“It wasn’t her red Slurpee—it was her own blood!”

“It wasn’t her red Slurpee—it was her own blood!” said Ce-Ce Gerlach describing how a childhood friend had been killed in a drive-by shooting in Washington D. C. Gerlach, an Allentown School District School Board member, was talking to about forty people gathered near Rep. Charlie Dent’s office on Hamilton Street August 21 to urge the Republican Congressman to co-sponsor H. R. 1565 which supports background checks for people purchasing guns. The outdoor, lunch-time meeting was sponsored by the Lehigh Chapter of Organizing for Action (OFA) in an effort to bring pressure on Dent to support the House of Representatives bill which is sponsored by Rep. Pete King (R-NY) and Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA). The bill, H. R. 1565 is described on Thompson’s website as “Legislation to Keep Guns Out of the Hands of Criminals, [and] Dangerously Mentally Ill.” Rep. King introduced the bill on April 15, 2003. OFA, the organizer of the short meeting, claimed that Dent had “assured local activists” that “he would vote for a background checks bill if it arrived on the House floor.” It seems unlikely that the bill will make it out of the Judiciary Committee during this 113th Congress without overwhelming support in the House of Representatives. The Committee has 23 Republicans and 17 Democrats. Failure to act on a bill is equivalent to killing it. Bills in the House can only be released from committee without a proper committee vote by a discharge petition signed by a majority of the House membership. That’s why the political activism group wants Dent to do more than promise to support the bill when it gets to the floor; it wants him to also co-sponsor the bill. There are now 184 co-sponsors of the bill who presumably would vote for sign a discharge petition according to the website congress.gov. Proponents need a majority—218. OFA’s Gloria McVeigh put it this way: “That means we want the bill to bypass efforts by GOP House Judiciary Committee members to stall until this Congressional session ends, requiring the re-introduction of the bill--and all that requires--in both the House and Senate after the next session begins in January, 2014. At a later Town Hall meeting in Allentown after the OFA gathering dissolved, responded to a question from Justine Wesner from Schnecksville wether he would support HR 1565. According to Wesner, Dent said while he supports Toomey’s effort he would not be a co-sponsor of the bill until he has seen the final version. “This is not a divisive issue,” said OFA’s Fritz Walker who pointed out that Republican Senator Pat Toomey supports the bill. Toomey when on the news show “Face the Nation” April 14, 2013 made the case for background checks. “There is not a single word in this legislation that in any way infringes on the Second Amendment rights of a law-abiding citizen, but we think the laws that make it illegal now for a criminal or a potentially violent, dangerously mentally ill person to have a weapon -- that's the law of the land -- we think that makes sense, said Toomey. “And we think a background check to help increase the likelihood that we'll be successful in keeping guns out of the hands of very dangerous people, it just makes sense. It's common sense. And so I think when people see the bill, they're going to support it.” Allentown School District teacher Beverly Rickles attended the gathering. “I’m here because I strongly believe it’s time for us to lay down our guns.” Rickles said she was concerned that “you can buy a gun at a gun show and walk out without a background check.” Two church ministers attended the meeting and offered prayer referencing the pending legislation. “We acknowledge that there are rare moments in life when we must defend ourselves or our loved ones, but reject the idea that the best way to do this is by assuring the easy and unimpeded access to firearms to everyone without regard to criminal history or mental status,” said Rev. Don Garrett of the Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley. Rev. Elizabeth Goudy of the Metropolitan Community Church of the Lehigh Valley led the group in a minute of silence at 12:30 p. m. and the men, women and children present held hands. The gesture was in solidarity with other groups across PA who organizers said were holding similar rallies. “We must be fearless in approaching political leaders for changes in policy,” said Goudy. “We must be fearless in the face of well-funded gun lobby …too often our opinion is drowned out by those with money, money, money and more money.” Rev. Garrett challenged the idea that there’s no point to a law restricting gun ownership because criminals will get guns anyway. “That’s like saying there should be no law against murder because no law will prevent death by firearms,” said Garrett.