Rendell calls bid to curb guns in Pennsylvania 'a lost cause'

HARRISBURG - For eight years, Gov. Rendell has lobbied hard in the halls of the Capitol for what he calls "commonsense" handgun laws.

He wanted to limit sales to individuals to one handgun a month. He wanted owners to report lost or stolen weapons. He wanted to close a loophole in state law that he believes lets criminals use gun permits obtained in other states.

At each turn, the legislature - including some of his allies in the Democratic-controlled House - knocked down the proposals like so many slow-moving clay birds on a skeet-shooting range.

On Monday, Rendell defended his weekend veto of a bill expanding gun owners' self-defense rights - but declared his efforts to reduce gun violence through legislation "an abject failure."

"It's a lost cause in Pennsylvania," Rendell said in a conference call with reporters. He accused the General Assembly of kowtowing to the National Rifle Association.

"The legislature proved consistently in my eight years that they are scared to death to buck the NRA," he said. "It's incredibly frustrating, the hold the NRA has over the legislature. It's embarrassing."

The lame-duck governor spoke even as his Republican successor, Tom Corbett, was signaling he would sign the bill Rendell had just vetoed.

Rendell's remarks about the NRA drew a swift rejoinder from the office of Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware). "I don't agree with the governor's conclusion," said Pileggi's spokesman, Erik Arneson. He said that NRA members have a right to air their views on legislation, and that lawmakers consider those views just as they do those of other interest groups.

Pileggi, who represents the crime-plagued city of Chester, broke with Republicans - and some Democrats - to support closing the so-called Florida loophole, though the measure failed in a final vote last month.

Unlike some lobbying groups, the NRA wields its power less through campaign donations and more with an energized membership that looks to the group for its endorsements - and non-endorsements - and its annual "report card" on whether legislators voted for gun owners' rights.

Rep. Kate Harper (R., Montgomery) in 2007 offered a rare glimpse into some lawmakers' concerns about the NRA. After voting for a one-handgun-a-month proposal in a House committee, Harper said she feared the gun lobby and its supporters would exact revenge at the polls.