shefearsnothing's Revocation and Legal Info thread

[gnbrotz]

http://www.ldnews.com/news/ci_10545914

Pistol-packin’ soccer mama brings on heat

By JOHN LATIMER
Staff Writer
Lebanon Daily News

What’s the difference between a bulldog and a soccer mom?

In the case of Meleanie Hain, it’s a loaded sidearm.

On Sept. 11, Hain created a stir among other parents when she wore her weapon — a loaded Glock 26, about the size of an adult hand — in a holster to her 5-year-old daughter’s soccer game at Optimist Park in Lebanon, also known as Southwest Park.

Although she did not break a law by carrying the weapon openly, she is now facing the loss of her concealed-weapons permit. But she is not giving up without a fight.

“I’m just a soccer mom who has always openly carried (a firearm), and I’ve never had a problem before,” she said. “I don’t understand why this is happening to me.”

Parents were upset by the presence of the weapon at the game being played by 4- and 5-year-olds, said Charlie Jones, who coaches one of three under-age-6 teams, known as U6, in the Lebanon Recreation Youth Soccer program.

“More than one parent was upset,” he said. “I did not see it, but it was brought to my attention.”

Jones, who is also the county’s public defender, said he wasn’t certain if Hain was breaking the law by wearing the gun, so he did not ask her to remove it. However, he explained to her that its presence was making parents upset and asked her to view the game from the other side of the field, away from the sideline were the kids were standing. She complied but continued to wear her holstered weapon, he said.

There was no confrontation, and police were not called to the park, Jones said.

Hain’s version of events is roughly the same as Jones’. However, she claims he raised his voice and talked over her when they spoke after the game. He denies that.

“His basic message to me was that if I was not carrying it because I was concerned about the other parents, then I should leave it off the field and keep it in the car,” she said.

Hain, who lives in Lebanon and operates a small business she declined to specify, said she carries her gun everywhere as a security measure and had worn it to her daughter’s other games and practices, but it was never noticed.

Hain was not breaking the law by wearing a holstered weapon, claimed her attorney, Robert Magee of Allentown.

“The state has a law requiring a license to carry a concealed firearm, but it does not require a license to openly carry one. ... Carrying a firearm openly is legal everywhere but in Philadelphia,” he said.

The end of the game was not the end of the incident for Hain. In the days following, she received two notices about her decision to wear a firearm at the game.

The first came from the Lebanon soccer-program director, Nigel Foundling, who had been contacted by Jones.

A former district judge from Jonestown, Foundling sent an e-mail to Hain the day after the incident advising her that carrying firearms was against the program’s policy. Foundling told Hain any future attempts to do so would cause her to be banned from attending her daughter’s games. He also said he would inform police about the matter.

“A responsible adult would realize that such behavior has no place at a soccer game,” Foundling wrote.

The e-mail and other information about the incident were provided to the Lebanon Daily News with Hain’s permission by Mike Stollenwerk, co-founder of the OpenCarry.org — an organization promoting the right to wear firearms openly.

Hain said Foundling had no right to prevent her from openly carrying her gun, and she has not abided by his orders.

“After I received the e-mail, I continued to carry,” she said. “Because they play on public property, they are not allowed to prevent me from carrying even though they are a private organization. ... Nigel seems to think he could throw his weight around and pick on me even though he is not a judge anymore.”

Foundling was unavailable for comment.

A few days after receiving Foundling’s e-mail, Hain received a letter from county Sheriff Mike DeLeo, the local authority in charge of issuing gun licenses. A parent of another child contacted him about Hain.

In response, DeLeo revoked her concealed-weapons permit under a statute of the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act that denies permits to any “individual whose character and reputation is such that the individual would be likely to act in a dangerous manner to public safety.”

Although DeLeo has never met Hain and does not know her, he based his decision on what he considered a lack of judgment in bringing an openly worn weapon to a youth soccer match.

“That is my personal opinion,” he said. “I believe that, and that is why I revoked her permit. She has the right to pursue an appeal, and if the court rules that I was not justified I will be required to give her permit back.”

Magee said he is preparing to file an appeal.

“There is a provision of the Pennsylvania Constitution that specifically prohibits any government agency from interfering with the right of an individual to openly carry a firearm,” he said. “He’s basically punishing her for doing something she is permitted by law to do.”

DeLeo said he was well aware of the irony that his revocation of Hain’s permit to conceal a weapon will actually force her to wear it openly if she chooses to carry her firearm. He said he wanted to bring the matter to the public’s attention, but he did not have the right to take away her gun, so revoking the permit was his only option.

