Local lawmakers weigh in on gun legislation in wake of Texas school shooting

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Lawmakers in the Philadelphia region are responding to calls for tighter restrictions on firearms in the wake of Tuesday's mass shooting in Texas.

Bucks County Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick is currently on the ground in Ukraine, but he's one of a few Republicans who has voted for gun legislation in two separate bills aiming to strengthen background checks. Both are waiting in the Senate.

"I support all these measures and I always have. And I get beat up for it quite frankly, but you're either here to do the right thing or you're not. And if you're not, leave. To the people that may object to a piece of legislation that's fine, then come up with your own idea, your own solution. But doing nothing is not going to solve it, it's perpetuating it. And it's acting in a way that's unbecoming of your elected office," said Fitzpatrick.

Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle recently secured $100,000 for the Philadelphia-based violence prevention group "Mothers In Charge."

Many are wondering what - if anything - will be done in the wake of the Texas school shooting.

He's calling on the Senate to act on tighter gun restrictions.

"I call on the Senate to vote on it today. The one challenge though is because of the filibuster, it only takes a minority of senators, some 41, to block even having a vote on this and every other piece of legislation," Boyle said.

He added, "I am glad that there were some Republicans like Brian who joined every Democrat in the House on the background checks bill. We need 10 out of 50 Republicans to join with us in the Senate. So we don't need all, don't need half. Just need 10."

In the nearly 10 years since the Sandy Hook school massacre in December of 2012, not much has changed when it comes to gun legislation.

And while Delaware Senator Chris Coons supports the bills in waiting, he says the votes that could prevent these tragedies just aren't there.

"Bluntly, I think most of the substantial background checks bills or assault weapon ban bills or other bills that are comprehensive gun legislation that have come over from the House, it's pretty clear to me we don't have 10 Republicans that will vote for them," said Coons.

Democratic Senators Bob Casey, of Pennsylvania, and Tom Carper, of Delaware, say that's unacceptable.

"It's about time that Republicans in the Senate begin to be part of the solution," said Casey.

Fitzpatrick was one of a few Republicans to support the bill and others -- like the enhanced background checks act of 2021, which aims to close what's known as the Charleston loophole. It's a gap in the federal law that allows gun sales to proceed without a completed background check after three days. This bill would extend that time.

The gunman's grandfather told ABC News he had no idea his grandson had purchased two AR-15-style rifles or that they were in his house.

The loophole allowed Dylan Roof to buy a gun in 2015 and kill nine people at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina. It passed in the House but hasn't been voted on in the Senate yet.

After the Sandy Hook shooting, Republican Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey and Democrat West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin called for bipartisan legislation.

Action News asked Toomey if he would personally take action or call for action on either bill currently waiting in the Senate.

He said, "I think something in that space of expanding background checks to capture those commercial sales that are not currently captured is the place where we are most likely to have a chance of getting an outcome."