Seeking to derail two bills that he said infringe on gun owners’ constitutional rights, state Rep. Aaron Bernstine has filed 79 amendments for the House to discuss and debate.
“We’re going to do every single thing that we can do to stop the folks in the anti-gun movement of achieving their goals of removing firearms from law-abiding citizens in Pennsylvania,” said Bernstine, R-10, New Beaver.
Bernstine is a staunch Second Amendment supporter who posted video on Facebook of himself at a gun range shortly after his driveway was vandalized last year and recently tweeted a photo of him and his young son target shooting.
House Bills 1872 and 2227, Bernstine insisted, would violate the Pennsylvania constitution, which states that the right for Pennsylvanians to bear arms “shall not be questioned.”
Both of the bills passed the House Judiciary Committee and have been referred the Rules Committee. House Bill 2227 passed in an 18-9 vote on Tuesday, while House Bill 1872 passed 14-13 on Wednesday.
House Bill 2227 was introduced by state Rep. Todd Stephens, R-Montgomery County, in April. The bill, according to a statement from Stephens, would create an extreme risk protective order that a court would issue to prohibit someone from possessing guns when they pose an extreme risk to themselves or others.
The information would also be forwarded to state police to keep the individual from buying guns.
“It is critical that we combat gun violence by identifying those who pose a threat to themselves or others,” Stephens said in his statement on Tuesday after his bill advanced out of committee.
Temporary extreme risk protective orders could be issued, but a final order would require a “full expedited hearing” involving the subject of the order, evidence and testimony. Stephens’ statement said the bill is sponsored by various gun-control groups in Pennsylvania as well as the state Chiefs of Police Association and District Attorneys Association.
Bernstine, though, said the legislation would ignore gun owners’ due process rights.
As for House Bill 1872, introduced by state Rep. Madeline Dean, D-Montgomery County, in October, it would ban "multiburst trigger activators" that allow semi-automatic rifles to mimic the firing speed of automatic weapons. Those modifiers include bump stocks, one of which was used by the Las Vegas mass shooter to kill 58 people and wound more than 850 people in October.
Bernstine said a bump stock has been used in just one mass shooting and sets a bad precedent for gun rights. “We’re talking about a slippery slope where people are intending to infringe on Second Amendment rights,” he said. “I take that seriously.”
While he would not use the word filibuster, Bernstine’s amendments could have the same effect, forcing the House into lengthy debates on each amendment unless the bills were shelved.
Asked if he thought the tactic would work, he replied, “I’m confident that what we did will stop anti-gun legislation from moving forward.”