Road trip for gun-purchase background checks makes a stop in Philly

Advocates for requiring gun purchasers to undergo background checks met at Cobbs Creek Recreation Center on Sunday as part of a 10-day tour touching 22 states to encourage the U.S. Senate to pass legislation that would block some firearms purchases.

Volunteers with Moms Demand Action, volunteer group that campaigns for stronger gun laws, acknowledged that more stringent background checks would likely have limited impact on gun violence in Philadelphia, where, they said, illegal guns are the main problem.

“You’ve got to start somewhere,” Marypat Scorzetti, volunteer lead in the Philadelphia region for Moms Demand Action, said in the afternoon rain before about 15 people gathered to sign a petition destined for Washington. “It’s not a one-step solution. It’s a process. People need to understand that.”

The petition carried the social media hashtag #morethanthoughtsandprayers — a reference to all-too-common reaction of politicians and others after mass shootings such as those recently in the Atlanta area and in Boulder, Colo.

The Road Trip for Background Checks started last Tuesday, two days before President Joe Biden announced executive actions to curb gun violence, including new rules on “ghost guns” — firearms that are assembled at home and lack serial numbers, making them harder to track.

On March 11, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to require background checks on all gun sales and transfers. A similar measure passed the House two years ago, but failed to win Senate support.

Other efforts to reduce gun violence in Philadelphia are also underway. Last week, advocates called for Mayor Jim Kenney to include an additional $100 million in his new budget proposal to help build safer communities over the next three years.

That money is needed, the Rev. Jeanette Davis, of Divas Ministry Group, said Sunday in Cobbs Creek, “so children can thrive and survive.” Divas is a gun violence prevention advocacy organization.

Advocates hoping to curb gun violence at Sunday’s event said that measures against ghost guns and straw purchases would be more effective than background checks to reduce gun violence in Philadelphia, where more than 500 people have been shot this year. Through Saturday, the number of homicides in the city was 132, up 31% from last year at the same time, according to Philadelphia Police Department data.

But anything helps, they said.

“It will definitely be a good tool in the toolbox against these injustices, but I don’t think it’ll be the only thing,” Kyle Morris, chief executive of the ECO Foundation, said of background checks. The ECO — Education Culture Opportunities — Foundation mentors youth in an effort to keep them safe from gun violence.

Morris, 30, said that every time a gun is fired it ricochets through the community, affecting mothers, guardians, grandmothers, and store owners.

He welcomes outside help, especially in overcoming what he called “structural poverty,” but also believes that as a community “we have to be intentional about liberating ourselves.”

“I believe the solution is us making sure that we look out for one another,” he said, “so that children don’t grow up to become the shooters.”