Senator Alloway has introduced the Castle Doctrine Bill into the Pennsylvania Senate. It’ll have to make its way through the Judiciary Committee, and Stu Greenleaf is chair of that committee, who is rated B by NRA. Hopefully he’s looking to improve his grade. Looking at the makeup of the committee we have:
Majority (R)
- Greenleaf (chair), B rated
- White (vice chair), A rated
- Browne, A- rated
- Earll, A rated
- Gordner, A rated
- Orie, A rated
- Piccola, A+ rated
- Rafferty, A rated
Minority (D)
On a straight party line vote, it looks like we can get this out of committee pretty easily. The question will be where Stu Greenleaf is going to stand on this bill, and whether he’ll want to bring it up. But pretty clearly, we have a lot of highly rated Republicans on this committee that should be able to help us advance this bill.
It’s a pretty standard castle doctrine bill, all in all, except for a minor revision to the state’s law in regards to the definition of a loaded firearm:
If the magazine is inserted into a pouch, holder, holster or other protective device that provides for a complete and secure enclosure of the ammunition, then the pouch, holder, holster or other protective device shall be deemed to be a separate compartment.
That should clarify being able to carry pre-loaded mags to the range in the same range bag as your pistol. As long as you put them in a secured holder of some kind, you won’t be considered loaded under the law. That’s a nice fix. Also contained is a provision preempting any “Commonwealth agency” from regulating lawful carry.
looking at the list, there are several who are also co-sponsors
Orie, Piccola, Rafferty, and Boscola, so that’s 4 guaranteed out of the 13. I got to lobby Senator Boscola’s Chief of Staff at the 2A Rally on the 21st. I guess he was right, she’d sign on.