HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf on Friday signed an executive order making "unprecedented sweeping changes" to combat gun violence across the state.

The order makes changes to executive branch agencies and programs, including the creation of a new Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Charles Ramsey, chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, is the senior advisor who will coordinate and facilitate the effort to reduce gun violence. Ramsey will lead the new Office of Gun Violence Prevention; that office will contain a Special Council on Gun Violence.

The council will meet within 60 days to formulate its plan to reduce gun violence across the state.

In addition to the new office and Special Council on Gun Violence, the order institutes various measures to reduce gun violence by mass shootings, suicide, domestic violence, accidental shootings and more.

As part of the order, data sharing will be increased and the Pennsylvania State Police will be expanding monitoring of hate groups, white nationalists, and other fringe organizations. Gun buyback programs will be expanded and Pennsylvania will enroll in the "States for Gun Safety" coalition, a multi-state partnership that shares information for the nation's first regional Gun Violence Research Consortium.



The action comes less than two weeks after two mass shootings occurred in the United States in a single weekend, killing more than 30 people. The shootings happened at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas and outside a bar in Dayton, Ohio.



"We need to fix our weak gun laws and pass reforms focused on increasing safety and reducing danger to our citizens." Gov. Wolf said during an event Friday.

Wolf is also urging state lawmakers to pass safe storage legislation to reduce the number of accidental shootings, as well mandate universal background checks by the Pennsylvania State Police on all gun purchases. According to the Governor's office, the Executive Order will immediately implement the following: