Lambo
R.I.P.
If you have a Friend in Pennsylvania its a must that you forward this e-mail to them ASAP!
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:10:06 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [PAFOA Alert] Reciprocity, Legislation, Activism and more!
From: "dpehrson@pafoa.org" <dpehrson@pafoa.org>
Howdy Pennsylvanian Shooters,
In our last email we alerted you all to the upcoming hearings on gun violence taking place around the state and we said we'd be sending out another email shortly to do a big update on everything that has been happening over the past few months.
We try not to fill your inbox up with too many emails so this one is going to be full of information.
[We're an official non-profit now]
We'd like to let everyone know that the Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association is now a legally incorporated non-profit organization in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Thanks to the support of many of our members who donated we were able to acquire the services of a great lawyer who has done an amazing job in helping us through the process. There's still a lot of work to be done, but we've passed the first big milestone! Thank you to everyone who has helped and supported us along the way by donating and being active in the organization and on the discussion forum.
[New Reciprocity Agreements]
In the past few months we've picked up quite a few reciprocity agreements for our carry permits thanks to the hard work of our Attorney General Tom Corbett. The states we have picked up recently are:
Tennessee, as of November 2006. The agreement can be read at:
http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Crime/Tennessee-reciprocity.pdf
Virginia, as of January 2007. The agreement can be read at:
http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Crime/Virginia-Firearm-Reciprocity.pdf
Oklahoma, as of February 2007. The agreement can be read at:
http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Crime/Oklahoma-Reciprocity.pdf
Additionally we were alerted to the fact that as of September 2006 Arizona recognizes all state's permits, including Pennsylvania's. However, Pennsylvania does not currently honor Arizona's permits because we do not have an agreement with them. From what we have heard a full Pennsylvania/Arizona agreement is pending but not complete. Details about Arizona's recognition of Pennsylvania's permit can be found here:
http://www.azdps.gov/ccw/reciprocity/default.asp
Lastly, on the horizon is the possibility of picking up the states of Louisiana and Arkansas.
Louisiana has announced a signed reciprocity agreement with Pennsylvania as of December 12th, 2006, however we have not heard any word of this from our Attorney General and are looking into the status of such an agreement. We have contacted both the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office and the Louisiana State Police regarding this issue in the hopes that they will clear up the confusion.
In February of 2007 Arkansas passed SB268 that changed their reciprocity law so that Arkansas will honor the permit of any state that honors theirs. The Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association has spoken with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office and they have told us they will be looking into an agreement to honor Arkansas' permit and give us another state.
[Pending Legislation]
PA House Bill 291: The "Space Gun" Act
Good or Bad: Hilariously Bad
Status: Referred to the Judiciary Committee on February 7th, 2007
Summary:
We call this the "Space Gun" Act in jest because honestly it is one of the silliest anti-gun laws we have ever seen. This law would effectively ban all handgun ownership in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by requiring that all handguns possessed and sold be electronically "personalized" so that only authorized users such as the owner can fire it. There's a slight problem with this plan though; to the best of our knowledge these guns don't yet exist except as poorly functioning prototypes in research labs. This law might as well ban all guns that aren't space lasers or photon torpedoes from Star Trek. We really don't know what else to say about this bill but we highly encourage you to contact the judiciary committee and your legislators opposing it if you can do so without laughing too hard.
You can read the text of this bill here:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2007&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=0291
-------------------------------------------------
US House Bill 1022: The Assault Weapon Ban &
PA House Bill 30: The Assault Weapon Ban
Good or Bad: Historically Bad
Status: Referred to the Judiciary Committee on January 30th, 2007
Summary:
I'm going to combine both of these into one entry, the following is a description of PA HB30 as US HB1022 has been covered extensively elsewhere on the Internet, but they are similar in effect.
