Re: Desperately seeking lawyer to help with PICS challenge
For future reference the FOAC has a list of pro gun lawyers on their website which may or may not be helpful in addition to the resources already provided.
Re: Desperately seeking lawyer to help with PICS challenge
Quote:
Originally Posted by
skeelo
I recently tried purchasing a pistol online and got put in research after background check at FFL. I was then put into "undetermined" status after 2 week research period and I required to submit PICS challenge to the state police in Harrisburg. Really kind of agonizing because my gun is stuck in limbo now. I've spent the past two days trying to find a lawyer to help me with the challenge, just to make sure I'm doing it correctly and not violating any laws. Every one seems to be giving me a different story or just plain not getting back to me. I just need a lawyer very well versed in PICS system and PA firearm laws, because the ones I have been in touch with so far definitely are not. I'm in Allegheny Co. but would be open to any PA lawyer. Please feel free to pm if you can help me out, this has really been a nightmare the past month.
Did I miss something? You just fill it out and mail it to the state police. At this point you haven’t been denied,why do you need a lawyer?Have
You been arrested before?
Re: Desperately seeking lawyer to help with PICS challenge
Just brought up the PSP challenge form and read it. In the list of prohibiting offenses, there is "Theft by unlawful taking or disposition, upon conviction of the second felony offense".
To me, that seems to say the applicant is allowed one felony theft conviction but not two. I doubt that's what it means, but I can see why a challenger has reason to be nervous about submitting it.
There is also provision for knowingly falsifying information. Knowingly can enter the "should have known" theorized by the reviewer.
Re: Desperately seeking lawyer to help with PICS challenge
Quote:
Originally Posted by
KML
Did I miss something? You just fill it out and mail it to the state police. At this point you haven*t been denied,why do you need a lawyer?Have
You been arrested before?
Every time you fill out the forms, you are putting in writing your claims to the truth. Often, people are wrong about the details. And often, the people being criminally prosecuted for false written statements to state officials, are those who sent in the Challenge Form.
It's counter-intuitive. The people who did the "try and see if the state knows" thing, are the least likely to send in the Challenge. The people who genuinely are confused, or who genuinely believed that the small criminal case 15 years ago must have been less than a year, because they served no time at all, THOSE folks send in the Challenge form. And then they get prosecuted.
So, somewhere between $5,000 and $30,000 later, after they finish their legal defense, they probably won't go to jail if convicted. But they may not be gun owners ever again.
So, getting some certainty BEFORE you commit yourself is worth some time and money. A good lawyer who handles firearm issues can go over the forms and the laws and your history, better than most non-lawyers can.
And no, you don't have to have ever been arrested to be a prohibited person.
Re: Desperately seeking lawyer to help with PICS challenge
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bang
Just brought up the PSP challenge form and read it. In the list of prohibiting offenses, there is "Theft by unlawful taking or disposition, upon conviction of the second felony offense".
To me, that seems to say the applicant is allowed one felony theft conviction but not two. I doubt that's what it means, but I can see why a challenger has reason to be nervous about submitting it.
There is also provision for knowingly falsifying information. Knowingly can enter the "should have known" theorized by the reviewer.
It would seem that the first 18 PA CSA §3921 felony conviction is not a firearm disqualifier under 18 PA CSA §6105(b) for PA purposes. Nonetheless, as a felony, it would still be prohibitive for Federal purposes (18 USC 922(g)(1)).