“I felt some action was needed, and I do believe that something like this should be brought to the public’s attention so the public is aware of what took place,” he said. “The public has the right to complain about the issue, and if the Legislature wants to do something, then so be it.”

JohnLatimer@ldnews.com

[gnbrotz]

http://www.ldnews.com/ci_10565770?source=most_viewed

Case draws fire from gun-rights advocates

By JOHN LATIMER
Staff Writer
Lebanon Daily News

Across Pennsylvania, open-carry advocates — those who support the right to openly carry a holstered firearm — are paying close attention to Lebanon after a woman’s concealed-weapon license was revoked for wearing a loaded handgun on her hip at her daughter’s soccer game.

Lebanon County Sheriff Mike DeLeo revoked Meleanie Hain’s license this week after he received complaints from a parent who attended a game played by 4- and 5-year-olds on Sept. 11 at Optimist Park.

DeLeo’s action will not prevent the Lebanon woman from carrying a gun in the open, but she will not be allowed to wear it concealed on her body or carry it in her vehicle.

Hain has hired Allentown attorney Robert Magee, who has filed an appeal in Lebanon County Court of Common Pleas arguing DeLeo had no just cause for taking away Hain’s permit. The appeal further charges that DeLeo acted illegally and “abused his discretion and the authority granted to him” under the Uniform Firearms Act of 1995.

Attorney George Christianson is the solicitor for the sheriff’s office. Yesterday, he said he had neither seen the appeal nor talked in detail with DeLeo about the matter.

“From the little I know, I think he is well within his purview to do it,” Christianson said.

Rich Banks, for one, believes Hain and others like her are victims of people’s ignorance of Pennsylvania’s gun laws. A staff member of the Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association and a licensed gunsmith, Banks has started PaOpenCarry.org to help educate residents about gun owners’ rights to carry firearms.

“Gun laws in Pennsylvania are not really well understood, because there is a lack of information,” he said.

What happened to Hain is not commonplace but occurs occasionally, Banks said. In January, he said, a Franklin County judge restored a man’s concealed-weapons permit when it was taken by a sheriff after the man wore his holstered gun into a polling place.

And Banks himself is involved in a federal civil-rights case, suing police in Dickson City for taking away his gun after he and several others wore their weapons openly at a restaurant in the town about 10 miles north of Scranton. The gun was eventually returned and all charges dropped.

What some don’t understand, including some law-enforcement officials, claims Banks, is that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to wear a firearm openly. The concealed-weapons permit is a state law that gives a gun owner the privilege to hide his or her firearm, he said.

“Open-carry is the constitutional form of protection that has been upheld many times by the Supreme Court,” he said.

Banks’ Web site was inspired by OpenCarry.org, which was co-founded by Lancaster County native Mike Stollenwerk. It focuses on national gun-owners’ rights and is working to get open-carry bans lifted in six states, including Texas, Florida and Oklahoma.

“Only six states ban open-carry,” said Stollenwerk, a retired Army lieutenant colonel living in Virginia. “In the rest of the country, the typical rule is you can open-carry. And of those (other 44 states), only 15 require a license to do so.”

Pennsylvania does not require an open-carry license, Stollenwerk explained.

“Pennsylvania’s gun laws are normal, I guess you could say,” he said. “You need a license to conceal, and the minimum age for that is 21. At 18 you can own a gun, and you can open-carry.”

Banks said he has openly carried his weapon for years but understands why parents were upset when they saw Hain with her gun because it is not something seen every day.

However, Banks said, guns have been “demonized” in the media over the years, and there is an unfair stigma attached to guns and their owners. He noted that one in 20 Pennsylvanians owns a concealed-weapons license, according to state-police statistics.

“Open-carry is normal for a lot of us,” he said. “The only difference between me and others who possess a firearm is I’m not hiding mine. ... We believe that open-carry will bring firearms back into view and bring it back into normalcy. Good guys carry their guns openly; bad guys hide them.”

JohnLatimer@ldnews.com

[Pa. Patriot]

PDF available here.

IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS LEBANON COUNTY,

PENNSYLVANIA CIVIL DIVISION


Meleanie Hain,
Appellant :

::

V.

