While state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale has issued a report on decreasing gun violence, the Butler County sheriff wonders if the dozen recommendations included in the report are realistic.

The firearm safety special report, which was released on Tuesday by DePasquale, calls for a community approach to safety from gun violence while using current gun laws.

“We cannot continue to sit idly by while so many Pennsylvanians are killed or injured,” DePasquale said. “More than 1,500 Pennsylvanians died as a result of firearms in 2016 — on average, that's four funerals held every day.”

He said in addition to the human toll, gun violence comes at a great expense to society.

“Over the last decade, firearm-related injuries cost Pennsylvania taxpayers about $1.5 billion in health care costs because 76 percent of shooting victims were either uninsured or publicly insured,” he said.

The auditor general used input from such stakeholders as sporting groups, safety advocates, law enforcement, medical and mental health practitioners, firearm dealers and domestic violence prevention advocates in preparing the report, which took a year.

One common theme from those who were asked for feedback was to focus discussions on the matter of collaboration instead of “fear-driven rhetoric and finger-pointing,” DePasquale said.

He said that the October shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, which claimed 11 lives and injured several more, demonstrated the need for a greater focus on the availability of mental health services as a means of prevention.

“Of the more than 1,500 lives lost statewide in 2016, nearly two-thirds died by suicide,” DePasquale said.

He listed 12 recommendations, including working statewide to expand access to mental health care in all regions, destigmatizing mental health issues, training doctors to screen patients for gun violence risk, training firearms dealers to look for red flags in suicidal customers, expanded safety efforts by the state game commission and encouraging gun owners to use safe storage practices.

Butler County Sheriff Mike Slupe said that although he is as affected by unnecessary deaths as anyone, he is not sure that DePasquale's report will make a difference.

“The bottom line is, you take the evil out of people's hearts, you reduce crime,” Slupe said.

He said those bent on wrongdoing are going to find a way to cause death and injury.

“If it's not a firearm, it's a knife; if not a knife, it's a sledgehammer; if not a sledgehammer, it's their hands,” Slupe said.

He cited a case in Washington County in which all firearms were removed from the home of a man police deemed dangerous. The man then strangled all of his family members.

“They're going to find a tool to conduct the killing,” Slupe said.

He said many of the recommendations in DePasquale's report include actions that are already in practice.

“I believe the auditor general's intention is genuine,” Slupe said, “but many of the things on there are already done.”

Slupe, a past president of the state Sheriffs Association, took issue with the 11th recommendation that sheriffs and other law enforcement officials should check gun permit applicants' references and backgrounds before approving permits and consider prosecuting those who provide false information.

“In Butler County, we do the check,” Slupe said. “If we feel a further check is necessary, we will do that.”

He said state and local police prosecute those who have entered false information on a concealed carry gun permit application. Also, Slupe said if a resident with a carry permit commits a crime within the five-year term of that permit, it will be revoked.

In addition, if the sheriff's office, which issues carry permits, finds out that a permit applicant is a nuisance to police or otherwise behaves dangerously, the permit can be denied through the state's “character and reputation” model.

“I can't take your gun away, but I can take your permit,” Slupe said.

DePasquale stressed in a news release that none of the recommendations would impact the constitutional rights of firearm owners.

“Misuse of firearms is a problem that affects not only those who are shot, but the communities to which they belong,” he concluded. “It all boils down to this: too many people are being hurt and killed with firearms, and only by working together can we end the carnage,”

DePasquale's special report can be viewed at www.paauditor.gov.