PA Governor To Take Executive Action On Gun Violence

UPDATE: Gov. Wolf has delayed tomorrow's action "out of respect for the officers injured and the ongoing situation in North Philadelphia." It will be postponed until Friday.

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf is expected to sign an executive order Thursday that will make "sweeping" changes to reduce gun violence, his office announced Wednesday.

The executive order will make changes to executive branch agencies and programs. According to information from the governor's office, the nearly two dozen new initiatives and reforms directed under the order will be aimed to create new oversight and data sharing in an attempt to address gun violence, including mass shootings.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after two mass shootings occurred in the United States in a single weekend, killing more than 30 people. The shootings happened at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas and outside a bar in Dayton, Ohio.

According to information provided by the governor's office, as part of the executive order, Wolf will direct the administration to create new state offices focused on violence prevention and reduction, expand programs that promote safety, refocus departments on combating gun violence as a public health crisis, and increase collaboration and data sharing between the public, government agencies and other states.

“Too many Pennsylvanians are losing their lives to gun violence, and even more Pennsylvanians’ lives are being disrupted by the terror and fear caused by gun violence,” Governor Wolf said in a statement. “We simply are not doing enough to stop people from dying and to give communities the peace of mind that they deserve. This order will make sure the executive branch is doing more and focusing on gun violence as both a public safety problem and public health crisis. I will continue to engage the General Assembly in order to advance important gun safety reforms when they return to session.”

Specifically, Wolf said he will urge state lawmakers to pass safe storage legislation to reduce the number of accidental shootings, as well mandate universal background checks by the Pennsylvania State Police on all gun purchases.

More than 1,600 people died in Pennsylvania from gunshot wounds in 2017, which is higher than the national average.

"The spikes in gun violence have led to billions of taxpayer dollars going toward efforts to increase security in schools and other public places and provide medical care to survivors, while families and communities have suffered invaluable losses when loved ones die of senseless gun violence," Wolf's office said in the statement.