If Trump is for it, will Pa. pass gun reform?

• Ed Mahon
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  Ed Mahon comes to Spotlight PA from PA Post, where he covered state politics and policy, produced radio stories that were broadcast on public media stations throughout the state and on NPR’s national newscasts, and co-wrote a weekday newsletter. Prior to joining PA Post, Ed worked for six years as an investigative and political reporter for the York Daily Record, part of the USA Today Network. His reporting on failures in Pennsylvania’s system for protecting domestic abuse victims was a finalist in the national 2018 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists in the local reporting category. He was also part of a team whose coverage of the criminal justice system, including the aggressive use of civil asset forfeiture by York County prosecutors, received the 2018 G. Richard Dew Award for Journalistic Service from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. Before joining the York Daily Record, Ed covered K-12 education at the Centre Daily Times in State College and worked as a stringer for suburban sections of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He grew up in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

 Katie Meyer / WITF

The activists who gathered in Harrisburg brought cards emblazoned with death tolls from the major mass shootings that have happened in the US in recent years.

The NRA opposes ‘red flag’ proposal as currently written

Katie Meyer / WITF

The activists who gathered in Harrisburg brought cards emblazoned with death tolls from the major mass shootings that have happened in the US in recent years.

• Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., have passed an extreme risk protection order law or similar measure to allow a court to order someone to surrender firearms if they are considered a risk to themselves or others, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which supports increased gun restrictions.

• President Donald Trump endorsed those types of orders, sometimes known as a “red flag order,” in remarks on Monday. Even Republicans in Congress are warming up to the proposal.

• State Rep. Todd Stephens, a Montgomery County Republican who is trying to pass an extreme risk protection order in Pa., told me he has made some progress in getting his proposal passed in Harrisburg. The ACLU of Pennsylvania is no longer opposed, for one, as the group said it was pleased that Stephens added some due process and constitutional protections to his bill.

• But the National Rifle Association remains opposed. In January, the group’s Institute for Legislative Action put out this list of criteria for the kind of extreme risk protection order it could support.

• Stephens’s bill meets some of the NRA’s criteria, including criminal penalties for anyone who brings false charges. But Stephens said a big sticking point is the NRA’s objection to temporarily removing a person’s gun rights through an “ex parte” proceeding, one that the defendant doesn’t participate in.

• Stephens said it’s important for judges to have the option of ordering guns relinquished without the defendant present. “When someone’s in crisis, and you’re worried that they’re going to go out and commit a rash, irreversible act like a mass shooting, you know, time is of the essence,” Stephens said.

• Under Stephens’s bill, if a court orders someone to give up guns, the court has to schedule a full hearing that the defendant can participate in within 10 days. After a full hearing, the ban can last three months to one year.

• At a demonstration in Harrisburg on Tuesday, organizer Kadida Kenner said red flag laws alone are insufficient. “We need some real common-sense gun laws that protect us from AR-15s and AR-47s,” Kenner said. “No one needs to own those in the state of Pennsylvania or across the country.” WITF’s Katie Meyer has more.

Best of the rest

Steven Senne / AP Photo

Sections of a USA Today newspapers rest together, Monday, Aug. 5, 2019, in Norwood, Mass. On Monday, Aug. 5, GateHouse Media, a chain backed by an investment firm, announced that it is buying USA Today owner Gannett Co.

• The merger of America’s  two largest newspaper chains will affect readers and news organizations across Pennsylvania. Gannett owns the Chambersburg Public Opinion, Hanover Evening Sun, Lebanon Daily News and York Daily Record in south-central Pa. Meanwhile, the GateHouse Media papers are more spread out and include the Erie Times-News and the Pocono Record.

• The YDR’s Dylan Segelbaum tells the story of a woman who was assaulted and strangled by her boyfriend. After she called police, they charged her with child endangerment. And even though prosecutors dropped that charge, she remains on the ChildLine and Abuse Registry.

• LNP has a list of 10 movies filmed in Lancaster County. I’m betting a lot of people know about “Witness” and some parents of train-loving children might know about “Thomas and the Magic Railroad.” But “Girl, Interrupted” surprised me.