National Reciprocity & Congressional Action
Which Pennsylvania lawmakers sought or ran on NRA’s endorsement and have not signed on to support the current national reciprocity bill, H.R. 2959?
While looking at the list of co-sponsors with an eye on those from Pennsylvania, I found some key names left off of the sponsors list.
These are the members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation who support the bill:
- Rep. Mike Kelly (R)
- Rep. Tom Marino (R)
- Rep. Tim Murphy (R)
- Rep. Scott Perry (R)
- Rep. Keith Rothfus (R)
- Rep. Bill Shuster (R)
- Rep. Glenn Thompson (R)
I might add that Rep. Rothfus actually didn’t have the NRA endorsement last time around. He had an A rating based on his questionnaire, but with the incumbent Democrat’s A record, it was issued to the incumbent. However, he is standing behind this bill regardless of that endorsement.
These are the members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation who sought or received NRA’s endorsement in 2012 against anti-gun opponents who are not on that co-sponsor list:
- Rep. Lou Barletta (R)
- Rep. Charlie Dent (R)
- Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R)
- Rep. Jim Gerlach (R)
- Rep. Pat Meehan (R)
- Rep. Joe Pitts (R)
For 2014, Rep. Gerlach is retiring, but the others will be on the ballot. Reps. Dent, Barletta, and Pitts are expected to be pretty safe, so I’m surprised that they are not willing to help their law-abiding license holder constituents. In fact, Charlie Cook has all three of those seats, plus Rep. Meehan, in the “Solid Republican” category as not really competitive.
In 2014, some gun owners may find it hard to get excited by candidates who don’t even think that law-abiding citizens who undergo regular background checks still can’t be trusted with firearms. If you live in any of these districts, it might be good to let them know that you noticed they wanted your vote in 2012, but that they haven’t made and effort to get on board with national reciprocity.
