One can learn a great deal about their elected officials and whether they demonstrate hypocrisy by following their Facebook pages.

My state senator, Camera Bartolotta, recently posted of her association with Alina’s Light, a nonprofit organization that is “raising awareness, promoting domestic violence education, and providing emotional and social support for the community,” the senator stating that benefitting victims of domestic violence is something she is “extremely passionate” about.

I wrote a response, suggesting that addressing the issue of guns is in order as one component of stemming domestic violence. Our pro-gun, National Rifle Association Life Member senator responded, “the majority of domestic violence murders are not committed with a firearm.” Her assertion is wrong.

From the National Institutes of Health website, I quote: “Over 50% of U.S. female homicides occur during domestic violence, with half involving firearms.” From Brady United’s website, “In America, firearms are the weapons of choice for domestic violence homicides: in fact, female intimate partners are more likely to be murdered with a gun than by all other means combined.” From Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s website: “Guns and domestic violence are a lethal combination. Violence against partners and family members is a public health crisis, and given the accessibility and availability of guns in America, this violence is often perpetrated with a firearm.”

The following information is taken from the VoteSmart website:

In 2018, the Senate overwhelmingly approved by a vote of 43-5 a bill that required individuals named in protection from abuse orders to surrender all forms of firearms. Senator Bartolotta was one of the five “no” votes.

In 2020, Bartolotta voted to classify shooting ranges, sportsman clubs, hunting facilities, and firearm businesses as essential, allowing them to operate during the coronavirus epidemic. Also in 2020, she voted to limit the governor’s ability to restrict firearm access during a disaster emergency.

In 2021, she co-sponsored a bill to allow municipalities and counties to be sued for gun ordinances they enact. Also in 2021, she voted yes on the following provisions of a bill:

Expands concealed carry laws in the state and repeals the requirement that individuals must have a license to conceal or openly carry.

Specifies that it shall be optional for an individual to attain a concealed carry license and shall not be construed to require that an individual obtain a license to carry a firearm.

Establishes that any individual who is not prohibited from possessing a firearm under federal or state law shall have an affirmative, fundamental and constitutional right to keep and bear firearms.

In 2022, she voted yes on a bill which:

Prohibits a county, municipality, or township from in any manner regulating the lawful ownership, possession, transfer, or transportation of firearms, ammunition, or ammunition components when carried or transported for purposes not prohibited by the laws of this Commonwealth.

Authorizes a person who is adversely affected by any manner of ordinance, resolution, rule, practice, or other action promulgated, or enforced by a county, municipality, or township may seek declarative and injunctive relief and the actual damages attributable to the violation in an appropriate court.

The rate of gun homicides in the United States eclipse by far that of the other industrialized countries. Our country does not have markedly more mental illness or evil than other nations, but we do have easy access to weapons of war: firearms designed to mow down human beings in rapid succession. We have more guns than people.

We have no red flag law, no requirement that a gun purchaser demonstrate the ability to use it safely, no requirement that a lost or stolen gun be reported to authorities, no psychological testing for gun purchasers, no waiting period to purchase firearms, no limit on the number of guns one may purchase at a time, virtually no regulations on the sale of ammunition. There are no child access provisions to foster safe storage. Immature 18-year-olds are not old enough to avail themselves of many privileges, but they can legally own lethal weapons.

I hope that I live to see the day when currying favor with the NRA takes a backseat to facilitating public safety, the day when children can go to school and be reasonably certain to come home at the end of the day.

Oren Spiegler lives in Peters Township.