Brief meeting with PA State Sen Mensch: Attn ERIE 8!

[jim-analog]

Greetings,

On Tuesday evening, Sen Mensch was slated to speak at the Springfield Township supervisors meeting and also to listen to any public concerns. I showed up early before the doors were even open and had the chance to speak with him one on one for about 5 minutes or so outside before the meeting.

I had brought some notes with PA bill #s for him to comment on (all 2A) and he asked what they were about in general. When I replied gun related, he stated that he was an NRA endowment member and 100% on board with them.

He did not recollect those specific bills that I brought up by #(HB 357, HB 805, SB 505, SB 102 and SB 1093) and stated that he had 3000 bills cross his desk this session (not sure if that was a real or exaggerated figure). He again stated to be on the side of gun owners, etc.

I mentioned my primary concern being the problem with preemption violations in many parts of the state, and he immediately started to talk about those issues regarding Phila. I mentioned they were going on in quite a few areas and asked if he was aware of the situation in Erie. He said he was not. I told him very briefly about it and asked if there was any way he could help. He requested I send him any info I have and that he would look into it.

So ERIE 8 people, please send me a concise summery of your situation and include enough actual legal info for me to make an intelligent presentation to him. If you can get me this, I'll send it to him both via email and postal mail and then request a follow up in person meeting.

Please don't leave it to me to paste together scraps of PAFOA posts. I think he is sincere and would like to give him something "professional" to seriously analyze. I don't feel qualified to do that, but I'll step out for you guys if you just get me some data.

Regards, Jim

[GunLawyer001]

If I could suggest a few things:

The Erie situation could be fixed legislatively, mooting the outcome of the current mess and foreclosing all current and new local ordinances that either criminalize possession of firearms on municipal property, or exercise a property manager's prerogatives and ban possession.

Her'e the relevant part of the existing preemption language:

§ 6120. Limitation on the regulation of firearms and ammunition
(a) General rule.--No county, municipality or township may in any manner regulate the lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms, ammunition or ammunition components when carried or transported for purposes not prohibited by the laws of this Commonwealth.
. . . .

New language could be added:

[I]No county, municipality or township may in any manner regulate or control or prohibit on private or public property the lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms, ammunition or ammunition components when carried or transported for purposes not prohibited by the laws of this Commonwealth.[/I]

It's a simple fix, that almost seems unnecessary, yet it would eliminate the ambiguity within which municipalities have encroached. The Erie guys could defend, or abandon, their appeal, without impacting the rest of the state, because any precedent they set would be nullified by the change in the statute. And summary convictions are not part of a criminal history record.

A win-win, all around.

[twency]

While we're on the subject…

Does "No county, municipality or township may in any manner regulate…" also preclude a Municipal Authority from so regulating? As I understand it they are not actually municipalities.

I'm wondering whether the existing language is sufficient to cover all publicly-owned/operated land in PA.

[Gun]

Don't know if this helps but

“Municipal authority.” The body or board authorized by law to enact ordinances or adopt resolutions for the particular municipality.

from http://www.municipalauthorities.org/...rities_Act.pdf

and go to page 12 to see a graphic illustration,

http://www.lgc.state.pa.us/deskbook0...t_Entities.pdf

From the definition, it seems the municipal authority acts on behalf of the municipality the authority is located. IANAL.

[Connal]

I'm going to share this with Justin and the others in Erie. If you want to PM me your email address, I will forward it.

[jim-analog]

Greetings,

Done..............looking forward to helping out.

Regards, Jim

I'm going to share this with Justin and the others in Erie. If you want to PM me your email address, I will forward it.

[chrisjp]

again jim thanks for all your efforts. but i dont have access to the info you need and why i gave you the lawyers information in the other thread. honestly..i don't know what else to do, and especially dont have permission or privy to.

[jim-analog]

Greetings,

Chris, please try to think about it this way (I'm not picking on you here, but I AM getting pretty well annoyed). Some unknown guy (me) calls up your lawyer and asks for confidential info about a case he has no involvement with. How well is that going to go? So, would it perhaps make more sense for one of the parties the lawyer is actually representing to request him to forward me whatever info he feels could be helpful to bring to the Senators' attention?

Could you please ask Justin or whomever has the best direct access to Mr Prince to get me something? Like I said before, I'm not going to make myself look like an idiot and waste the senators time without some actual professionally prepared legal papers or at least a summery of the events. I got the feeling Sen Mensch was concerned about the various preemption problems across the state and I wanted to bring the Erie case to the top of his desk.

I think this is a very important issue for all gun owners in PA, and hence we all have a stake in it regardless of our direct involvement.

I'm not looking for a pat on the back, an "atta boy", extra credit or whatever; but so far I've made phone calls, sent emails and letters and sent $ directly to support your cause. I made an initial contact with a state senator that seems at least willing to listen (and perhaps help) and have mentioned your case to my state rep.

So, please advise your comrades to get off their butts if they are interested in any further support. Again this is not a personal attack on you, but this situation has nearly achieved the level of absurd.

Regards, Jim

again jim thanks for all your efforts. but i dont have access to the info you need and why i gave you the lawyers information in the other thread. honestly..i don't know what else to do, and especially dont have permission or privy to.

[chrisjp]

i messaged mr prince with your request and asked what he would like to do.

[jim-analog]

Greetings,

Thanks Chris; he pm'd me and I wrote back. We'll see where things go from here. Good luck!

Regards, Jim

i messaged mr prince with your request and asked what he would like to do.