It’s time for the Pennsylvania state Senate to step up and take action that would improve Pennsylvania’s protections for victims of domestic violence.

Last year 102 Pennsylvanians were killed as a result of domestic violence — 56 women and 46 men, according to state data. Of those killed, 56 percent were killed with a gun, according to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

That includes two police officers who were killed while responding to domestic incidents — a call that many officers will tell you can be among the most dangerous they will receive on any given day.

That’s in part because these situations are metaphorical powder kegs — unpredictable and emotionally-charged. It’s also due in-part to a loophole in the state’s Protection From Abuse (PFA) law.

State law requires someone with an active final PFA against them to give up any firearms upon a judge’s order, but also allows them to turn their guns over to a third party — like a friend or a relative — for safekeeping. The law also gives convicted abusers an absurd amount of time — 60 days — to turn over their firearms.

State Sen. Tom Killion, R-9, wants to close that loophole with Senate Bill 501. The legislation would require people with an active PFA against them or a misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence to surrender their guns to a county sheriff, law enforcement, or a licensed firearms dealer. The law also makes it a misdemeanor for an acquaintance to accept their firearm, and narrows the turnover period from 60 days to 24 hours.

Those are reasonable and common sense ways to strengthen the state’s PFA law, and they’re being presented alongside other bills that would give judges and victims more tools to deal with domestic abuse.

That’s a very good thing in a state where more than 37,000 PFA petitions were filed in 2015. The vast majority, 32,356, of the filers were granted temporary protection — something that’s relatively easy to obtain and leads many to the conclusion that PFA’s are handed out willy-nilly, to whomever requests one.

That’s simply not true when it comes to long-term, or final, PFAs, to which both sides either must agree or a hearing — complete with judges, lawyers, evidence, witnesses and a defense for the subject of the PFA — is conducted before a judge can issue a final order.

Killion’s bill, however, isn’t getting the full-throated support it deserves in the state Senate. He introduced his bill in January, but it was moved to the chamber’s Judiciary Committee in March and still hasn’t seen a vote.

The current state of affairs is unacceptable, and the protections for abuse victims inadequate. Legislators already know this to be true. They need to act, and make Pennsylvania safer for victims of domestic abuse, law enforcement officials and everyone else.