[PAFOA Blog] Pennsylvania’s Role in McDonald

Pennsylvania’s Role in McDonald

Gun owners across the country will be watching the McDonald case closely on Tuesday. Though, admittedly, the pro-liberty folks in areas with heavy gun control will likely be paying more attention to the arguments. Because Pennsylvania doesn’t have the extreme gun control conditions of Chicago and we have protections under the state constitution, we’re unlikely to see a direct impact from the case in the Keystone State.

However, never let it be said that Pennsylvania doesn’t have a voice in the arguments before the Supreme Court on Tuesday. In fact, we’re lucky to have more than 30 pro-gun lawmakers standing up for our rights in this case.

At the federal level, 15 members of our Congressional delegation signed on to a brief in support of the law-abiding citizens who would like to own a handgun in Chicago. This total includes both Senators and every member of Congress except the Philadelphia-area representatives, and those representing Pittsburgh and Erie.

Coming down to the state level, the most high profile supporter of the McDonald case is Attorney General Tom Corbett who signed a brief with more than three dozen other Attorneys General. However, it’s easy to miss the state legislators who were pro-active in signing on to various briefs in favor of the plaintiffs.

Five female lawmakers joined a brief outlining the concerns of women who face state and local governments that seek to limit their right to self-protection. In addition, one Senator and 11 Representatives put their names on a general state legislator brief that points out a clear direction from the Supreme Court in favor of incorporation will better serve the states and help to secure the fundamental rights of their citizens.

So if you have time on Tuesday, take a few moments to thank the following lawmakers for standing up for our rights. I’ve included links to social media homes where you can publicly thank them if you have an account:

Federal
Senator Arlen Specter
*Twitter
*Facebook

Senator Bob Casey
*Facebook

Representative Jason Altmire
*Facebook

Representative Christopher Carney
*Facebook

Representative Charlie Dent
*Facebook

Representative Jim Gerlach
*Twitter
*Facebook

Representative Tim Holden

Representative Paul Kanjorski
*Twitter
*Facebook

Representative Patrick Murphy
*Facebook

Tim Murphy
*Twitter
*Facebook

Representative John Murtha

Representative Joe Pitts
*Twitter
*Facebook

Representative Todd Platts
*Facebook

Representative Bill Shuster
*Twitter

Representative Glenn Thompson
*Twitter
*Facebook

This article, Pennsylvania’s Role in McDonald, is from the Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association Blog & Online Magazine.

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Originally Posted by RSS

Because Pennsylvania doesn’t have the extreme gun control conditions of Chicago and we have protections under the state constitution, we’re unlikely to see a direct impact from the case in the Keystone State.

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I have to disagree on the idea that we won't see an impact from this case. Pennsylvania will see an impact from this case based on the level of scrutiny that the Supreme Court deems applicable to second amendment concerns. That is unless the Court forgoes the issue of scrutiny altogether, as they essentially did in Heller.

We need to re-examine the idea that "Pennsylvania doesn't have the extreme gun control conditions of Chicago". While this is by default a true statement we should not readily describe Pennsylvania's laws as altogether favorable. This is especially true when one looks at Pennsylvania's licensing and transportation laws. Many of these laws are useless as crime-fighting tools and only serve to put otherwise law-abiding citizens behind bars. I believe that following incorporation these laws will see legitimate challenges.

Pennsylvania might be better than a lot of other states but that doesn't mean we don't have measures of extreme gun control, or that we won't see a direct impact from McDonald. If as a community of firearms owners we allow ourselves to become complacent with our more relaxed, but still intrusive, firearms laws then we will only uphold the idea that our system of laws is reasonable or just, which it most certainly is not.