WATCH: Izzy Smith Wade-El Talks About the Unwillingness of Pa. Republicans to Budge on Gun Laws

Newly-elected state Rep. Izzy Smith-Wade-El (D-Lancaster) recalls getting an eye-opening look into how unwilling the state’s Republican leaders were to budge on gun laws.

At our Keystone candidate forum in Philadelphia in October, newly-elected state Rep. Izzy Smith-Wade-El (D-Lancaster) recalled a conversation with Republican state House speaker Bryan Cutler regarding gun legislation in the state.

At the time of the exchange, Smith-Wade-El was City Council president in Lancaster, where someone had recently brought an AR-15 rifle into the City Market. Smith-Wade-El said he was hoping to open dialogue with Cutler, a gun owner, that would lead to stronger gun safety measures. Instead, Smith-Wade-El said he got an eye-opening look into how unwilling the state’s Republican leaders were to budge on gun laws.

“I was like, ‘Bryan, we have got to come to some agreement about this. I know you’re a sportsman, I know you’re a hunter. This cannot be what you intended. This cannot be what you envisioned as an owner of firearms,’” Smith-Wade-El said. “He said ‘Honestly, I couldn’t get the committee chairs to make that happen, I really don’t think.”

Perhaps now that Democrats have regained the majority in the state House—albeit by the slimmest of margins—we might finally see movement on sensible gun laws in the commonwealth.

Watch what Smith-Wade-El had to say here.