These bills are basically a rehash of the 1994 federal "Assault Weapon" ban that pretty much defined "Assault Weapon" as "rifles that look kind of scary, regardless of the fact that they do the exact same thing as any other rifle." The main difference is now this definition includes shotguns, a lot more rifles, and some pistols. This law follows the basic anti-gun rule that if a law banning guns wasn't effective at preventing criminals from getting guns, the answer is obviously that the law just wasn't strict enough. Never mind the fact that "assault weapons" (rifles) are rarely, if ever used in crimes and that criminals generally don't abide by laws telling them what they can and can't do, those are just inconvenient details that get in the way of some good old-fashioned gun-hating. The meat of the law effectively bans any semi-automatic pistol or rifle that has a detachable magazine and has any one of the following features:
1) A pistol grip (if a rifle)
2) A thumbhole stock, a folding stock, a telescoping stock (if a rifle)
3) A shoulder stock (if a pistol) – (Apparently they are unfamiliar with the National Firearms Act regulation of short-barreled rifles)
4) A barrel shroud that encircles the barrel to protect the shooter from heat (They want us to burn our hands?)
5) A muzzle break, or muzzle compensator
6) A grip that can be held by the hand that is not the trigger hand (No more forward vertical grips on your AR15. Never mind that they are used for stability for more accurate shots, does that mean the legislature wants to decrease our accuracy?)
7) Any semi-automatic pistol or rifle with a fixed magazine that has the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds
8) Any shotgun capable of accepting a detachable magazine
9) Any shotgun with a revolving cylinder
The only saving grace of this law is that there is a grandfathering clause that would allow current owners of firearms covered by this statute to register and license these firearms yearly.
This is a bad law, there's really no other way to put it. The Federal "Assault Weapon" Ban was a complete and utter failure in every aspect and as best we can tell the only real point of this law is to see if they can fail even worse. This law will do absolutely nothing to reduce crime, as these firearms just simply are not used in crimes in any real numbers. The only result of this will be to turn law-abiding firearm owners into overnight criminals and force them into complex registration and licensing schemes. We highly question any legislature that would strip law-abiding owners of their rights, let alone with no public benefit whatsoever.
You can read the text of this bill here:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2007&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=0030
-------------------------------------------------
PA House Bill 760: The Firearm Registration Act
Good or Bad: Illegally Bad
Status: Referred to the Judiciary Committee on March 19th, 2007
Summary:
This bill would ban the possession and transfer of any firearm in Pennsylvania that is not registered with the state. All firearms would have to be registered with the Pennsylvania State Police and the registering party would be required to provide $10, their name, their home and business address, their telephone number, their date of birth, their social security number, their age, sex, and the manufacturer, caliber and serial number for each firearm. Additionally each applicant to register a firearm will have to be photographed and fingerprinted. Sounds like fun right? Well congratulations, the legislature has decided this is so much fun that you'll also get to do it every single year. This bill also flies in the face of Pennsylvania's long-standing law prohibiting firearm registries from being maintained by any government or law enforcement office. Simply put this is a bad law that will do nothing but provide the government with a black list of all firearm owners in the Co!
mmonwealth as we think it's fairly safe to say that the criminals in our Commonwealth are probably not going to be lining up to register their illegally owned and carried firearms.
You can read the text of this bill here:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2007&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=0760
-------------------------------------------------
PA House Bill 277: Ballistics Database
Good or Bad: Misguidedly Bad
Status: Referred to the Judiciary Committee on February 6th, 2007
Summary:
This bill would prohibit the possession and transfer of any firearm in Pennsylvania that has not had a ballistic fingerprint taken and entered into a state database. Aside from a de facto registration of all handguns that is illegal under current state law, the main issue with this bill is a question of its effectiveness and the cost to taxpayers. Such a database would most likely cost the state (and in turn taxpayers) millions of dollars to set up and maintain for what would amount to absolutely nothing according to the history of such databases. Maryland implemented such a database in 2000 costing the state $2.6 million, the result? According to the Maryland State Police in 2005 "It's not yielding any results." In fact in the final report they found that in all the time the database had been in place it had resulted in only 6 "hits" matching a firearm to a crime, none of which were ever used in a criminal trial. Is this really a good use of $2.6 million dollars? We highly !
doubt it. If anti-gun Maryland has admitted it's a failure you can bet it actually is.
