Author: Sebastian

SacBee: Blame Congress

Even though federal law currently makes:

1. Straw purchases a felony
2. Unlawful to purchase a handgun outside of your state
3. Unlawful for felons to possess or purchase firearms at all
4. Requires firearms dealers to report multiple sales to the BATF
5. Requires dealers to run background checks on gun buyers

I could go on, but I don’t have room to list the many and numerous federal gun regulations that criminals ignore on a daily basis.   Yes, despite all this, the SacBee still thinks that Congress isn’t giving police the tools they need to fight crime.  They blame the Tiahrt Amendment, which does not restrict police for accessing trace data in criminal investigations, but they seem to imply that it does.  The facts are inconvenient when you’re trying to mislead the public to make your point.

Hat tip to Ace 

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Ammunition Bill Details
  2. No Guns for Medical Marijuana Users
  3. 18-20 Year Old Handgun Possession

Evil “Assault Weapon” Taken Away by Victim

This group of criminals in Uniontown, Pennsylvania were certainly not prepared to have their victim fight back.   Despite brandishing an “assault weapon”, their victim managed to drop the magazine, and effectively disarm them, sending them fleeing.  They were captured by police.   Good show!

Folks who hate guns often tell us that criminals will just take the guns from us.  Well, that seems to happen quite often to them!

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Carjacking Hi-End SUVs
  2. Guns Captured off Drug Cartels
  3. Timony Driving Assault Weapon Media Blitz?

Congresman Peterson Responds on I-80 Tolls

Congressman Peterson has an editorial responding to a previous editorial in the Allentown Morning Call that I blogged about here. I agree with the Congressman that tolling I-80 would be a negative for the Commonwealth, and wish him the best of luck in stopping it at the federal level.

UPDATE: Looks like plans are moving ahead on tolls anyway.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Trucking Industry Against I-80 Tolls
  2. Congressman Peterson’s Editorial
  3. EZ-Pass Unintended Consequences

Now Baltimore Knows How it Feels

Baltimore is pissed it’s getting passed up for Amtrak’s Acela express service between New York and Washington, DC.  The only stop will be in Philadelphia.   Usually, Philadelphia is the city everyone just passes by.  Now Baltimore knows how it feels.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. City Comparisons
  2. How to Deny City Residents Credit
  3. Pittsburgh Needs To Aim Higher

Carry at all Times

Here’s another reason if you have an LTC in Pennsylvania, and somewhere around six to seven hundred thousand of us do, you ought to be carrying all the time.   Robberies are always a sticky issue, because often it’s just better to let them go down.   But when you have nervous people pointing guns at other human beings, there’s always a chance for tragedy.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Wrestle the Deer? Or Taser It?
  2. Gay Cooties
  3. Zero Tolerance

Uniform Firearms Act: Act 158 – Right to Carry

We will start this continuing series with Pennsylvania going from a “may-issue” discretionary issue state, to a shall-issue state. Prior to Act 158, the law read something like this:

Issue of License.–The Chief or Head of any police fore or department of a city, and elsewhere the Sheriff of a County, may, upon the application of any person, issue a license to such person to carry a firearm in a vehicle or concealed on or about his person within this commonwealth for not more than five years from the date of issue, if it appears that the applicant has good reason to fear an injury to his person or property, or has any other proper reason for carrying a firearm, and that he is a suitable person to be licensed.

Act 158 was actually a child welfare bill, that had right to carry attached to it. It fundamentally altered the licensing language to say:

Grant or Denial of License.–Upon the receipt of an application for the license to carry a firearm, the sheriff shall, within 45 days, issue or refuse to issue a license on the basis of the investigation under subsection (d) and the accuracy of the information contained in the application. If the sheriff refuses to issue a license, the sheriff shall notify the applicant in writing of the refusal and the reason. The notice shall be sent by certified mail to the applicant at the address set fourth in the application.

This basically made the state shall issue.  Subsection D spells out the conditions that one must meet to qualify for a license, and they are objective, for the most part.   But, there was a catch:

 (2) In a City of the First Class, a license shall be issued only if it additionally appears that the applicant ahs 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.

Philadelphia is the only city of the first class in the Commonwealth.  Act 158 specifically exempted Philadelphia from the right-to-carry requirement, and allowed the city to continue to refuse to issue gun licenses to anyone they didn’t sufficiently like.

Act 158 also made provision for sportsman’s permits, for carrying a firearm while hunting, in addition to strengthening the state’s preemption to include ammunition and ammunition components.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. Two New Bills
  2. When “Shall Issue” Really Isn’t
  3. Philadelphia Legal Smackdown