Political divisions stall proposed gun policies in Pennsylvania, where assassin took aim at Trump

Months before an armed man took aim at Donald Trump at a presidential campaign rally in rural Pennsylvania, some state lawmakers had proposed to outlaw the type of rifle used in the assassination attempt.

The legislation stalled without coming to a vote, but that was no surprise. Politically divided Pennsylvania has been at a standstill for years on gun policy, lacking enough support to either strengthen or relax existing firearm laws.

That’s unlikely to change as a result of the shooting at Trump’s rally, which killed an attendee, seriously injured two others and wounded the ear of the Republican presidential nominee.

“Sadly, we’ll probably be stuck with our similar gun laws, which are not strong enough,” said Democratic state Rep. Ben Sanchez, the sponsor of several gun-control measures, including one to outlaw certain semiautomatic firearms.

Legislatures in more than half the states have passed new gun laws this year, nearly matching the count from the previous year, according to an Associated Press review. That’s brought more restrictions in Democratic-led states, such as longer waiting periods to purchase guns in Maine and New Mexico and a prohibition on selling ammunition to those younger than 21 in Hawaii.

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