with their authoritarian Bs efforts at control.
Democrats want to ban home made firearms, then sue US gun manufacturers into oblivion. What’s next, banning importation of firearms?
My fondest desire, is for everybody to just stop kowtowing to the political elites and stop kissing their asses!! Since when do we have to obey the whims and dictates of known criminals and traitors?? Time after time I have demonstrated with facts and air tight logic that NO ONE owes any kind of allegiance to tyrants who want most of us dead, and yet nearly everybody is still too afraid to stand up for what they claim to believe in! No one yet has been able to find even just one flaw of any kind in what I say… Read more »
the anti rights folks do not deserve to be rehired to their offices at election time. Fire them as soon as possible
The state proves that STUPID is as STUPID does!
Yep, it’s those home built guns that have caused the rise in crime in places like Philadelphia. Not the gang bangers using guns. It dem guns my man! dey be doin da bad stuff! What is it about politicians as a whole? Are they born with no brains or do they just sort of ooze out over their lives so that when they get in the position of head parasites they have no reason, logic or common sense left? Seriously..WHAT IS IT WITH THESE MORONS?
Oh, and as for FOAC, it is dead. FOAC used to = Kim Stolfer. They have done a lot of good legal challenges and a lot of good lobbying in the past. Then Kim lost his damn mind around 2018 or so, and FOAC lost it’s mind with him. It does not appear to have recovered since his death. Those republicans who voted for this bill should have stood up for what is right, and for the rights of their constituents. If that cost them their seats, so be it. If they vote against us to maintain their seats now,… Read more »
ANYONE, whether “D” or “R” who votes AGAINST Our American CONSTITUTION — MUST BE REMOVED with NEVER holding another Public Office of ANY KIND!!!!
“I would encourage members to realize that Republicans who voted in favor of this bill did so knowing they would lose their seats if they did not, not because they wanted to…” Are you, like me, so done hearing about “incumbents” fearing the loss of their positions of power so they vote to betray us? How about Republicans acting upon their OATHS TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION? Service in Congress and State Legislatures should NOT be a full time, life-long career. It’s our fault because we continue to put up candidates who have no spine, no principles, and no courage. We… Read more »