How Pa.’s attorney general candidates plan to approach gun crimes and violence

Katie Meyer of Spotlight PA

Photo courtesy by Adam Schultz / White House Photo

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HARRISBURG — One of the key roles of any Pennsylvania attorney general is investigating and prosecuting major crimes — a responsibility that often includes those related to gun use or possession.

Attorneys general don’t take an active role in prosecuting every gun crime in the commonwealth — that’s often the province of county district attorneys. But they can prosecute major cases, like widespread illegal firearms sales, and their office can also set a tone by focusing on specific kinds of crimes.

Former Attorney General (and now Gov.) Josh Shapiro, for instance, emphasized the prosecution of ghost gun sales, which are purchased as kits and then assembled to circumvent gun laws.

The two major party candidates for attorney general, Democrat Eugene DePasquale and Republican Dave Sunday, have some common ground on the issue.

Both say they think building partnerships is key to tackling gun violence. DePasquale emphasizes the utility of working with other states to crack down on illegal gun sales, and Sunday stresses the importance of law enforcement liaising with communities to reduce gun crime on a city-by-city basis.

DePasquale has taken many stances in favor of gun regulation throughout his career, including supporting efforts to fund community gun safety and suicide prevention programs. Those two efforts, in particular, won him the support of the national gun violence prevention group Giffords PAC.

Sunday has taken fewer public stances on policy. He is endorsed by Gun Owners of America, a self-proclaimed “no compromise” gun rights group that says his positions reflect the organization’s values.

Pennsylvania law requires background checks for all handgun sales, but does not require them for rifles or shotguns. It also does not have a ban on assault-style weapons. It requires that anyone who wishes to carry a concealed firearm first get a permit.

Because of a strict rule that preempts municipalities from passing their own gun ordinances, the state legislature sets major gun policies for Pennsylvania. Some exceptions have been made recently, however, with courts allowing local laws restricting ghost guns to stand.

What are Eugene DePasquale’s positions on firearms?

Asked during an Oct. 15 debate what his approach on guns would be if elected attorney general, DePasquale hearkened back to an approach that he said worked during his time in another state row office: creating cross-state partnerships.

DePasquale is a former state representative, but his highest-profile position was as Pennsylvania auditor general. He served two terms in that capacity, from 2013 to early 2021, and one of the marquee accomplishments of his time in office was an investigation that revealed a significant backlog of untested rape kits. In the three years after his office released its 2016 report, the backlog fell by almost 90%.

He said that as attorney general, he would focus on “going after these illegal gun dealers, and some of those are going to be across state lines, which means you have to build partnerships with other state attorneys general to take these people on, working with the Justice Department.”

“That’s similar to the approach I did on cracking down on the untested rape kits, developing partnerships all over the United States,” he said. “That’s the same type of leadership I’ll bring.”

Carver Murphy, DePasquale’s campaign director, said in a statement that the candidate would additionally “prosecute illegal gun dealers and ghost gun dealers to the fullest extent of the law — making an example of those criminals to show that we are very serious about gun violence here.”

DePasquale has also backed two legislative changes that he believes would make Pennsylvania safer.

He supports the legislature requiring universal background checks for gun purchases and passing a “red flag” law that would allow guns to be seized from people deemed to be a risk to themselves or others.

The specific language in these initiatives varies, but a proposal that passed the Democratic-led state House this session would require that in order for guns to be taken, the subject of the order would first have to have a hearing before a court. The person subject to the order could also petition for a new hearing to have the order terminated.

Murphy said DePasquale supports the bill as passed by the state House.

“It’s an important balance,” DePasquale said during the debate of passing gun legislation. “You have to protect the rights of Pennsylvanians, but at the same time, do that in a way that’s also smart.

He continued, “People have the right to keep and bear arms in Pennsylvania, and the Constitution is clear. But it’s also clear that we have the right to pass a red flag law through a judicial process that temporarily — I want to repeat, temporarily — restricts someone’s access to firearms when they are a danger to themselves and their community.”

He noted that many of Pennsylvania’s gun deaths involve suicide.

What are Dave Sunday’s positions on firearms?

Like DePasquale, Sunday’s stated approach to guns is informed by his background.

In 2013, he was appointed a special assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and part of his role included working on illegal gun cases.

Since 2018, Sunday has been York County’s district attorney, and guns have also been a big part of that job. From 2022 to 2023, the city of York saw a 36% drop in gun crime, according to the York Daily Record.

During the Oct. 15 attorney general debate, Sunday attributed that positive shift to his office’s work building community partnerships through York city’s Group Violence Initiative, or GVI program.

Versions of these programs began in the early 1990s, and cities around the country have launched their own. York’s began in 2016; Philadelphia’s started in 2020.

According to York’s most recent report on its progress, the program there involves law enforcement communicating directly to members of “violent groups” about consequences, drafting trusted community members to convey anti-violence messages and offer support, and providing targeted social services, like job training and education.

Sunday said the initiative’s success in York showed him that the approach is scalable. The motto he uses when discussing the program is “more graduations and less funerals.”

“This is done by effective law enforcement strategies, by intensive community engagement, and by making sure that all of your partners are all working together to achieve a common goal,” he said during the debate. “This is something that can be done all throughout Pennsylvania. We reach out within our own community, and you have people that live in the actual areas that go out and talk to the citizens.”

In a statement shared by his campaign, Sunday told Spotlight PA that he also wants to address “a mental health crisis in our commonwealth.”

“We have to reduce barriers to mental health treatment which will help stem gun violence,” he said. “Further, we have a shared goal of reducing recidivism which we have worked on by instituting a re-entry program in York. Better mental health and reduced recidivism will lower gun deaths.”

Asked whether he thought the legislature should do more on gun violence, Sunday told Spotlight PA, “We don’t have time to wait on the legislature to take action when we have a number of tools already available to us.”

During the debate, Sunday also said he felt he had seen success under the state’s current laws using “a collaborative effort.”

“When you look at potential future legislation, you’ve got to bring those same players in,” he said. “You have to bring in probation, parole, , the Black ministers. You have to bring everybody in to have these conversations. And I would love to have those conversations that bring everyone to the table.”

Pressed on whether he supports any particular legislative proposals, Sunday said, “There’s always more that can be done.”

In his emailed comments to Spotlight PA, he specified that one thing he’d like to see from Harrisburg is “providing funding to communities who want to put a Group Violence Initiative task force together in their community.”

Sunday has been endorsed by Gun Owners of America. The group’s Pennsylvania state director, Val Finnell, wrote that Sunday had returned a survey and that Finnell could “say with confidence that is AGAINST Universal Registration Checks and Red Flag Gun Confiscation Orders.”

“Moreover,” Finnell added, “Dave Sunday has promised to expand concealed carry reciprocity agreements which have been on the chopping block with previous, anti-gun AGs.”

Sunday declined to tell Spotlight PA whether he supports the extreme risk protection order bill the state House passed, saying, “As I have consistently done throughout the campaign I will limit my comments to specific legislation I have read and not broad hypotheticals. I have not yet read the bill you refer to.”

“Any bill,” he added, “must weigh Pennsylvania’s very clear constitutional protection of the right to bear arms and the due process rights of Pennsylvanians.”

Of GOA’s endorsement, Sunday said, “You would have to ask them why they characterize my answers in that way. I am supportive of our second amendment. I believe the second amendment does not conflict with efforts to bring down gun violence, go after straw purchases of weapons and go after the criminal organizations that illegally supply weapons for criminal acts.”

GOA declined to share the full survey with Sunday’s answers with Spotlight PA.

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