Pennsylvania – Page 49 – Shall Not Be Questioned

18-20 Year Old Handgun Possession

Eugene Volokh asks and interesting question about how hard it would be for 18-20 year olds to get a handgun. Federal law prevents anyone under the age of 21 from buying a handgun from a federally licensed dealer, but in most states 18-20 years olds are permitted to purchase and possess firearms under state law.

It would indeed be a straw purchase for someone to purchase a gun from a federally license firearms dealer on behalf of someone 18-20 years old, because you are not the actual buyer. It would, however, be legal for a parent to buy one for their 18-20 year old as a gift, I believe. In a gift situation, you are the actual buyer, even if you’re not the person to possess it in the end. In Pennsylvania, private transactions of handguns are unlawful, but the County Sheriff is one of the authorities that can process a transaction. Since he is not a federally licensed dealer, and PA law allows for possession of a handgun by someone 18 years or older, I would presume a Pennsylvania Sheriff would be able to process this transaction. It would still, presumably, require a PICS check, but since the transaction is not federally regulated, no 4473 should be required. So I believe an 18-20 year old could still get a handgun in a private transfer, even under Pennsylvania restrictive transfer regime.

Word from the Committee

Word is Castle Doctrine was voted out of committee 22-4, with the three gun control bills being voted down. Looks like we get a floor vote on Castle Doctrine! More details later.

UPDATE: Roll call vote here. PASSED 22-4 Looks like it was amended, but the amendment did not destroy the purpose of the bill. The result of the amendment is that you still have a duty to retreat against an unarmed assailant.

On the other bills, on creating a new task force in the AG’s office. FAILED 9-17.

To create an assault weapons ban. FAILED 6-20.

On gutting preemption. FAILED 6-20

We did it! On to the House Floor.

Don’t Forget

We get put to a vote today. On Castle Doctrine and on a few other anti-gun bills, including an assault weapons ban.

Anti-Gun Shenanigans

Good news: We’re finally getting a committee vote on Castle Doctrine here in Pennsylvania tomorrow.

Bad news: The gun un-friendly leader of the House Judiciary Committee realizes how much legislative support it has and is releasing three anti-gun bills at the same time.

Good news: PAFOA has put together an alert that will let you (if you live in Pennsylvania) email and tweet targeted lawmakers on the committee who haven’t expressed their support of Castle Doctrine and/or distanced themselves from the anti-gun bills.

If you haven’t contacted your lawmakers yet, today is the day to do it. Tomorrow is the vote, so make sure they hear your voice today.

We Have Work to Do

Rasmussen shows that Sestak is ahead of Toomey by 4 points. It also shows that 61% of Pennsylvanians want the health care reform repealed. I have a feeling that Sestak’s numbers are going to drop once people get to know him, but I don’t want to count on that. I like what Xlrq said, “Congratulations, Pennsylvania, you just jumped out of the frying pan. Step two is not to land in the fire.” This is truth.

Here it Comes

Castle Doctrine is getting a vote in the Judiciary Committee on May 25th. The bad news is that so are three anti-gun bills. From NRA:

House Bill 1043 would create a new Bureau of Illegal Firearms Trafficking or a â€œFirearm Trafficking Czarâ€ in the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General. Â Passage of this bill has the potential of establishing yet another anti-gun biased bureaucratic agency within the state government.
House Bill 1044 would gut Pennsylvaniaâ€™s firearm preemption statute which currently allows only the State Legislature to enact laws pertaining to firearms. Without a state preemption law, the result would be a complex patchwork of restrictions that change from one local jurisdiction to the next.
House Bill 1045 would bring California-style gun-control to the Keystone State and ultimately ban many semi-automatic firearms commonly owned by Pennsylvanians.

Contact information for the committee is here. We can’t count on these bills to be defeated. Remember, New Jersey was a pro-gun state until the day it wasn’t. So it will be the same for us if we do nothing.