You can read the text of this bill here:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2007&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=0277
When all is said and done these are all terrible laws that are an insult to the Pennsylvania Constitution that clearly states in Article 1, Section 21 that "The right of the people to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned." We urge all firearm owners to contact the judiciary committee and their legislators to remind them that you expect them to uphold their oath to uphold the constitution, and that you will not have any patience for the passage of such silly, and misguided laws.
House Judiciary Contact Information:
Thomas R. Caltagirone (Chairman)
106 Irvis Office Bldg.
P.O. Box 202127
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2127
Ron Marsico (Minority Chairman)
218 Ryan Office Bldg.
P.O. Box 202105
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2105
If you do not know who your legislators are you can find out by visiting our ‘Find Your Legislators' page located at:
http://www.pafoa.org/politician-search/page/politics_find-your-legislators.html
[Harrisburg Pro-Gun Press Conference]
The Allegheny County Sportsmen's League is holding a pro-gun press conference and a lobbying and education day in Harrisburg on April 24th, 2007. They have a package of legislation they plan to help introduce that deserves the full support of firearm owners statewide that includes:
1) Turnover of the of PICS responsibilities to NICS (in effect ending the questionable State Police handgun-database-that-isn't-an-illegal-firearm-registry-if-you-squint-and-tilt-your-head-sideways.
2) Legislation to protect law abiding firearm owners and prohibit seizure of firearms during a crisis or emergency.
3) Alaska-style concealed carry reform where a permit is not required to carry, but one can be applied for to get the benefits of reciprocity.
4) Eliminate redundant background checks for firearm purchases by permit holders.
The Pennsylvania Firearm Owners highly encourages all members consider attending this event, and to check out the Allegheny County Sportsmen's League's website at:
http://www.acslpa.org/
ACSL is a great organization with many great ideas and deserves the support of firearm owners statewide. United We Stand, Divided We Fall!
Until next time everyone, be responsible and safe and politically active!
Daniel Pehrson
Founder & President
Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
http://www.pafoa.org/
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:10:06 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [PAFOA Alert] Reciprocity, Legislation, Activism and more!
From: "dpehrson@pafoa.org" <dpehrson@pafoa.org>
Howdy Pennsylvanian Shooters,
In our last email we alerted you all to the upcoming hearings on gun violence taking place around the state and we said we'd be sending out another email shortly to do a big update on everything that has been happening over the past few months.
We try not to fill your inbox up with too many emails so this one is going to be full of information.
[We're an official non-profit now]
We'd like to let everyone know that the Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association is now a legally incorporated non-profit organization in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Thanks to the support of many of our members who donated we were able to acquire the services of a great lawyer who has done an amazing job in helping us through the process. There's still a lot of work to be done, but we've passed the first big milestone! Thank you to everyone who has helped and supported us along the way by donating and being active in the organization and on the discussion forum.
[New Reciprocity Agreements]
In the past few months we've picked up quite a few reciprocity agreements for our carry permits thanks to the hard work of our Attorney General Tom Corbett. The states we have picked up recently are:
Tennessee, as of November 2006. The agreement can be read at:
http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Crime/Tennessee-reciprocity.pdf
Virginia, as of January 2007. The agreement can be read at:
http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Crime/Virginia-Firearm-Reciprocity.pdf
Oklahoma, as of February 2007. The agreement can be read at:
http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Crime/Oklahoma-Reciprocity.pdf
Additionally we were alerted to the fact that as of September 2006 Arizona recognizes all state's permits, including Pennsylvania's. However, Pennsylvania does not currently honor Arizona's permits because we do not have an agreement with them. From what we have heard a full Pennsylvania/Arizona agreement is pending but not complete. Details about Arizona's recognition of Pennsylvania's permit can be found here:
http://www.azdps.gov/ccw/reciprocity/default.asp
Lastly, on the horizon is the possibility of picking up the states of Louisiana and Arkansas.
