Pennsylvania’s two Republican candidates for governor stood shoulder-to-shoulder with 2nd Amendment advocates during a pro-gun rally at the state Capitol Tuesday. Several hundred people crowded the Capitol steps and voiced their opposition to gun control measures.
State Representative Daryl Metcalfe, a Butler Country Republican who’s running for lieutenant governor, emceed the event.
"After this year we end – we see an end to the terms of office of that gun-grabbing liberal from Philadelphia that’s been occupying the governor’s office." [applause]
Governor Rendell supports letting Pennsylvania’s municipalities set their own gun laws.
Right now, only the General Assembly can pass gun control measures. Rendell also backs efforts to limit gun purchases to one a month, and to require gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms to police.
Suzanna Gratia Hupp, a former Texas lawmaker, said laws aimed at curbing access to guns won’t cut back on shootings.
"If guns are the problem, somebody explain to me why we haven’t seen any of these mass shootings at skeet and trap shoots? Or the NRA convention? Or the dreaded gun show?"
Speakers called for the passage of the “castle doctrine” bill – a measure that would reinforce a person’s right to defend his or her home with deadly force, without the obligation of trying to retreat first.
After the event, Attorney General Tom Corbett said he couldn’t directly support the legislation without reading it first, arguing there are three different measures before the General Assembly.
He did side with its general goal.
"More likely than not, yeah. Would we sign the castle doctrine passed by the legislature? Yes."
Corbett’s Republican opponent, State Representative Sam Rohrer, said he’d “absolutely” sign a castle doctrine bill.
"That’s not the first time the castle doctrine’s been introduced, and I’ve been supportive of that throughout all my years."
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