Bucks GOP Can Get Bent

Given that we’re under attack, this is hardly a time for infighting. But as a Republican in Bucks County I’ve beenÂ progressivelyÂ annoyed with the party. A few months ago I finally decided to come back to the party that abandoned me almost a decade ago, and I’m already regretting it. Take this story, for instance, about getting Tea Party groups kicked out of polling places. Now the reason was because they weren’t following state disclosure laws for fliers handed out at polling places. The Tea Party groups should have known about the law, and that they didn’t get their message out is on them. If you’re going to be insurgents, you better know how to play the game. But this is not to say I’m letting the GOP off. Here’s what pisses me off:

Poprik said that although the effort to block the tea party fliers was driven by the election code violation, she finds the idea that the tea party candidates would try to buck the party’s endorsements distasteful.

“In order to be a state committee person you do some work, you get to know people and then you run for state committee,” Poprik said.

Poprik said the tea party candidates are unknowns to most members of the Bucks County Republican Party. She said the party would not support them because they haven’t risen through the ranks and proven themselves.

“This is a party office. This is not a public office. This is our election,” Poprik said. “It is highly unusual for people who have never done a thing for the party to run for state committee.”

Listen Lady, when your party hijack the election apparatus that my tax dollars pay for, it’s no longer a “party office” or a “party election.” At that point, it becomes a public office, and candidates are entitled to a fair shake before voting members of their respective parties. Maybe the Tea Parties are blocking your endorsements because they no longer feel the Republican Party represents them.

I certainly felt that way, and now I come back to rejoin and get involved again, and I find alternate views are being shut out. You have no right to the Bucks County GOP. If members of the party feel you’re doing a lousy job, and make no mistake about it, you’re doing a lousy job, we’re entitled to run other candidates to replace you.

This isn’t the safe, GOP dominated Philadelphia suburbs they used to be. It’s time to come into the 21st Century and get serious about rebuilding the party’s brand. That’s not going to happen with the political dinosaurs that currently rule the GOP.

Specter is Gone

The man who switched parties to avoid getting beat in his primary just got beat in his primary. As much as I’m enjoying the poetic justice, the words “Senator Sestak” scare the living hell out of me. I’ll work like hell for Pat Toomey.

Primary Day

WithÂ recuperationÂ from Annual Meeting now fully underway, I nearly forgot that I came back to primary day in Pennsylvania. Who am I going to vote for? I’m undecided, believe it or not. Might not decide until I’m in there. Let me explain my conflicts.

Governor: Without a doubt, Sam Rohrer represents my values of limited Government much more closely than Tom Corbett does. But Corbett is proven in a statewide race. I have my doubts as to whether Rohrer will be able to raise enough money, win enough independents in the general election, and beat whoever the Democratic nominee is. I also don’t think Tom Corbett is a bad candidate. Given the choice, I’ll probably go with the guy I think can win in November.

Congress: Mike Fitzpatrick is the presumptive winner in the race, and is carrying an NRA endorsement. I like Gloria Carlineo philosophically, but much like the situation with Rohrer, I’m very concerned about her ability to raise money. That’s not a small concern, because Patrick Murphy is a fundraising machine. If Carlineo loses, I really hope she doesn’t disappear from politics. She should really consider a stab at State Representative, or maybe a County Row Office. I am by no means happy the GOP reanimated Fitzpatrick to go after Murphy, but it is what it is.

In both cases, I will back whoever the eventual nominee is. We have to get Murphy out, and we definitely need to prevent any of those Dems from getting in the Governor’s Mansion. Ed Rendell has convinced Democrats in this state the NRA can’t beat them. Its only so much time before the General Assembly starts believing that too, and when that happens, we’re screwed.

It’s a difficult choice. Do you vote for someone who is with you 90% of the time who can’t win over someone who is with you 70% of the time who can? These are the compromises you make along the way. All politics is compromise. It’s the only way we all live together without killing each other.

Wilson Becomes Number 33

Max Nacheman, paid representative of MAIG sent by New York City Mayor Bloomberg to screw with your gun rights in Pennsylvania, is at it again, but at least we got one guy up there to complain about it. That’s thirty three towns they’ve passed this crap in now. How long before they start bringing this crap to Harrisburg? Gun owners in Pennsylvania need to wake up. We need more than just one guy showing up when Bloomberg’s paid stooge comes to town.