Two New Bills

Just to give you folks some idea of what the Philadelphia politicians are up to these days, we have two new bills introduced into the Senate here in Pennsylvania. They are:

SB 1217 By Williams, A. Amends Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) further providing for firearms not to be carried without a license by adding the procedures for which any vehicle or vessel used to transport a person unlawfully carrying a firearm may be deemed contraband and forfeited.

So if you have someone in your vehicle who is, perhaps mistakenly, under the impression his license is a reciprocal one, when it is, in fact, not, you lose your car. If you don’t have an LTCF, and you’re transporting a handgun, and stop to pick up your friend to head to the range, you could lose your vehicle.

Pennsylvania’s laws on transporting handguns are already draconian if you don’t have a license. There’s not any good reason to add to the hazard, especially when the driver may not know his passenger is illegally armed.

SB 1228 By Williams, A. Amends Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) further providing for licenses. In a city of the first class, a license shall be issued only if it appears that the applicant has good reason to fear an injury to the applicant’s person or property or has any other proper reason for carrying a firearm and that the applicant is a suitable individual to be licensed.

This would turn the clock back in Philadelphia to the days prior to Act 17 when the City of Brotherly Love was may-issue. Watch out for this one folks! I think this could be their next big push. They won’t be able to show any evidence that any of the city’s 32,000 license holders are being arrested for violent crimes, but they will make those people the scapegoats, and make them pay. Why? Because deflecting blame for their own failures if what Philadelphia politicians do best.

UPDATE: I should note that these have been referred to the judiciary committee.  Politicians introduce a lot of very bad bills every year that get referred to committee and then never get a hearing.  It’s very likely that these bills will die quietly in committee, but it’s worth noting what the Philadelphia politicians think of gun owners.