Those of you who live in my home county may want to take a look at your sheriff’s race. It’s not unusual to see platitudes like this parroted by politicians on both sides of the aisle:
I pledge to enforce all of the laws to guarantee that no one with a questionable background receives or renews a gun permit to carry a concealed weapon.
Keep in mind that Philadelphia routinely denies permits for the most unreasonable pretenses, such as having had a gun stolen, having unpaid parking tickets, or for having arrests for petty offenses years ago in people’s past, even if there was never any prosecution or conviction. Pennsylvania law allows sheriffs considerable discretion when it comes to denying a License to Carry. He needs to be asked to clarify this position. I’d also question what his position would be on signing off on NFA forms. It would be very helpful to know whether this is a platitude, or whether he wishes to make real changes to current policy in regards to LTCs and NFA sign-off.
UPDATE: There is no question, this Democratic candidate for sheriff is anti-gun.
If I am elected as your sheriff on Nov. 5, I will not issue any permits to any Pennsylvania resident who live outside Delaware County. In our society of gun violence, it is clear that a large majority of Americans want to see mandatory background checks at all sales of firearms. I believe the same majority want their county sheriff to be more responsible in issuing permits to those citizens who want to carry a concealed weapon.
That’s a dog whistle for implementing Philadelphia style abuse of the discretion to render Delaware County effectively may-issue. He also wants to see Philadelphia’s abuses continue. So will he continue to not issue if that becomes the law? Also, Bloomberg is sure to throw money into this race. Watch for that. He wants to own Pennsylvania, and his presumption that it might be ripe for the buying might not be wrong. I see a lot of evidence around that Pennsylvanians don’t really care enough about their gun rights to meet Bloomberg in ever backyard he’s digging in.
UPDATE: See Joe Sestak’s endorsement of him here.
Sebastian, Thanks for bringing up this Race. Gun owners in Delaware county need to send a message this November like the message recently sent in Colorado.
When you consider that this guy is endorsed by Joe Sestak you know we have a problem:
http://www.delcotimes.com/general-news/20130830/letter-sestak-polidoro-right-man-to-serve-as-county-sheriff
I hate to sound paranoid but I wonder if this guy received any donations from Bloomberg?
OK. It’s official. He’s Anti-Gun. He spouts the standard “I’m a gun owner, BUT…..” line.
http://www.delcotimes.com/article/20130629/NEWS/306299984
To the Times:
As the Democratic candidate for Delaware County sheriff, I am calling on the county’s state senators and state representatives to denounce the proposed bill that state Sen. Richard Alloway, R-Adams County, will be submitting any day. Alloway’s bill, if enacted into law, will take away local control in issuing permits to carry a concealed firearm from the local sheriff’s department and pass it on to other county sheriff departments within Pennsylvania.
If I am elected as your sheriff on Nov. 5, I will not issue any permits to any Pennsylvania resident who live outside Delaware County. In our society of gun violence, it is clear that a large majority of Americans want to see mandatory background checks at all sales of firearms. I believe the same majority want their county sheriff to be more responsible in issuing permits to those citizens who want to carry a concealed weapon.
State law requires that each county sheriff is charged with issuing and renewing permits to owners who want to carry a concealed gun. The reason was so that the sheriff would be able to check with the neighbors and the local police who may know the applicant. If the neighbors or the local police believe that the applicant is not a good, responsible person, then the permit can be denied.
Sen. Alloway’s bill will take the control away from the local sheriff and pass it on to a sheriff in another county within the state. His law will make it easier for thousands of Pennsylvania residents, who normally would be denied in their home county, to shop around and find a sheriff department that has a lenient background policy and obtain a permit to carry a concealed gun throughout the state.
As a veteran and a gun owner myself, I support the U.S. Constitution and the Second Amendment. But as your sheriff, I will not take any donations from the National Rifle Association and I will do whatever I can to make Delaware County safer for all of our towns and boroughs.
ROCCO J. POLIDORO
Springfield
Tell everyone you know about this guy. He can’t just lose….he NEEDS TO BE CRUSHED.
Sestak looks pretty darn good these days. At least sestak was honest about where he stands on the issues. I’ll take an honest, straightforward guy who I disagree with any day over a liar who pretends to be a conservative and then abandons the people who went out of their way to get him elected.
Best estimate now is that Toomey will need to pull a Specter and switch to the Democrat Party if he wants to run for re-election.
Who is/are his rivals in this race? Do we have an assessment of their positions.
We need to be very careful going forward of the increase in the use of “I’m a gun owner, but…” that we’ve seen this year. It seems to be a tactic they’re using much more frequently.
AHH, for the “shall issue” days where are they?
Merle
Although I don’t live in Delaware county I do live in Allegheny county and this kind of attitude among an LTCF issuer has always been a concern of mine living in such an urban county. I’m a fairly new resident to PA and haven’t obtained mine yet but have a resident VA permit. “Good and responsible person” is codeword for “Whatever arbitrary criteria I decide to come up with”.
