Inspired by an ongoing general email conversation with reader Adam Z., I was inspired to look at the challenges we could still face here in Pennsylvania to pass a clean Castle Doctrine bill this term. I’ve seen more than a few comments from gun owners that assume pro-gun legislation is in the bag & anti-gun bills are no threat at all simply because the Republicans have control of the House, Senate, & Governor’s office.
The fact is that we ran out of time on the bill because opponents were building up support among Republican leaders for anti-gun amendments while the bill was in a Senate committee. The committee chair voted for one of those amendments out on the Senate floor. Guess what gun owners? That guy is still in charge. A new member of the committee had this to say about Castle Doctrine last year:
Yeah, we still have hurdles, folks. If you live in Pennsylvania & your Senator’s name isn’t on this page, then get on the phone. If your Senator’s name is on that page, make sure he/she knows that you want a clean bill & no anti-gun or anti-hunting amendments added to it. It’s time to get Castle Doctrine passed.
UPDATE: Well, that didn’t take long. Here’s the news from NRA on this final evening before the hearing:
Anti-gun groups are working to attach a laundry-list of bad amendments to SB 273 tomorrow. We already know F-rated state Senator Daylin Leach (D-17) will be offering the so-called “Florida Loophole†amendment which would prohibit the use of out of state Right-to-Carry permits by Pennsylvania residents while inside the Commonwealth. Once again this is an attempt by anti-gun zealots to torpedo this much-needed reform and we cannot allow that to happen.
“…knows that you want a clean bill & anti-gun or anti-hunting amendments added to it.”
#correction
Might want to add a “no” somewhere in there or “without”.
Good catch. /says the person who shouldn’t read one article while writing another :)
And there’s already an update, so yay for that. (Not really, it’s about this very topic…)
Idaho used to require that if you were an Idaho resident you were required to have an Idaho carry license but the licenses of residents of other states were recognized. To make that more clear–A Washington state resident with a WA state license was fine in ID, but an ID resident with a WA license was not.
The courts struck that portion of the law down on “unequal protection” reasons.
Unless the “Florida loophole” amendment gets rid of reciprocity entirely the same solution might work for PA.
Actually, that won’t work in Pennsylvania. The big reason is because Philadelphia routinely abuses the license to carry process and is responsible for a third or more of revocations in the state. When they revoke for reasons like parking tickets, it’s the only recourse for some people.
Bitter,
I think there was a misunderstanding here. What I am saying is that unless the proposed law eliminates reciprocity it can probably be struck down as unconstitutional. The state of PA cannot treat a resident of some other state with a license from FL any better than they treat a resident of PA with a license from FL.
They cannot say that for two people with the same exact circumstance with the only difference being that one is a PA resident that the PA resident gets jail time and the other is smiled at and told to have a nice day.
Ah, yes, I missed that part of your first comment. Apologies.