With the Congress agreeing to disagree on gun legislation reform, State Rep. Steve Santarsiero is urging the PA General Assembly to adopt a law to prohibit firearm sales to individuals on terror watch lists and no-fly lists.

HB 1770 – the “No Fly, No Buy” bill – has been sitting in the House Judiciary Committee since it was introduced in January, but Santarsiero announced on Friday that he had collected enough signatures to file a discharge petition.

“A discharge petition is an extraordinary measure that should only be used when a committee is not fulfilling its responsibility to consider important legislation. That is certainly the case here,” Santarsiero said in the press release.

With the petition, HB 1770 will clear the Judiciary Committee and skip the normal legislative process to be put to a full vote in the House, which the State Representative expects will happen this week.

Santarsiero’s renewed push for gun reform comes a week after 49 people were killed in an Orlando nightclub by a lone gunman.

Pennsylvania should enact its own legislation to keep guns out of the hands of extremists, “even if the U.S. Congress refuses to act for the nation,” Santarsiero said.

“Our thoughts, prayers and moments of silence are important to bring us together in grief and support, but they are not enough to solve this growing epidemic,” Santarsiero concluded. “We can protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners while also protecting against more victims of violent extremists with weapons of war.”

Santarsiero is the Democratic nominee in the PA-8 contest against GOP nominee Brian Fitzpatrick.