As much as I don’t like using the term, the number of fudds in PA worry me going forward. There are a lot of people in my neck of the woods who are proud gun owners and even NRA members on one hand, but yet on another don’t know squat about what’s going on in their state and probably wouldn’t ever lift a finger for gun owners on the other side of it. A lot of the older guys are especially like this.
Not being informed is not being a Fudd. It’s simply being politically ignorant. You’ll find that’s a common theme among every kind of gun owner.
Edited to add: As a new resident, you might be interested in seeing this video made in 2011 when the NRA meeting was in Pittsburgh where Western PA gun owners were asked about what they knew about their elected officials and what would motivate them to volunteer for the cause.
Many gun organizations in other other states are NRA-affiliated and are quite active. Do we actually have a state-affiliated NRA group in PA? If so I will admit my ignorance of this fact…
The key here is being ACTIVE in the state. That means a visible presence in all 67 counties, and people to show up when asked. Typically this is not a problem since there are actually LOTS of motivated gun owners in PA. However, PA is a large, diverse state, and communication is an issue. Is there a communications network to notify gun owners of things? Phone? E-mail? Fax? I am an NRA life member and never even got notified of any NRA-related events or organizations in PA. I do get lots of notifications about credit cards, knives, and insurance, however.
The officially recognized state affiliate does crap legislatively and politically. NRA does work with leaders of other groups that are more aware of things going on that actually impact our rights, though.
I would suggest that if you want to know of more local opportunities, see if you have an EVC in your area. Not all are great about getting back to people, but most try to keep up to some degree.
Bitter, thanks for the link to the video. Even though I wasn’t here yet I really wanted to get out to that annual meeting as my wife is originally from the area. Definitely seemed like some mixed results with the survey of residents but I was pleasantly surprised to be honest.
I’m not saying all Fudds are ignorant, and yes there should be a distinction. To clarify, I think it’s a generational issue more than anything. Older people, while gun owners and NRA members, probably don’t read up on issues statewide and connect with other gun owners as much as younger folks do, which is understandable. I think it has a lot to do with technology, and harnessing it to get the word out to the older gun owners, especially out here in western PA, could be huge in turning out the vote in key situations.
Although I don’t live in Delaware county I do live in Allegheny county and this kind of attitude among an LTCF issuer has always been a concern of mine living in such an urban county.
Allegheny County issues more LTCFs than any other sheriff in the state. I’ve never heard of anything bad regarding their process that rises to the level of what Philadelphia does, which is to abuse discretion to such a degree that it practically speaking amounts to de facto may-issue.
As much as I don’t like using the term, the number of fudds in PA worry me going forward. There are a lot of people in my neck of the woods who are proud gun owners and even NRA members on one hand, but yet on another don’t know squat about what’s going on in their state and probably wouldn’t ever lift a finger for gun owners on the other side of it. A lot of the older guys are especially like this.
This is a huge concern for me as well. You speak the truth, and it seems it’s true across the whole state. These folks really have no idea what’s being set up against them. They won’t wake up until a SAFE-style act is knocking on their doorstep, and by that time it very well may be too late. I also agree it’s older guys that are often like this. Of course, a lot of young guys think all you need to do is tote a rifle around to a few protests and all will be well.
I’m not sure what the general make-up of Delaware County is, but I think what we have going for us in Allegheny is that there are still some pretty far-out suburbs of Pittsburgh that are within the county and outside of the city limits and maybe its very close-in suburbs, pro-gun sentiment is still fairly high. I guess there was talk some years back about trying to merge the city and county governments (at the behest of the city I’m sure), which would if ever revived would definitely have my concerned. Despite being in western PA, Pittsburgh proper can’t be though of as much different than any other city when it comes to wanting to limit 2A rights.
Just wondering, what is YOUR definition of a “fudd”. Somehow it sounds pretty derogatory to me & plays into the hands of both anti gun & anti hunting groups.
Merle
It’s meant to be a derogatory term honestly. It’s one thing to not be into ARs or the “tactical” scene, but it’s something else to be completely passive if politicians ever try to pass legislation against them, and that’s what Fudds are in my book.
I don’t throw the term around at anyone who isn’t into the same things as me. I have some family friends who are much older than me. They are big-time hunters, NRA members/supporters, and go shooting occasionally, but have practically no interest in any long gun that they wouldn’t otherwise use for hunting. They are great guys who I respect immensely and love to go out in the field with, but unfortunately I also have no doubt that if an AWB ever made it’s way onto the docket in PA, they wouldn’t really care what comes of it, because it has literally no bearing on them. That’s the kind of stuff I hate to see because it plays right into the divide-and-conquer tactic that the grabbers love to employ.