2024 Recap and 2025 Preview

I wanted to take a few minutes of your time to recap 2024 and provide you with a preview of what’s in store for gun owners in the 2025-2026 Pennsylvania legislative session.

Legislative Victories

GOA members and supporters stopped ALL gun control pushed by Speaker Joanna McClinton and her cohort of anti-gun Democrats during the 2023-2024 legislative session.

We defeated three bills on the House floor: Mandatory reporting of lost and stolen firearms, a ban on accelerated trigger activators, and a bill that would have created an electronic gun registry.

Unfortunately, three bills passed in the House with Republican support: A ban on homemade firearms, Universal Registration Checks, and Red Flag Gun Confiscation orders. All three of these bills were stalled in the Senate.

Other legislative victories included:

• Stripped gun control out of Governor Shapiro’s annual budget.
• Prevented a bill that would have banned Glock switches from being introduced by now-retired Rep. Barry Jozwiak (R-5).

Election Victories

The GOA Pennsylvania team coordinated a massive, 675K text message campaign in partnership with Hunter Nation to mobilize hunters and gun owners in the 2024 Presidential election, helping to defeat Kamala Harris. GOA mobilized thousands of pro-gun voters in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Wisconsin in this campaign.

Down-ballot, GOA-endorsed candidate Dave Sunday won the Attorney General race. This was a huge victory for gun owners.

GOA also endorsed 62 legislative candidates in the general election with an 84% success rate.

Importantly, we protected State Senator Devlin Robinson’s (R-37) seat from flipping to an anti-gun Democrat challenger, protecting the pro-gun majority in the upper chamber.

GOA also worked diligently to defeat several anti-gun House Democrats without success. The partisan balance in the House will remain at 102-101 with a single, pro-gun Democrat remaining, Rep. Frank Burns (72).

Litigation Victory

GOA filed two amicus briefs in the landmark Crawford v. Commonwealth case. The suit was brought by anti-gun activists and the City of Philadelphia, attempting to ram local gun control down our throats.

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania unanimously upheld our state’s firearms preemption law and the court’s arguments followed GOA’s reasoning in the briefs.

2025-2026 – What’s Ahead?

As it stands, the partisan balance in both chambers will remain the same. Democrats will still have a narrow majority of 102-101 in the House and the GOP will control the Senate by six votes (28-22). There may be several special elections coming, so look for an update.

Anti-gun Democrats are working overtime to violate your God-given rights. Twenty-four anti-gun bills are already in the works, with more to come. Look for a renewed push for Universal Registration Checks, Red Flag Gun Confiscation Orders, bans on homemade firearms, and another attempt to ban Glock switches.

The best defense is a good offense. Senator Doug Mastriano (R-33) and Rep. Stephanie Borowicz (R-76) will both be reintroducing the GOA-endorsed Right to Bear Arms Act, first filed in 2021 by Senator Mastriano. These bills will ensure that Pennsylvania officials will not cooperate with the enforcement of any new federal gun control laws.

Additionally, look for Constitutional Carry, strengthening preemption, and anti-Red Flag bills to be introduced soon.

Conclusion

GOA will continue working to defeat all anti-gun legislation in the 2025-2026 legislative session. It will be an uphill battle to get any pro-gun legislation passed due to the divided legislature and an anti-gun Governor.

That’s why GOA needs your help to keep fighting. If you have not done so, please join or donate to GOA to ensure that your constitutionally-protected rights are secure.