LETTER: The NRA Has Too Much Influence In Pa., Montgomery County

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While there have been many stories about the power of the NRA over proposed gun laws in the US House and Senate, what we don’t hear is how this organization has affected change in state laws over the past few years. Fortunately for Pennsylvanians, this past week the state Supreme Court struck down one of the NRA’s recent victories. In Oct. 2014 the PA House and Senate Republicans, quietly and unconstitutionally, slipped a measure into a bill that addressed the theft of secondary metals (such as copper and cable wires) which allowed the NRA to have standing to sue any PA municipality.

This bill was supported by all of the area Republicans including Rep. Tom Murt (R-152). While this bill received little attention and was passed just before the end of the Corbett administration, it serves as the perfect example of how the Republican leadership and their members continue to push an agenda that is bought and paid for by special interests such as the NRA, instead of standing up for and protecting their constituents. Several municipalities that had passed restrictions on guns in public parks and libraries had to revoke them for fear of having to spend large amounts of tax dollars fighting the NRA, an organization with seemingly unending resources and no interest in the safety or concerns of our local citizens. Fortunately, several local Democratic lawmakers - as well as those from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Lancaster - stood up and sued the leadership over this late-hour, back door legislative maneuver and scored a victory for all of us -- but most of all for the PA Constitution.

This November we again are able to choose who will represent us in Harrisburg. Now that we see what Rep. Murt and the Republicans have been up to, I for one intend on voting for someone who is willing to take a stand for what is right for our community, rather than blindly following a leadership group and their financial backers who seek to bully and intimidate our local residents and their elected leaders.

-Susan Worth-LaManna

Huntingdon Valley