SECOND AMENDMENT
SENATE RACE
Bob Casey (Democrat)
Believes gun violence is an issue, disproportionately affecting people of color.
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Supports passing universal background checks, limiting magazine size and banning military-style assault weapons.
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He wants to focus on supporting gun violence survivors.
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He wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post in 2022 about how he changed his previous stance. In 2012 after Sandy Hook, he supported“honoring Pennsylvania’s deep-rooted hunting culture” by not supporting restrictions on gun sales or increased regulations, but now supports assault weapon bans and increased background checks.
Dave McCormick (Republican)
Supports the second amendment
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Is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and believes law-abiding citizens have an individual right to own firearms for self-defense, hunting, collecting, and sport-shooting, for any lawful reason, and neither Congress nor the states can take that away.
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Believes issues with school violence require putting money into school security officers and that mental health programs need to be increased.
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Believes in increasing law enforcement and more rigorous background checks to not sell guns to people with a criminal record.
Marty Selker (Constitution)
Supports upholding the Second Amendment
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Wants to reduce government overreach and believes gun control is part of that
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Believes in the constitution as it was written and believes guns of any kind are included in that
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Believes in allowing people to make their own decisions when buying guns, and not letting the government choose.
Leila Hazou (Green)
Believes in gun ownership, to an extent
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Believes in allowing guns to be bought an owned
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Wants to ban assault weapons
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Believes in enforcing universal background checks and waiting periods
John Thomas (Libertarian)
Specific information not found.
Hussein Tartour-Aguirre (Independent)
Specific information not found.
Quincy Magee (Independent - Write-in)
Specific information not found.
HOUSE RACES
House District 1
Ashley Ehasz (Democrat)
Supports more checks on gun rights
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Combat veteran, supports universal background checks.
Brian Fitzpatrick (Republican)
Supports greater checks on gun ownership
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Endorsed by Everytown For Gun Safety, for viewing gun safety as a “life-or-death issue”
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Sponsored the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2023 and has supported an assault weapons ban.
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Helped pass the first federal gun safety legislation to become law in close to 30 years.
House District 2
Brendan Boyle (Democrat)
Has worked to pass legislation regulating gun ownership
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Voted to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act which creates $750 million for states to administer laws, ensuring guns cannot be purchased by certain people, determined by a court
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The act adds convicted domestic violence abusers to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
Aaron Bashir (Republican)
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Was rated 92% in 2022 by the National Rifle Association.
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Does not support gun control legislation.
House District 3
Dwight Evans (Democrat)
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Co-lead a $360 million anti-crime and victim bill for people affected by gun violence, the bill allocates funds to:
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Hiring and retaining detectives and evidence-processing personnel to investigate and solve, homicides and violent gun crimes;
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Acquiring, upgrading, or replacing investigative, evidence-processing, or forensic testing technology or equipment;
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Training detectives and personnel in effective procedures and techniques;
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Developing evidence-based practices to improve clearance rates; and,
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Ensuring victims and family members of homicide victims receive mental health treatment, grief counseling, relocation support, emergency shelter, and transportation.
House District 4
Madeleine Dean (Democrat)
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Introduced the Undetectable Firearms Modernization Act, to address plastic guns, undetectable to metal detectors.
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Introduced legislation that allows the state 10 days to investigate a person’s eligibility to buy a gun.
David Winkler (Republican)
Supports the Second Amendment
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Wants to uphold rights of both victims of gun violence and the offender.
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Will allow people to buy guns, unless convicted of a felony.
House District 5
Mary Gay Scanlon (Democrat)
Gun safety legislation is a main priority for her.
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She joined the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force
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She has cosponsored legislation to close loopholes, improve background checks, ban assault rifles and managed the debate in the House to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.
Alfe Goodwin (Republican)
Campaign did not respond to information requests.
House District 6
Chrissy Houlahan (Democrat)
Wants to advance legislation limiting gun use in a bipartisan manner.
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Co-sponsored two bills increasing background checks.
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Voted to pass a ban on the manufacturing and sale of assault weapons.
Neil Young (Republican)
Does not support gun control, but does not advocate for Second Amendment rights.
