Pennsylvania Gun Rights – the state affiliate of the National Association for Gun Rights – announced their opposition today, to several aspects of Governor Josh Shapiro’s proposed budget containing various forms of gun control.
“If Governor Shapiro and Speaker McClinton have their way, a 1.5-million-dollar taxpayer financed slush fund could be used to harass law-abiding firearm retailers and to spy on the social media accounts of countless pro-gun Pennsylvanians across the state,” explained Craig Storrs, Jr., Executive Director for Pennsylvania Gun Rights.
Storrs highlighted language in Governor Shapiro’s budget to direct a $1.5 million staffing increase for the Pennsylvania State Police and Pennsylvania Criminal Intelligence Center (PaCIC) that would create “auditors” to target firearm retailers while expanding the PaCIC’s social media monitoring.
“This development should alarm Pennsylvania gun owners and all persons concerned about governmental intrusion in their personal lives,” Storrs warned.
Pennsylvania Gun Rights has been mobilizing Second Amendment supporters across the Keystone State against the “Red Flag” Gun confiscation bill HB 1018 and the “Assault Weapons” Ban HB 336 in addition to several other pieces of the gun control lobby’s agenda.
With the open-ended language in the proposed budget, Pennsylvania Gun Rights is sounding the alarm about how this language could be an attempt at back-door gun control designed to bypass the traditional legislative process that has stifled the gun control lobby’s agenda so far this session.
“Governor Shapiro neglects to define, in any meaningful way, what a ‘problem firearms retailer’ is. He merely assigns sweeping blame for gun violence on firearms retailers without any proof to support it,” Storrs explained.
“That begs the question, is Shapiro planning on sending in enforcers from the State Police to bully and intimidate whoever he deems to be ‘problem firearms retailers’?” Storrs concluded.
Pennsylvania Gun Rights is the fastest growing “no compromise” pro-gun organization in the Keystone State. PAGR is the Pennsylvania affiliate of the National Association for Gun Rights, the nation’s largest “no compromise” pro-gun organization, with 4.5 million members nationwide.
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