Hatboro to vote on Lost and Stolen

[anonymouse]

http://www.montgomerynews.com/articl...5620622223.txt

Hatboro to vote on gun ordinance

Published: Tuesday, February 09, 2010
By Amanda Glensky
Staff Writer

Hatboro Mayor Norm Hawkes proposed a lost or stolen handgun ordinance to borough council Monday night that he said would help keep firearms out of the hands of criminals.

If adopted, the ordinance would require citizens to report their lost or stolen handguns to the police up to 72 hours after discovery.

Anyone who violates the ordinance would be subject to a fine of no more than $1,000, or imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both, reads the draft ordinance.

Council will vote at its meeting Feb. 22 if it will advertise the ordinance for a future vote.

Officials will also vote whether to send a resolution to state legislators in support of a statewide adoption of the lost or stolen ordinance.

Hawkes has been a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the group endorsing this ordinance, since July.

“Lost or stolen handgun reporting costs nothing and can only help save lives,” he said.

When a gun owner reports his lost or stolen firearm, the authorities can track it down before it ends up at a crime scene, he said.

Hatboro Solicitor Christen Pionzio told council she did not feel comfortable recommending it adopt the ordinance.

Whether or not the ordinance pre-empts the existing Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act has yet to be tested in court, she said.

Seventeen municipalities in Pennsylvania have already enacted this ordinance, including Philadelphia, Allentown, Erie and Lancaster.

Council Vice President Nancy Guenst and Councilwoman Aleta Ostrander said they were not in support of the ordinance.

“It’s making the legal gun owners feel like criminals,” Guenst said.

She added it felt like an infringement of the Second Amendment rights of legal gun owners.

Councilwoman Patricia Fleming said a councilman and police officer she met at a meeting described the ordinance as “feel good legislation.”

Ostrander said the court costs if the ordinance is challenged could be “astronomical.”

She added an ordinance could be the beginning of more limiting laws for gun owners.

Maxwell Nacheman, the Pennsylvania Coordinator for Mayors Against Illegal Guns, who attended the meeting, said the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence dispatches lawyers pro bono for such cases.

Hawkes and Councilmen Bill Tompkins and John Zygmont said the ordinance does not target responsible gun owners, who will report their lost or stolen handguns, rather it targets those who will not report them.

If everyone was responsible then there wouldn’t be a need for a police department, Tompkins said.

He also added an ordinance is meant to guide residents into acting responsibly.

“Any ordinance — any law — is not designed to punish people,” he said.

It would be the police department’s job to enforce this ordinance, Borough Manager and police Chief Jim Gardner said.

Currently, when someone reports a stolen gun in Hatboro, the police department will enter pertinent information into a national database of stolen articles, he said. Stolen guns are never purged from this system, he added.

The ordinance would not limit hunters in any way, it would not affect legal purchase or ownership of guns and does not penalize people who are unaware their guns have been lost or stolen, according to information from CeaseFirePA that Hawkes distributed to council.

“It makes it safer for everyone, that’s all it does,” Hawkes said.

It sounds like some of these people might be able to understand that this is worthless legislation, and vote no accordingly.

And MAIG has joined Ceasefire in offering the Brady Center's legal services for free!

February 22nd - is that when Radnor's next meeting will be?