Attorney General Josh Shapiro: Pennsylvania needs universal background checks for guns

Attorney General Josh Shapiro declined to share his opinion on legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana during a Wednesday budget hearing, saying he enforces laws — he doesn’t make them.

But Shapiro did tell the House Appropriations Committee that Pennsylvania would benefit from universal background checks for firearms.

Mandating background checks for all gun sales would be “a huge step forward” for the commonwealth, he said, and would “help us in law enforcement keep people safe.” He’s expressed support for universal background checks several times in the past.

Shapiro said his office defends the Second Amendment, but at the same time must balance the right to bear arms with the right to “walk down the street and not get shot.”

In his office’s budget request for the fiscal year that begins in July, Shapiro is asking for $1.7 million to run the Safe2Say Something PA program. The 24-hour hotline, created by the General Assembly last year, allows anyone to call with school safety concerns. Thus far, Shapiro said the hotline has received more than 4,000 calls.

“We literally can’t do it without funding,” he said.

The Attorney General’s office was given $105.2 million from the non-earmarked general fund for the current fiscal year. Gov. Tom Wolf is requesting $113.2 million for the coming fiscal year, a 7.6 percent increase. Shapiro’s office is requesting slightly more: $114.6 million.

Part of that funding increase would be for additional Bureau of Narcotics Investigations agents to fight the opioid crisis.