Attendees at the Rally to Protect Your Right to Keep and Bear Arms at the state Capitol on September 29, 2020.
Kate Landis / WITF
Annual gun rights rally on tap on the state Capitol steps
At last year's Rally to Protect Your Right to Keep and Bear Arm, attendees packed the Rotunda.
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Mark Scolforo/The Associated Press
Kate Landis / WITF
Attendees at the Rally to Protect Your Right to Keep and Bear Arms at the state Capitol on September 29, 2020.
(Harrisburg) — Preparations outside the Pennsylvania Capitol building are underway for an annual gun rights rally that has drawn hundreds and hundreds of supporters in recent years.
The event being held Tuesday on the Capitol’s front stops always draws a smattering of lawmakers, including a few Democrats. The House is holding a voting session on Tuesday.
Marc Levy / Associated Press
Supporters of gun rights crowd the Capitol rotunda in Harrisburg, Pa., in 2017.
At last year’s Rally to Protect Your Right to Keep and Bear Arm, attendees packed the Capitol Rotunda and were vocal in their opposition to gun regulations that Democratic Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto had recently signed.
Adam Garber, executive director of Cease Fire PA, which advocates to reduce the harm done by firearms, says gun sales have increased sharply during the pandemic. He says about 1,600 people were killed by guns in Pennsylvania since last year’s gun rights rally.
The Associated Press and WITF’s democracy reporter Jordan Wilkie are partnering to tell stories about how Pennsylvania elections work, and to debunk misinformation surrounding elections.
