The Tabled Bill

H.B. 29, the lost and stolen provision, was tabled by the legislature:

The committee tabled a measure that would have required gun owners to report to police immediately any gun that was lost or stolen. Owners could face fines or even jail time if they failed to do so. Mr. Rendell said such a reporting requirement would go a long way toward stopping “straw purchasers,” people without a police record who are paid money by criminals to buy guns for them.

Technically, tabling the bill keeps it alive. Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, who supported all the bills, said there was some concern among some members that a law-abiding gun owner could face jail time if he or she unintentionally misplaced a gun or failed to report a lost weapon to police. He said the bill may be amended and brought up for a vote sometime later.

There’s very little way they could change this bill to make it acceptable to me.  The more protections for lawful gun owners that get put in it, the weaker its usefulness is as a tool to go after people suspected of straw purchasing, and the case for this bill is already very weak.  If someone is guilty of straw purchasing, they should be charged with that.  This bill will always have the potential to punish honest gun owners along with criminals.