With a Democrat-controlled State House in Harrisburg, there is almost zero chance of Democrat leadership running pro-gun legislation. In fact, more often than not, we’ll find ourselves on the defense against egregiously bad anti-gun legislation.
Until a State Representative has the courage to say “enough is enough” and find a way to force a vote on pro-gun legislation.
That’s exactly what pro-gun champion Republican Rep. Aaron Bernstine did.
By attaching Constitutional Carry language as an amendment to an existing House bill that was already on the floor, he forced the Democrat Speaker of the House Rep. Joanna McClinton to make a decision.
Speaker McClinton chose to rule the amendment out of order as not “germane” to the bill.
Then, Rep. Bernstine got up and appealed her ruling to the full House – which required a vote by the whole House membership. A “yea” vote would have ruled that McClinton was correct, a “nay” vote would have ruled that McClinton’s ruling should be overturned.
You read that right. 102 members of the House voted against Constitutional Carry, including a supposed “pro-gun” Democrat – Rep. Frank Burns from Cambria County.
Rep. Burns has been in office for 16 years, and in that time he has compiled a seemingly “pro-gun” voting record.
But, when you dig deeper, you realize that a large portion of those votes came when Rep. Burns knew his vote wouldn’t matter and House Democrat leadership would allow him to jump party lines to save his seat.
Now, after taking at least $3.62M from the anti-gun House Democrat Campaign Committee and Speaker Joanna McClinton combined in donations and in-kind contributions last year to save his seat: Rep. Burns’ first consequential gun vote is to kill Constitutional Carry.
Rep. Burns has earned the ire of the gun rights community, and rightfully so. However, he’s not alone. Seven other Democrats in swing districts voted wrong. Including:
- Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski (HD-122)
- Rep. Jim Haddock (HD-118)
- Rep. Rob Matzie (HD-16)
- Rep. Sean Dougherty (HD-172)
- Rep. Mandy Steele (HD-33)
- Rep. Paul Takac (HD-82)
- Rep. Brian Munroe (HD-144)
These Democrats are now exposed as believing that you need to be required to beg the government for permission to carry the firearm that you already proved you could own!
The fight is not over, far from it!
We are still working on getting a recorded vote in the State Senate, where there are several Senators who have never had the chance to vote on Constitutional Carry before.
If it passes the Senate, it goes back to the House where there may be a second chance to get another vote as well. If things change and it passes, it moves on to Governor Shapiro’s desk where he will have to choose who to offend while staring down a 2026 reelection bid.
Please click here to sign your Constitutional Carry Petition and let your legislators know that you are keeping track of their votes and that you will accept nothing short of a “yes” vote to pass Constitutional Carry.
After you sign your petition, please consider your most generous contribution to Pennsylvania Gun Rights to allow us to keep up the fight for Constitutional Carry in Pennsylvania.