Bartolotta has double standard on gun issues
Too bad Church Chat is no longer a regular skit on “Saturday Night Live.” State Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Monongahela, would be a terrific guest on the whimsical Church Chat talk show hosted by the Church Lady, the satirical character played by comedian Dana Carvey.
In case you’ve forgotten, or perhaps are too young to remember, the smirking, cat-eye horn-rimmed glasses wearing Church Lady would mockingly utter “How convenient” or “Isn’t that special” after lampooning the actions or statements of guests, often politicians, who confessed their sins to her during one of Carvey’s hilarious sketches.
Bartolotta wants the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a federal agency, to take over conducting background checks on any individual in Pennsylvania who purchases a gun. So here we have an elected Republican, whose political party lashes out at the federal government at every instance it is perceived to be stepping on states’ rights, advocating that the federal government supersede Pennsylvania law and take over conducting background checks on gun purchaser.
She wants to scrap the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS) that many reasonably argue and fairly demonstrate is more thorough than the National Instant Check System (NICS), the federal system, at better protecting Pennsylvania residents from incidents of possible gun violence. She has introduced legislation to do just that. By doing so, Bartolotta is forsaking an endeared state’s rights tenet of her party and the state Constitution by kowtowing to the National Rifle Association, the high powered pro-gun lobby.
But like politicians and celebrities who confessed their misdeeds to the Church Lady, Bartolotta’s sin may be easy to believe but difficult to forgive. Why? Bartolotta is beholden to the NRA. The NRA gives her an “A” rating, which the NRA bestows to a “solidly pro-gun candidate or a candidate who has supported NRA positions on key votes in elected office or a candidate with a demonstrated record of support on Second Amendment issues.” Bartolotta’s “A” rating is a notch below the NRA’s highest rating of “A+.”
How convenient, the Church Lady could be heard telling Bartolotta. Scratch our back, the NRA would undoubtedly would tell her, we’lll scratch yours. Go along with the NRA position on background checks, senator, and we’ll support you in Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state in national elections and where nearly 1 in 4 residents, that is, voters, own a gun, and where, thanks in part to being well financed, some of it questionable, she defeated her opponent in a bruising election last November. Isn’t that special?
It’s doubtful Bartolotta or many Republicans, if any, would support much less sponsor legislation giving the federal government absolute authority over states’ laws about voter ID or that would not permit states to opt out of some features of Obamacare or overturn “open carry” laws in states, including Pennsylvania, that allow gun owners to brandish handguns and rifles in public. But laws covering background checks on gun purchasers hold a special place for Second Amendment advocates in Pennsylvania and other states and for elected Republican officials like Bartolotta. That’s due in part because the NRA represents gun manufacturers, not NRA members who, in poll after poll, overwhelmingly favor background checks on gun purchasers. The NRA also doles out a lot of money to political candidates and elected officials who support the NRA, which, by the way, flip-flopped its position on background checks in recent years.
Bartolotta believes the NICS is effective in prohibiting gun sales to individuals who can’t pass the a background check. PICS, she argues, is unnecessary, costly and onerous. What PICS is, though, is an additional layer of caution that saves lives and helps eliminate more gun violence. PICS, for example, can identify individuals who have a protection from abuse (PFA) order that state police say cannot be seen in the NICS. In other words, individuals who have a PFA order against them can likely pass a NICS background check but not a PICS check. That’s as nonsensical as allowing individuals on the federal government “no fly” list, which bars them from boarding a commercial airliner, but yet allows them to buy a firearm.
What’s more, there are numerous examples of overlapping federal and state laws, including cybersecurity and the sharing of personal healthcare information. And no one reasonably argues that because the Department of Homeland Security exists, state and local police in Pennsylvania should have no role in protecting against terrorism.
Gun ownership though is different. Any effort, no matter how popular or reasonable, even a state’s background checks of gun purchasers, can stand in the way. Ignoring states’ rights doesn’t matter when it comes to guns. How convenient, the Church Lady could be heard saying.
A resident of Uniontown, Richard Ringer can be reached by email at ringer.mwgroup@gmail.com.