GOA letter. Time to reopen PA ranges
Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Gun Owners Foundation (GOF) are demanding that Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf reopen gun ranges within the Commonwealth.
GOA/GOF Demands that PA Gun Ranges Open
In a letter from GOA and GOF, Erich Pratt and Dr. Val Finnell write: “[F]or seemingly no legitimate reason other than political agenda, Pennsylvania has refused to follow the Department of Homeland Security’s classification of Second Amendment businesses including shooting ranges as ‘Essential Critical Infrastructure.’”
The letter argues that both outdoor and indoor ranges can operate safely during the COVID-19 pandemic and that constitutionally-protected rights are not suspended because of an emergency: “[S]hooting ranges permit the necessary exercise of the enumerated constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Protected by both the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article I, Section 21 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, the right to keep and bear arms necessarily implicates the right to practice and maintain proficiency with firearms.”
“[GOA and GOF] request that you immediately amend your shut down order as it has been applied to close firearm shooting ranges within the Commonwealth. We urge you to bring Pennsylvania into line with the vast majority of other states that have allowed shooting ranges to continue operation, and into line with the DHS CISA Memorandum, and federal and state constitutional requirements,” the letter concludes.
The letter can be viewed here
Re: GOA letter. Time to reopen PA ranges
Thanks for providing this letter. Did the order to "close ranges" apply to the private clubs? Or was it designed to close businesses that operated ranges open to the public?
Our sportsman's club closed its ranges to the members but we have not found the actual order applicable to the clubs.