Yardley Boro to Consider �Gun Safety� Resolution

According to a personal communication from Yardley Borough Council member Dave Bria, “On Tuesday, June 5, the Yardley Borough council will consider a gun safety resolution. I want to invite all of you to attend the meeting in support of this resolution. The vote isn't a sure thing… We must be sure our voices are louder and clearer than the opposition in order to sway these votes.”

The resolution quotes statistics from the Brady Campaign, which says “116,255 people in America are shot in murders, assaults, suicides & suicide attempts, unintentional shootings, or by police intervention” in America every year.

Hoping to change that statistic favorably, the resolution states “the Borough believes additional gun safety laws are needed to protect the safety and health of our residents and urges the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the United States Congress to enact laws to reduce gun violence, including:

Preventing known and suspected terrorists, those convicted of violent hate crimes and those with a history of domestic abuse from legally buying guns;

Ensuring that background checks are required on all gun sales, including online and at gun shows. In Pennsylvania, preserve the provisions of the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS) which provides instant access to background records;

Funding research into the effects of gun violence and gun safety technology;

Requiring trigger locks on all firearms in homes where children are present;

Requiring lost or stolen firearms be reported to law enforcement within 72-hours of the discovery of loss or theft;

Banning access to bump-stocks;

Banning access to assault-style rifles;

Reducing the number of permissible cartridges in a clip or magazine.

Bria hopes that other Yardley Borough Council members will “go along with the sentiment in the room” and vote to approve the resolution, which was based on the resolution Solebury Township passed in 2016. Will Newtown be next to consider a similar resolution?

UPDATE - June 11, 2018: Yardley’s gun safety resolution received “yes” votes from four council members, with two members abstaining and one member absent from the meeting. New Hope and Solebury both passed similar gun resolutions in 2016, while Lower Makefield and Middletown discussed but did not pass resolutions in previous years. An identical resolution will be considered by the Newtown Board of Supervisors on June 13, 2018 (find the agenda here).

Posted on 31 May 2018, 01:49 - Category: Resolutions