Louisiana has announced a signed reciprocity agreement with Pennsylvania as of December 12th, 2006, however we have not heard any word of this from our Attorney General and are looking into the status of such an agreement. We have contacted both the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office and the Louisiana State Police regarding this issue in the hopes that they will clear up the confusion.
In February of 2007 Arkansas passed SB268 that changed their reciprocity law so that Arkansas will honor the permit of any state that honors theirs. The Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association has spoken with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office and they have told us they will be looking into an agreement to honor Arkansas' permit and give us another state.
[Pending Legislation]
PA House Bill 291: The "Space Gun" Act
Good or Bad: Hilariously Bad
Status: Referred to the Judiciary Committee on February 7th, 2007
Summary:
We call this the "Space Gun" Act in jest because honestly it is one of the silliest anti-gun laws we have ever seen. This law would effectively ban all handgun ownership in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by requiring that all handguns possessed and sold be electronically "personalized" so that only authorized users such as the owner can fire it. There's a slight problem with this plan though; to the best of our knowledge these guns don't yet exist except as poorly functioning prototypes in research labs. This law might as well ban all guns that aren't space lasers or photon torpedoes from Star Trek. We really don't know what else to say about this bill but we highly encourage you to contact the judiciary committee and your legislators opposing it if you can do so without laughing too hard.
You can read the text of this bill here:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2007&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=0291
-------------------------------------------------
US House Bill 1022: The Assault Weapon Ban &
PA House Bill 30: The Assault Weapon Ban
Good or Bad: Historically Bad
Status: Referred to the Judiciary Committee on January 30th, 2007
Summary:
I'm going to combine both of these into one entry, the following is a description of PA HB30 as US HB1022 has been covered extensively elsewhere on the Internet, but they are similar in effect.
These bills are basically a rehash of the 1994 federal "Assault Weapon" ban that pretty much defined "Assault Weapon" as "rifles that look kind of scary, regardless of the fact that they do the exact same thing as any other rifle." The main difference is now this definition includes shotguns, a lot more rifles, and some pistols. This law follows the basic anti-gun rule that if a law banning guns wasn't effective at preventing criminals from getting guns, the answer is obviously that the law just wasn't strict enough. Never mind the fact that "assault weapons" (rifles) are rarely, if ever used in crimes and that criminals generally don't abide by laws telling them what they can and can't do, those are just inconvenient details that get in the way of some good old-fashioned gun-hating. The meat of the law effectively bans any semi-automatic pistol or rifle that has a detachable magazine and has any one of the following features:
1) A pistol grip (if a rifle)
2) A thumbhole stock, a folding stock, a telescoping stock (if a rifle)
3) A shoulder stock (if a pistol) – (Apparently they are unfamiliar with the National Firearms Act regulation of short-barreled rifles)
4) A barrel shroud that encircles the barrel to protect the shooter from heat (They want us to burn our hands?)
5) A muzzle break, or muzzle compensator
6) A grip that can be held by the hand that is not the trigger hand (No more forward vertical grips on your AR15. Never mind that they are used for stability for more accurate shots, does that mean the legislature wants to decrease our accuracy?)
7) Any semi-automatic pistol or rifle with a fixed magazine that has the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds
8) Any shotgun capable of accepting a detachable magazine
9) Any shotgun with a revolving cylinder
The only saving grace of this law is that there is a grandfathering clause that would allow current owners of firearms covered by this statute to register and license these firearms yearly.
This is a bad law, there's really no other way to put it. The Federal "Assault Weapon" Ban was a complete and utter failure in every aspect and as best we can tell the only real point of this law is to see if they can fail even worse. This law will do absolutely nothing to reduce crime, as these firearms just simply are not used in crimes in any real numbers. The only result of this will be to turn law-abiding firearm owners into overnight criminals and force them into complex registration and licensing schemes. We highly question any legislature that would strip law-abiding owners of their rights, let alone with no public benefit whatsoever.
