Friend, In moments of crisis, people often turn to guns. It may be to end their life or to hurt those around them. Delaying those impulses by establishing a short waiting period for gun purchases can disrupt the violence as the person has time to gain perspective or receive help. Put simply lives are saved-- at least 200 a year in Pennsylvania.¹ Rep. Ben Sanchez and Rep. Mike Zabel have just announced CeaseFirePA backed legislation to establish a 72-hour waiting period for firearm sales in Pennsylvania. Can you ask your state representative to cosponsor this life-saving legislation today? More than 75% of Americans supporting waiting periods.² Research has found they’d reduce gun homicides by 17% and suicide by gun 11%.³ Clear science. Strong public support. This should be an easy decision for legislators. But as usual, even waiting one day for a gun is too long for the Pennsylvania gun lobby such as Firearm Owners Action Committee (FOAC) and the NRA. Even when it’d save lives. Their agenda is simple: no delays, reporting or other limitations on buying a gun even if it’d save lives. When this bill is announced, we need a strong list of cosponsors fighting to prevent suicide by gun and other deadly, impulsive actions. Even if we can’t pass the bill this year, that will allow us to start 2021 with strong policy that will reduce gun violence. Send your Representative a message now. Sincerely,
Adam Garber
CeaseFire Pennsylvania Executive Director ¹Gifford Law Center.
²Gallup Polling, Historical Trends, Guns.
³Larned, Victoria. “Handgun waiting period laws save lives, study says”, CNN, Oct. 16, 2019 | 
