Nine Pennsylvanians, on average, die from gun-related suicide every day – and on Feb. 2, 2003, that’s how Rep. Jennifer O’Mara lost her father.

The Delaware County Democratic lawmaker shared at a Capitol Rotunda rally in support of a temporary gun confiscation bill on Monday that her father, a career firefighter, began showing signs that winter that something was wrong. She recalled one day how he uncharacteristically cried on her shoulder.

She said she also knew he had a firearm – and she and her mother found he used it for the last time to take his own life. If Pennsylvania had had an extreme risk protection order (ERPO) law that allows the court to order the temporary removal of firearms from individuals who pose a risk of harming themselves or others, O’Mara said her family could have used that tool to save her father.

“We’re tired of people dying to gun violence in this state and we know that ERPO is common sense and will help save lives,” O’Mara said.

The Pennsylvania chapter of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots public safety advocacy organization, has made passing an extreme risk protection order law in Pennsylvania its top priority for the 2019-20 legislative session.

Fourteen states, plus the District of Columbia, have this law on their books giving family members or law enforcement the ability to intervene in this way – and it has proven to reduce the number of gun suicides and avert mass shootings, said Marybeth Stanton Christiansen, co-lead of the state’s chapter of Moms Demand Action, which organized Monday’s rally in support of the bill.

“We desperately need ERPO to come to Pennsylvania,” she said with a sea of red-shirted women standing in support behind her. “We know that ERPO works.”

Sen. Tom Killion, R-Delaware County, along with Rep. Todd Stephens, R-Montgomery County, are sponsoring bipartisan-backed legislation to make that happen.

Under the measures, family members or law enforcement officials could ask the court for an interim extreme risk protection order that would last no longer than 10 days if there is evidence of imminent risk of harm.

A final risk protection order, which would last between three months to a year, could only be issued after a hearing at which all parties have an opportunity to offer evidence. The judge can only issue an extreme risk protection order if clear and convincing evidence is presented. At the expiration of the order, the gun is automatically returned.

Shira Goodman, executive director of CeaseFire Pa, which is teaming up with Moms Demand Action to support the bill, said that is better than the alternative available now in Pennsylvania that involves committing a loved one to inpatient care for several days without a hearing and costing them their right to own a gun for the rest of their life.

“ERPO is a legal civil process with due process protections built in and an opportunity to contest the evidence, an opportunity to come back and say, ‘I have gotten help. I am ready for this order to be expired,’ and an opportunity to get your gun rights back at the end,” Goodman said. “It makes sense.”

Gov. Tom Wolf was among those in attendance to offer his support for the proposal. He said Pennsylvania took a step forward to reduce gun violence last year with a law that is set to take effect on Wednesday that removes firearms sooner from domestic abusers.

“But even though we’ve had this recent success, it’s not time to let up just yet,” he said.

Florida is among the states that has passed an extreme risk protection order law. It happened in the aftermath of the Parkland high school mass shooting last year.

Robert Schentrap lost his younger sister Carmen in that tragedy. He was on the hand for the rally to urge Pennsylvania to pass its own extreme risk protection order. He said the shooter who took the life of his sister and 16 others’ lives in that attack, had been visited by law enforcement over 40 times for domestic violence and animal abuse and showed other “clear signs he was a dangerous disturbed individual.”

But he said law enforcement didn’t have any tool at their disposal to restrict his access to firearms at the time.

“Unfortunately, it led to the deadly situation that happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas,” Schentrap said. “Afterward, law enforcement came to me and my family and 16 others with this ERPO legislation and told us this is a tool that we need to make sure this does not happen in Florida ever again.”

The law was passed and has been used already several times, he said.

Extreme risk protection orders are "not only useful for mass shootings like what happened to myself but also for helping reduce the suicide epidemic we’re seeing in this country,” he said.

He said he cannot wait until Pennsylvania joins the other states in putting this life-saving tool on the books. Neither can Killion.

“We have to get this across the finish line,” Killion said. “We will get this across the finish line and I can’t wait to watch Governor Wolf sign that bill into law.”