::
Michael J. DeLeo :

Sheriff of Lebanon County :



Appeal of Revocation of License Issued pursuant to Pa.C.S.A. §6109



And now comes the appellant above-named, by and through her counsel, Worth, Magee and Fisher, P.C. and files this Appeal from the Decision of the Sheriff of Lebanon County to revoke the License previously issued by the Sheriff to the Appellant pursuant to §6109 of the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act (“UFA”) and, in support thereof, states the following:

In February 2007, upon application of the Appellant, the Sheriff of
Lebanon County, after conducting the investigation set forth in §6109(d) of the UFA, issued to the Appellant a License to Carry a Concealed Firearm;

Thereafter, by letter dated September 17, 2008, the Sheriff purported to revoke that license. A true and correct copy of the revocation notice is attached hereto as Exhibit “A”;
While the applicable provisions of the UFA does provide the Sheriff with authority to revoke such a license once issued, such revocation can only take place "for good cause shown" or if the licensee falls into a particular category of individuals specifically set forth in §6109(i);
Furthermore, the UFA provides that the notice of revocation shall state the specific reason for revocation;
The appellant herein does not fall into any of the specifically enumerated categories of individuals who have lost their eligibility for the License, and it is respectfully submitted that legally and openly carrying a firearm and thereby “upsetting” some individuals who observed such does not constitute the "good cause" contemplated by the statute;
Accordingly, it is submitted that the Sheriff of Lebanon County abused his discretion and the authority granted to him under the UFA, committed an error of law and otherwise acted illegally by revoking the license previously issued to the Appellant.
WHEREFORE, the appellant request this honorable court to reverse the decision of the Sheriff and to order the Sheriff of Lebanon County to reissue the license under §6109 of the UFA.


Respectfully submitted,



_____________________________

Robert J. Magee, Esquire

Worth, Magee & Fisher, P.C.

2610 Walbert Avenue

Allentown, PA 18104

(610) 437-4896

ID No. 30911

.

[Pa. Patriot]

HEARING DATE IS SET

October 14, 2008.
2:30pm.
courtroom 1.

Lebanon County Courthouse:

Info, directions, parking, pre-hearing meeting location all: TBA

[gnbrotz]

Thank you and congratulations Statkowski!

http://ldnews.com/ci_10572533

Sheriff taking guns without cause

Editor:
Lebanon Daily News
Article Launched: 09/27/2008 12:29:03 AM EDT

Lebanon County Sheriff Michael DeLeo recently revoked the license to carry firearms of a local citizen. Her crime? She openly carried a firearm in a holster on her hip, something totally legal throughout the commonwealth and supported by two Pennsylvania Supreme Court decisions. To say that firearms owners across the commonwealth are outraged would be an understatement.

You can read the sheriff’s letter at:

http://www.paopencarry.org/lebanon/l...revocation.jpg

You might want to ask the good sheriff soon how many letters of complaint he’s received about this action. As I compose this letter to you, others are writing not only to the sheriff but also their elected representatives in Harrisburg complaining about such an abuse of power.

In the sheriff’s revocation letter, he stated, “On September 11, 2008 you were observed at Optimist Park in Lebanon. At that particular time you were carrying a weapon openly in a belt holster. Unfortunately, some of the individuals at the Optimist Park were upset. Consequently, you are required to surrender your license, as indicated in the following paragraphs.”

In Pennsylvania, one does not need a license to openly carry a firearm. The license is only required for concealed carry, something that was not done in this case. Hence, one does not necessarily have anything to do with the other, but such technicalities apparently mean little to your sheriff.

Additionally, the mere fact that some individuals were upset is immaterial. I’m upset over the sheriff’s actions. Shall we remove him from office?

Here’s an elected official abusing the rights of a citizen. Is that a news story? The citizen in question did nothing illegal. And now she will have to appeal the sheriff’s revocation at her expense, simply for lawful behavior on her part.

Henry Statkowski

Cherry Tree, Pa.

As a member of the Cherry Tree Borough Council in 2006, Statkowski proposed an ordinance to require all residents to maintain a firearm and ammunition for household protection. The ordinance has not been

Apparently, the end of the letter was clipped.

[gnbrotz]

From the roll call thread:

Originally Posted by lildobe

As you all know the outcome already, I won't repost that...

As usual, the judge used his position on the bench to editorialize about the appropriateness of her actions, but at the end of a long-winded and eloquently put diatribe, he did concede that Rule of Law was the important factor and that her permit will be reinstated.

This hearing had more "drama" then Greg's, including testimony from various parties, including about 20 minutes of question-dodging and talking in circles by the Sheriff.

The sheriff will be mailing Meleanie her license back. His excuse for not returning her LTCF right away was that PSP was notified of the revocation, so her permit is not valid in the databases.

Oh, and according to the reporter from Channel 21, the Sheriff was very much not pleased with the outcome and declined to comment on camera.