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Does not focus on pro-2A (Second Amendment) gun legislation
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Does not support gun control
House District 7
Susan Wild (Democrat)
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Voted for the Assault Weapons Ban of 2021, to make it harder to buy guns, not taking them away from people who legally own them already
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Voted for the bipartisan safer communities act and the active shooter alert act.
House District 8
Matt Cartwright (Democrat)
Believes in common-sense gun legislation
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Co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to strengthen background checks.
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Supports reducing places where criminals can purchase guns
Rob Bresnahan Jr. (Republican)
Supports securing the U.S. border
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Supports building a wall to stop the entry of criminals and illegal drugs.
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Supports reversing Biden/Harris policies.
House District 9
Amanda Waldman (Democrat)
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Supports bipartisan border security bill.
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Supports cutting asylum seeker waiting periods.
Dan Meuser (Republican)
Supports second amendment rights.
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Opposes any effort to infringe on the Second Amendment and will vote against any attempt to limit law abiding citizens’ rights to own firearms.
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Opposes liberal gun control efforts that would allow municipalities to create and set their own gun laws.
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Rejects gun registration programs like HR 96.
House District 10
Janelle Stelson (Democrat)
Supports broader background checks.
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Reported on gun violence stories during career as journalist.
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Supports broader background checks to purchase firearms.
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Supports funding of community violence intervention programs and disarming domestic abusers.
Scott Perry (Republican)
Worries about limiting Second Amendment rights.
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Warns about being cautious on limiting the Second Amendment.
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Supports fixing mental health issues to stop gun violence.
House District 11
Lloyd Smucker (Republican)
Supports second amendment rights.
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Supports the protection of rights of law-abiding gun owners.
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Opposes the federal government’s infringement on law-abiding gun owners’ rights to bear arms.
House District 12
Summer Lee (Democrat)
Supports stronger gun control measures
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Supports the fight to pass anti-gun legislation such as: assault weapons bans and expanded background checks
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Supports and is a member of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force to create solutions to the gun violence epidemic
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Supports ending protections for gun manufacturers to stop the mass shootings
James Hayes (Republican)
Supports the second amendment
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“Pro-second amendment”
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Opposes selective prosecution
House District 13
Beth Farnham (Democrat)
Supports second amendment
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Supports second amendment while also enforcing background checks and enforcing the mandatory supporting of the reporting of stolen weapons in federal law
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Gun violence is the number one killer of children because laws to: safely store firearms (Ethan’s Law), report lost or stolen firearms, require universal background checks, restrict ownership of firearms to those individuals at an elevated risk of harming themselves or others, don’t exist at the federal level.
John Joyce (Republican)
Opposes expansion of background checks
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Does not want to make it harder for people to buy guns
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Cosponsored the Mass Violence Protection Act of 2019, to address issues such as failed coordination and response efforts by law enforcement
House District 14
Guy Reschenthaler (Republican)
Opposes legislation infringing second amendment rights
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Supports the rights of law-abiding citizens to own a gun to defend themselves
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Supports that instead of congress limiting citizen’s constitutional rights they should instead, address the root cases of violence
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Supports the enforcement of existing laws that keep guns out of criminals hands who wish to do harm
House District 15
Zach Womer (Democrat)
Supports the second amendment
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Supports law-abiding citizens being able to protect themselves
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Strong supporter second amendment rights
Glenn Thompson (Republican)
Supports the second amendment
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Supports the enforcement of laws for prosecutors to hold criminals accountable as the best way to address gun violence
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Supports the upholding of the constitution
House District 16
Preston Nouri (Democrat)
Specific information not found.
Mike Kelly (Republican)
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Opposed the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022 according to press release.
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Voted against the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021 according to official Facebook post.
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Endorsed by Pennsylvania NRA.
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Full gun voting history can be found here. A+ for gun protection rating by NRA.
House District 17
Chris Deluzio (Democrat)
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Supports the recently enacted Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which enhances background checks and funding for violence prevention, mental health, and school safety.
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Cosponsors assault weapons and high-capacity magazines ban and efforts to extend background checks to all gun sales.
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Statement from press release: “I received the best training in the world to handle weapons of war. Those guns don’t belong in our schools or on our streets. It’s time to ban assault weapons.”
Rob Mercuri (Republican)
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Voted against bill in 2024 banning “ghost guns,” or unserialized and untraceable firearms that don’t require background check.
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Voted for Universal Background Check gun registration bill in 2024