Warning to Those Who Carry in Pennsylvania or with a Pennsylvania License

Pennsylvania’s new Attorney General Kathleen Kane takes office today. If any of you hold a concealed carry license and travel with your firearms either to or from Pennsylvania, you need to verify the status of any reciprocity agreements on a day-by-day basis.

As part of her pledge to anti-gun groups during the election, Kane vowed to tackle the reciprocity agreements signed by previous Attorneys General. It is possible that a lawful gun owner could start a trip out-of-state with reciprocity in tact and see the agreement voided before it is time to return home. If this happens, they may be caught carrying in violation of another state’s laws and subject to prosecution by the end of the trip.

If you are a Pennsylvania gun owner who knows any other gun owners, make sure you pass this information along. It would suck for your buddy to be arrested for carrying without a valid license because the reciprocity agreement s/he was relying upon was revoked the day before.

17 thoughts on “Warning to Those Who Carry in Pennsylvania or with a Pennsylvania License”

  1. Unfortunately it’s going to take just something like this possibility (and many other draconian things) to bring light to the deficiencies of the anti-gun mindset. It will also take years of continuing gun deaths in NY for the anti-gunners to see that registries and bans don’t work. More will die without being able to defend themselves. NY already had an AWB so apparently this wasn’t already clear.

    1. It will also take years of continuing gun deaths in NY for the anti-gunners to see that registries and bans don’t work.

      Unfortunately, that depends on the desired effect.

      Would it help public safety? No.

      Would it help a Committee of Public Safety? Quite probably.

      Oh, and I suggest that you not fall for the anti-freedom rhetorical device of considering “gun deaths” and “gun violence” as meaningful categories. See Weer’d World’s “Gun Death” category of posts for counterexamples.

  2. Of course, on the other hand, experience shows that a “pledge” from a politician isn’t worth the notional paper it was written on…

    1. She can act on these unilaterally, so there’s no form of checks and balances where we can stop it or get warning. Is that really a chance you want to suggest to people when they risk criminal prosecution over something that would have been legal the day before?

      Besides, she owes Bloomberg for more than $600k in advertisements that he ran for her, and carry is one of his big issues here.

      1. There is some debate on what she can actually do. But even if she legally can’t do something, if she does and nothing happens to you, its a moot point.

  3. It would make a heck of a case, wouldn’t it? Start on your trip having checked the reciprocity, and mid-way having it revoked? I would hope the out-of-state authorities would exercise some discretion there, but you can never tell.

    Perhaps adding required periods — 30 days? 6 months? — for reciprocity agreements being ended to the laws would be a good idea.

    1. Yes, it does. That’s why I posted the warning for anyone traveling to or from Pennsylvania with their gun(s).

    2. Forgot about that part of it.

      So lobby in your state to include “cooling off periods” before any reciprocity agreements can be voided. Your state government should be happy to oblige — it’s for the protection of their citizens, after all!

  4. You PA LTCF holders, come visit NC. We will accept any valid carry permit and we don’t give a damn what your AG says.

    I still have my PA LTCF from when I lived there, so I’ll be ok. It might be time for the PA General Assembly to pass a Universal Reciprocity law and take it out of her hands.

    1. If PA keeps going the way it’s going, blue and taxes, it might be time to move to NC, SC, GA, or AL.

      I had an interesting conversation with my state rep, he said that gun issues are not on the Governor’s radar since we got castle doctrine in 2011. Corbett is also a bit afraid of Kane, she’s being heard saying that she’ll do everything she can to find a way to charge him over the PSU mess.

    2. Or do as many do: get multiple permits. Considering pretty much all the states PA covers, my Utah and Arizona permit cover too, plus many more. So if PA’s permit goes to S***, I will have my Utah permit. Arizona just tops it off with three extra states(Kansas, New Mexico, Nevada), for a total of 34 states. PA only gets me PA(of course), Michigan, Maine, New Hampshire, and Florida, 39 total states. Florida permits are pretty easy to get too, though unlike Utah, Florida, I do not believe, allows classes outside of it’s state. Despite this hiccup, Florida is worth it. I hope to move there after my gunsmithing school stint in the summer. If not there, Texas and Louisiana are next!

      As for PA, I grew up here. It has become a paranoid schizophrenic version of itself. I am 33 and in this short time, the state, indeed the nation I grew up in is gone. Lock and load. Because PA is still very red, only the city areas are blue.

      1. Ah no problem. I’ll just remove Pa. from my list of places I’ll go again, do any business with again, patronize any merchants located there again….

        It’s ok… Really… As the list gets smaller it simplifies my life…. It’s Penn’s loss, not mine…

    3. Come to Arizona too. We are well armed against the threat from across the border, and from Comrade Dear and Glorious Ruler’s domestic bully boys. We’ll welcome your added firepower. And – yes – we’re polite, following the maxim, “An armed society is a polite society.”

Comments are closed.