Episode 30: More thoughts on guns

Inside the gun rally at the Capitol

• Katie Meyer
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Katie Meyer was WITF’s Capitol Bureau Chief from 2016-2020. While at WITF, she covered all things state politics for public radio stations throughout Pennsylvania. Katie came to Harrisburg by way of New York City, where she worked at Fordham University’s public radio station, WFUV, as an anchor, general assignment reporter, and co-host of an original podcast. A 2016 graduate of Fordham, she earned several awards for her work at WFUV, including four 2016 Gracies.
  
  Katie is a native New Yorker, though she originally hails from Troy, a little farther up the Hudson River. She can attest that the bagels are still pretty good there.
  
  WITF's Capitol Bureau Chief Desk is partially funded through generous gifts made in the memory of Tony May through the Anthony J. May Memorial Fund.
  
  For more information about Tony May, click here.

 Ed Mahon / PA Post

A demonstrator wears a shirt that says, "It's The Bill of Rights / Not The Bill Of Needs" during a rally on May 6, 2019, in the state Capitol in Harrisburg.

This week, the state Capitol hosted hundreds of gun rights supporters for an annual event they call the Rally to Protect Your Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Over the years, there have been lots of efforts to tighten Pennsylvania’s gun laws—like creating universal background checks, starting a gun registry, or banning bump stocks—accessories that help semi-automatic weapons fire like automatic ones.

Most proposals haven’t gotten very far, in large part because the state legislature is pretty sympathetic to gun owners.

But if you talk to the people at the rally, you get the sense that they feel a crackdown is coming.

In this episode, we take you inside the event, and then you’ll hear extended interviews with some of the people who spoke with us.