Five Republicans crossed party lines on Tuesday to pass a bill in the Pennsylvania state House mandating universal background checks for gun purchases.
The state currently only requires background checks when someone purchases a handgun, according to Democratic State Rep. Perry Warren. He introduced legislation that would expand the gun control regulations to include background checks for the sale and transfer of rifles and shotguns.
House Bill 1593 passed the chamber in a 104 to 99 vote this week. Three Democrats opposed the bill, while five Republicans supported it, enabling its passage. The GOP lawmakers were state Reps. Joe Hogan, Kathleen Tomlinson, Kristin Marcell, Craig Williams, and Martina White.
After passing the House, where Democrats hold a slim majority, the bill mandating background checks for purchasers of any firearm likely faces steep odds of passing in the Republican-dominated Senate.
Warren said the Pennsylvania State Police run around 1 million background checks on firearms each year, but the law does not require them for long guns.
“We must take action to remove these loopholes,” Warren wrote in a memo on the matter. He added that the bill would “require background checks for all guns, regardless of the length of the barrel, so that we may prevent gun violence.”
The House Judiciary Committee advanced the bill for a vote last week in the wake of several high-profile shootings in September. The fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah, as well as an ambush attack in Pennsylvania’s York County that killed three law enforcement officers, sparked some calls for gun control reforms.
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Second Amendment advocates, including the National Rifle Association, opposed the bill, raising concerns that it was redundant.
“Every dealer transaction in the country already must pass a background check,” the NRA wrote. “This bill does not keep guns out of the hands of criminals. This type of legislation results in more costly, bureaucratic red tape. The Commonwealth’s PICS check is also notorious for lengthy delays, denying purchasers with an urgent self-defense need.”
