Something Different A Bill We Can Support!

[Brick]

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

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SENATE BILL
No. 738 Session of 2007


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INTRODUCED BY PIPPY, LOGAN, WONDERLING, LAVALLE, WAUGH, FOLMER,
ORIE, BROWNE, BOSCOLA, MADIGAN AND EICHELBERGER,
APRIL 9, 2007


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REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, APRIL 9, 2007


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AN ACT

1 Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, providing for the offense of unlawful
3 firearm records; and prescribing a penalty.

4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
7 Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:
8 § 6143. Unlawful firearm records.
9 (a) Prohibition.--Except as otherwise provided under
10 subsection (b), no State governmental agency or political
11 subdivision or official, agent or employee thereof or any other
12 person, public or private, may knowingly and willfully keep or
13 cause to be kept any list, database, record or registry of
14 privately owned firearms or any list, database, record or
15 registry of the owners of those firearms.

There is more to it, including some exceptions and felony penaties for anyone that establishes an illegal registry, so go to the general assembly website and read it for yourself.

I am not sure how this affects PSP's database of handgun purchases, but it requires the destruction of any existing illegal registries.

Also I'm not sure if this is offered in opposition to HB 760 or not.

[awkx]

An excellent bill... except it seems a little overbroad, applying to private citizens as well as the State Police. If members of this forum are allowed to post what firearms they have, could this forum be considered to contain an illegal list of firearms?

[SGTUSArmy]

Down with PAFOA. Down with PAFOA!!!. Down with PAFOA!!! They are a bunch of Socialist clowns who keep records of my firearms.

Oh wait. nevermind. Sorry.

[chemist308]

No, it's not overboard at all. A "private" organization could be formed, recieve some government funding and then government contracts to track our guns. It's a huge loophole. This bill merely seeks to close it.

[awkx]

Originally Posted by chemist308

No, it's not overboard at all. A "private" organization could be formed, recieve some government funding and then government contracts to track our guns. It's a huge loophole.

That's a good point, chemist308. However, I'm still worried that if we get an evil PA Attorney General, they might harrass PAFOA with a felony charge for illegal list of guns posted by members. Seems like something that certain Demoncats (er, Democrats) might do.

[KeithPA]

Originally Posted by awkx

That's a good point, chemist308. However, I'm still worried that if we get an evil PA Attorney General, they might harrass PAFOA with a felony charge for illegal list of guns posted by members. Seems like something that certain Demoncats (er, Democrats) might do.

Maybe that will happen, maybe not? But we do have a defacto illegal gun registry here we want to get rid of that. This bill does it.

[awkx]

Originally Posted by DeltaII5

Maybe that will happen, maybe not?

Perhaps we would get off the hook on Exception (9):

Personal records of firearms maintained by the owner of
the firearms or at the request of the owner of the firearms.

Arguably, by posting one's inventory, one is "requesting" that the "record of firearms" be "maintained" by the forum.

Any actual lawyers want to comment on this? Will Exception 9 save us, or do we need another exception added to the bill?

[KeithPA]

Representative _______,

I am writing you in regards to Senate Bill No. 738. As a lawful firearms owner and collector I am glad that a bill has arisen that will address the concerns of many firearms owners. As you may know the Pennsylvania State Police have been maintaining a firearms registry in violation of Title 18 §6111.4. The intrusion of privacy this database provides is shocking. The PSP has continued to require a separate form be filled out when purchases a handgun. This sales record was intended to be used to assure that the purchaser is legally permitted to owning a firearm. Unfortunately these records have continued to be saved for an indefinite period of time. I am glad to see that a bill has been introduced to counter this intrusion of my privacy. I am also sad to see that the PSP will ignore the law and that another bill must be introduced to clarify what the PSP can and cannot do, but unfortunately this is the case. Thank you for your time.

Please write your reps about this bill. This is a really important bill.

[danp]

At first glance after reading the text of the bill, this looks good.

The exceptions exempt organizations like the PAFOA, and also specifically exempts any list that is created with the consent of the people in the list.

[KeithPA]

Damn my senator is quick. I didn't realize that Jane Earll was a co-sponsor of the bill. Here was her response....