There has been much drama and controversy about the proposed new Quaker Valley High School. In an August 2022 news article about the new school building plans, it was noted the engineering team must “balance the desire for community access and safety of the school.” No matter your stance on a new high school building, everyone wants our children to be safe in their schools and elsewhere, yet in the U.,. gun violence is now the leading cause of death in children, and Pennsylvania lacks sufficient laws to protect our children from horrifying, escalating gun violence.
In the last legislative session, lawmakers — including State Rep. Valerie Gaydos, R-Aleppo and Sen. Devlin Robinson, R-Bridgeville — failed to pass bills to remedy that, but in this new session, they have the opportunity to change that by passing the Common Agenda to End Gun Violence, which includes HB 731 to require that guns be stored safely in the home; HB 338 to require the reporting of lost and stolen firearms; HB 1903 to create Extreme Risk Protection Orders; and HB 714 to enact universal background checks. These bills constitute a bi-partisan safety strategy to substantially reduce the number of firearms falling into the hands of minors; people who are dangerous to themselves or others, and to identify people who have committed crimes using a gun that was lost or stolen.
We must act now by calling our legislators to state we, their constituents, want these laws in place to protect our children and others from gun violence.
Cheryl Rampelt
Sewickley
