Happy Independence Day

Fireworks

I hope you all have a great Independence Day. Sadly towns around here that chose to have their fireworks displays today are cancelling because inclement weather is descending upon us.

I went back to the home town yesterday for fireworks. Dude showed up with a sidecar motorcycle with a semi-auto RPK mounted to it. It was too dark to make out the motorcycle model. I wish I could have gotten a picture.

I do have to say that if you’re going to go forth to do some educatin’ of the soccer mommies, it would be awfully nice if you didn’t drive your motorcycle illegally into where the crowd was. But I suppose if you’re going to carry guns at people, you have to go where the people are. At the end of the day, it was too dark for anyone to really notice. Even the cops didn’t notice, or the dude is a known quantity. But you’d think they’d at least want to talk to to him about his parking job, and “hey, can you show me that magazine in your rifle is empty,” if they had. OC is legal in Pennsylvania without a license, but you can’t have a loaded long gun on or in a vehicle with or without a permit.

12 thoughts on “Happy Independence Day”

    1. I’m not aware of Pennsylvania’s version but as an example, Colorado’s statute is a “hunting reg” in purpose but applies to everyone all the time regardless.

    2. It’s not. It’s part of the Uniform Firearms Act. Poaching may have been the motivation, but it’s part of the criminal code.

  1. Yeah, I think that is only a hunting reg, as far as I know LTC allows “Firearm” which would include long guns.
    I do know the Open Carry law forbids loaded firearms in a vehicle, but your carry permit allows open or concealed to be loaded in vehicle.
    But I’m no lawyer…
    .

      1. 18 Pa.C.S. § 6106: Firearms not to be carried without a license

        (a) Offense defined.–Any person who carries a firearm in any vehicle or any person who carries a firearm concealed on or about his person, except in his place of abode or fixed place of business, without a valid and lawfully issued license under this chapter commits a felony of the third degree.

        1. The open carry law doesn’t forbid anything because there is no open carry law.

          The LTCF doesn’t apply to long guns because long guns don’t meet the statutory definition of “firearm”:

          Any pistol or revolver with a barrel length less than 15 inches, any shotgun with a barrel length less than 18 inches or any rifle with a barrel length less than 16 inches, or any pistol, revolver, rifle or shotgun with an overall length of less than 26 inches. The barrel length of a firearm shall be determined by measuring from the muzzle of the barrel to the face of the closed action, bolt or cylinder, whichever is applicable.

  2. Has the poaching of deer been a problem since the Great Depression ended? The problem these days is the opposite – not enough deer getting shot because there are not enough hunters. Obviously, the ban on loaded long guns in vehicles has nothing to do with hunting, and everything to do with blatant deprivation of the RKBA.

  3. Likely if it was a Russian RPK it was a Ural motorcycle. They are becoming quite popular.

    1. It was too dark to make out whether it was a Ural. The first thing I noticed is “Who is this doofus that’s driving into the park where the crowd is on his motorcycle?” Only when he turned around did I notice it had a side car with a girl in it, then I noticed the RPK.

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