You can read the text of this bill here:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2007&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=0030
-------------------------------------------------
PA House Bill 760: The Firearm Registration Act
Good or Bad: Illegally Bad
Status: Referred to the Judiciary Committee on March 19th, 2007
Summary:
This bill would ban the possession and transfer of any firearm in Pennsylvania that is not registered with the state. All firearms would have to be registered with the Pennsylvania State Police and the registering party would be required to provide $10, their name, their home and business address, their telephone number, their date of birth, their social security number, their age, sex, and the manufacturer, caliber and serial number for each firearm. Additionally each applicant to register a firearm will have to be photographed and fingerprinted. Sounds like fun right? Well congratulations, the legislature has decided this is so much fun that you'll also get to do it every single year. This bill also flies in the face of Pennsylvania's long-standing law prohibiting firearm registries from being maintained by any government or law enforcement office. Simply put this is a bad law that will do nothing but provide the government with a black list of all firearm owners in the Co!
mmonwealth as we think it's fairly safe to say that the criminals in our Commonwealth are probably not going to be lining up to register their illegally owned and carried firearms.
You can read the text of this bill here:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2007&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=0760
-------------------------------------------------
PA House Bill 277: Ballistics Database
Good or Bad: Misguidedly Bad
Status: Referred to the Judiciary Committee on February 6th, 2007
Summary:
This bill would prohibit the possession and transfer of any firearm in Pennsylvania that has not had a ballistic fingerprint taken and entered into a state database. Aside from a de facto registration of all handguns that is illegal under current state law, the main issue with this bill is a question of its effectiveness and the cost to taxpayers. Such a database would most likely cost the state (and in turn taxpayers) millions of dollars to set up and maintain for what would amount to absolutely nothing according to the history of such databases. Maryland implemented such a database in 2000 costing the state $2.6 million, the result? According to the Maryland State Police in 2005 "It's not yielding any results." In fact in the final report they found that in all the time the database had been in place it had resulted in only 6 "hits" matching a firearm to a crime, none of which were ever used in a criminal trial. Is this really a good use of $2.6 million dollars? We highly !
doubt it. If anti-gun Maryland has admitted it's a failure you can bet it actually is.
You can read the text of this bill here:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2007&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=0277
When all is said and done these are all terrible laws that are an insult to the Pennsylvania Constitution that clearly states in Article 1, Section 21 that "The right of the people to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned." We urge all firearm owners to contact the judiciary committee and their legislators to remind them that you expect them to uphold their oath to uphold the constitution, and that you will not have any patience for the passage of such silly, and misguided laws.
House Judiciary Contact Information:
Thomas R. Caltagirone (Chairman)
106 Irvis Office Bldg.
P.O. Box 202127
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2127
Ron Marsico (Minority Chairman)
218 Ryan Office Bldg.
P.O. Box 202105
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2105
If you do not know who your legislators are you can find out by visiting our ‘Find Your Legislators' page located at:
http://www.pafoa.org/politician-search/page/politics_find-your-legislators.html
[Harrisburg Pro-Gun Press Conference]
The Allegheny County Sportsmen's League is holding a pro-gun press conference and a lobbying and education day in Harrisburg on April 24th, 2007. They have a package of legislation they plan to help introduce that deserves the full support of firearm owners statewide that includes:
1) Turnover of the of PICS responsibilities to NICS (in effect ending the questionable State Police handgun-database-that-isn't-an-illegal-firearm-registry-if-you-squint-and-tilt-your-head-sideways.
2) Legislation to protect law abiding firearm owners and prohibit seizure of firearms during a crisis or emergency.
3) Alaska-style concealed carry reform where a permit is not required to carry, but one can be applied for to get the benefits of reciprocity.
4) Eliminate redundant background checks for firearm purchases by permit holders.
The Pennsylvania Firearm Owners highly encourages all members consider attending this event, and to check out the Allegheny County Sportsmen's League's website at:
http://www.acslpa.org/
ACSL is a great organization with many great ideas and deserves the support of firearm owners statewide. United We Stand, Divided We Fall!
Until next time everyone, be responsible and safe and politically active!
Daniel Pehrson
Founder & President
Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
http://www.pafoa.org/
