HB 1091Taking Aim at Violent Criminals – Mandatory Sentences for Felons Possession

[WhiteFeather]

HB 1091 Rep Todd Stephens Taking Aim at Violent Criminals – Mandatory Sentences for Felons Possession

\/ Read Text of HB 1091 here \/

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/...type=B&bn=1091

MEMORANDUM



Posted:
April 1, 2015 03:46 PM

From:
Representative Todd Stephens

To:
All House members

Subject:
Taking Aim at Violent Criminals – Mandatory Sentences for Felons Possessing Firearms



I will be re-introducing HB 1498 to combat gun violence and straw-purchasers in our Commonwealth. This bill passed the House last session 184-11. If we want to get serious about getting illegal guns off our streets we must get serious with the penalties we impose for felons violating our laws. Tougher penalties will deter felons from illegally possessing firearms as well as provide our prosecutors with tools to combat the straw purchasers who illegally provide these firearms.

Currently we have no mandatory minimum sentence for felons who illegally possess firearms - my bill would impose a 5 year mandatory minimum sentence. My legislation would also designate the crime of a felon illegally possessing a firearm as a "crime of violence" triggering our second strike (10 year mandatory) and third strike (twenty-five year mandatory) provisions for repeat offenders.

I hope you’ll join me by co-sponsoring this important legislation.

The following members were co-sponsors of HB 1498 last session:
R.BROWN , CALTAGIRONE, CARROLL , D.COSTA, DEASY, DeLUCA, FABRIZIO, FARRY, GIBBONS, GINGRICH, GODSHALL, GROVE, HESS, KAMPF, KORTZ, MARSHALL, MARSICO, MATZIE, R.MILLER, MILNE, MURT, NEILSON, O’BRIEN, READSHAW, SABATINA, SANTARSIERO, SIMMONS, SWANGER, THOMAS, TOEPEL, TRUITT, VEREB, WATSON, HACKETT, BRADFORD, C.PARKER, MOLCHANY, SCAVELLO, BARRAR, and ENGLISH

[WhiteFeather]

Saving for updates will delete if not used some review info till then

Get personally involved in protecting you firearm rights!

Before the politicians that you didn't bother to educate or speak with vote to take them away.



Read this PA Firearms Laws & PA Commission on Sentencing Reports

still it show the lack of DA and courts to aggressively prosecute the repeat violent offenders that use firearm




PA Firearms Laws & PA Commission on Sentencing Reports
http://www.acslpa.org/Firearms_-_Hun...g_reports.html

ONE READER'S VIEW
Letters | Put the blame where it lies: The killers
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opini...ders_View.html

We have to stop pointing the finger everywhere but at the very people who prey on us each day. Over time we have allowed our value system to erode. We refuse to hold people accountable for their actions and constantly make excuses for their inexcusable behavior. The incessant cry for tougher gun laws is a good example. Until we're ready to strictly enforce the current laws there is no reason for tougher ones.

Yes, there is a need to work on the social ills at the core of much of the unrest, but that does not mean we should accept those ills as a reason to excuse the behavior. Those engaged in this violent lifestyle know exactly what they're doing. They also know it is wrong. And they also know there are no serious consequences for their actions. It's not a matter of not knowing right from wrong, it's a matter of weighing the risk. And today they face very little risk.

Time after time these budding killers are arrested with guns, only to be returned to the streets with a slap on the wrist. Is it any wonder we have trouble getting witnesses to speak up? Instead of holding vigils at murder scenes, groups like Men United for a Better Philadelphia and Mothers in Charge should throw a ring around the Criminal In-Justice Center and demand that our judges hold the criminals accountable.

More than 80 percent of Philadelphia's cold-blooded killers have criminal records. Most of those records are lengthy, many for violent crimes. Every one of those arrests represents an opportunity to send a clear message, before they take another life.

Joseph Fox
Chief of Detectives
Philadelphia Police Department
Philadelphia

[ideaman]

I don't like the term, "....If we want to get serious about getting illegal guns off our streets...."

The guns are not illegal, it's who is holding the gun.

[Solaran_X]

I don't like the term, "....If we want to get serious about getting illegal guns off our streets...."

The guns are not illegal, it's who is holding the gun.

What about a gun with defaced serial numbers? Or a semiautomatic that is illegally converted into an automatic?

Hypotheticals, of course. I know there is only one or two recorded instances of an illegally converted F/A being used in crime - but defaced serial numbers are rather common.

[Yellowfin]

If we want to seriously get rid of crime then eliminate welfare for criminals.

[Brick]

Why all this donkey dust to begin with!

How about a bill to force the friggin' federal fucking government to enforce their own laws?

The Gun Control 1968 is the basis for banning possession of firearms by criminal and other classes of persons as well as the penalties for straw purchase including perjury!

Pass a law that requires local authorities to refer all such cases to the local U.S. Attorney's Office for prosecution instead! Its time to end the bullshit! If the Feds haven't learned how to enforce the law after 47 years, they need to repeal it!

[Deleted]

In the last 20 years I have attended a lot of sentencing hearings as a result of having to wait for my own stuff to get on the bench. You notice changes in trends over time.

State Prisons are reserved for the baddest of the bad. They are overcrowded and and there are not enough of them. They do everything they can to keep people out of them so that they can put the real bad guys in them... the killers, the robbers, the sex offenders, the violent gun criminals. The judges and the DA's are pretty good at filtering the bad guys.

Stuff like the proposed bill are nice but it's just fluff.

[Brick]

What about a gun with defaced serial numbers? Or a semiautomatic that is illegally converted into an automatic?

Hypotheticals, of course. I know there is only one or two recorded instances of an illegally converted F/A being used in crime - but defaced serial numbers are rather common.

To be sure but again, you're speaking of rarely enforced sections of FEDERAL law!

[knight0334]

This really doesn't affect us law abiding folks. So, supporting it may be to our advantage if we want to piggyback a pro-gun amendment to it.

The anti-gunners would have a hard time voting against it.

I say we get Constitutional Carry, or the repeal of 6108, or the repeal of parts of 6111 that contain the RoS, etc attached to this bill and push it through.

[Pocketsand Operator]

Not in support of any law with minimum sentences. Leave judging to the judicial branch.