Last year – on average – a Bucks County resident was killed with a firearm every six days.
That’s according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The vast majority of those September 2023 to September 2024 deaths were self-inflicted or accidental. During the same time period, only 11 Bucks County residents were murdered with a firearm.
Only?
Here’s the good news. CeaseFire PA, a non-profit agency dedicated to the elimination of gun violence, released a report this month that those numbers – while still way too high, especially if you’re one of the 60 Bucks County residents who died last year – are part of a precipitous drop in gun violence across the commonwealth. The organization’s press release touted that, “Since 2022, there has been a 42 percent drop in total victims of gun violence, and a 38 percent drop of gun deaths by firearm” across the commonwealth.
The Gun Violence Archives collected the data used for the study from more than “7,500 law enforcement, media, government and commercial sources daily.” For Philadelphia specifically, the numbers were even more startling – a 52 percent drop.
Less than three weeks after CeaseFire PA announced the good news and lauded the “significant investments in community-based violence prevention initiatives and public safety programs,” the Trump administration shuttered the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
On the same day that the federal agency went dark, Adam Garber, Executive Director of CeaseFire PA, sat down with the Bucks County Beacon. He cautioned against allowing a decrease in federal funding to reduce the investment made in Pennsylvania. While losing a federal multi-million dollar gun safety allotment will be hard to make up, Garber knows that PA has made great progress. “One of the really positive pieces of the last two years is the funding for community violence intervention and prevention programs. It has driven a significant drop in shootings across the state.”
In Bucks County alone, financial support to law enforcement and other programs has skyrocketed. When asked for exact figures, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) responded, “Under the Shapiro-Davis Administration, the PCCD has provided more than $17 million in total funding for Bucks County.” That’s just the last two years. This funding helps in myriad ways including school programming, victim support and advocacy as well as more than $58,000, “to support the hiring and recruitment of 13 local police officers.”
Garber noted – not only should this sort of support go forward – there’s more work to be done. He believes that the new numbers show, “We aren’t safe. We’re just safer.” Garber added, “increased opposition from gun extremists and budget pressures could lead to a decreased investment” at the state level.
“If that happens,” Garber explains, “we know exactly what will happen next – which homicides will rise.”
A couple of Bucks County lawmakers aren’t willing to see those gun death numbers go back up. In fact, both Representative Brian Munroe and Representative Perry Warren have dedicated themselves to moving their entire chamber toward what they believe is sensible gun reform.
READ: Bucks County Youth Raised on Active Shooter Drills Want Sensible Gun Laws
In addition to funding community programs, the other factor contributing to Pennsylvania’s recent reduction in gun deaths is legislative. Since the Democrats took control of the PA House, legislators have shown a greater willingness to move the Pennsylvania General Assembly toward reforming gun legislation. For example, HB777 Prohibiting Undetectable Firearms – aka 3D printed or ghost guns – was signed by Governor Shapiro in April 2024.
Advocates point out that this particular piece of legislation was passed immediately following a Falls Township shooting and carjacking that painfully illustrated the need for reform.
Rep. Warren understands how his colleagues might be moved to vote differently based on coincidental events like the Falls shooting. His own passion for gun reform germinated from the widely publicized murder of 20 students and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School. “I represent five suburban communities, with excellent school districts. I live five doors from my kids’ elementary school.”
And because of the Perry family’s own personal tragedy, the representative shares a heartbreakingly kindred spirit with the parents in the Sandy Hook community. “I have lost a child to an accident – not gun violence – but I have experienced the loss of a child and so that mass shooting in an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, it really hit home.”
Since then, as borough councilor and later a state legislator, Warren has introduced and supported stricter requirements on the use and distribution of firearms. Two of the bills he finds most important – background checks and extreme risk protection orders – languished in the PA Senate last year. Delayed but undeterred, he’s already begun circulating memos to bring them back for this session. There’s a third issue nagging at him this year. He’d like to see sanctions for anyone not reporting a lost or stolen firearm.
“I have circulated co-sponsorship memos on the introduction of universal background checks and a ‘No Fly, No Buy’ bill, which would not allow persons on the federal no fly list to purchase firearms. And my Lost and Stolen bill.” In the past, bills mandating reporting of lost and stolen firearms have called for criminal sanctions. Warren would change that. “I was more comfortable with the civil sanctions rather than the criminal sanctions.” Warren has introduced this bill before. He’s in favor of a law “which would permit civil liability for persons who fail to report a lost or stolen firearm that subsequently used in a violent crime.”
Rep. Munroe likewise plans to support some renewed legislation going forward. With a background as a Berwyn Fire Company Emergency Medical Technician and as a Radnor Township law enforcement officer, Munroe feels a duty to support other first responders and secure their safety. “As a former police officer, I want to be sure our law enforcement and the people they protect are safe by supporting background checks on every gun purchase to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.”
READ: Judges Topple Gun Restrictions as Courts Chart an Uncertain Path Forward
The representative likewise hopes to support other public servants who struggle after their commissions have ended. “As a veteran of the U.S. Navy, I’ve seen firsthand what can happen to veterans struggling with PTSD and mental health challenges, and I know Red Flag laws [legislatively referred to as, extreme risk protection orders] can help prevent someone in crisis from making a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Those are two key issues – supported by nearly nine out of out ten Bucks County residents that I’d like to see become a reality.”
CeaseFire PA’s Garber has heard all the arguments before. “You hear the stories of a good guy with a gun.” Then referring to the July 13, 2024, Butler, Pennsylvania shooting of President Trump he added, “The most protected person on the planet got shot.”
Garber knows that laws need to be changed, and he applauds the work these Bucks County lawmakers are doing. “We have tried it the other way for a really long time … Not tackling our problems along with increasing gun sales and what we’ve gotten for it is more empty seats around our Thanksgiving tables. It’s time to try a different pathway.”
