original date of ccf law in pa

[50cal.gold.titan.mag.]

i recently moved from pa to ks, whew! what a shock! anyway, there is an article in today's paper about ccf permit holders in kansas that deals with basically how they behave and the number of times they broke the law which triggered suspension or revocation of their permits. the article was quite lengthy and mentioned some other "facts". the article stated the one of the first states to allow ccf was florida, in 1987. i don't agree with that. i bought an h & r revolver in 1971 in pa. i applied to the local police dept. for a permit to transport the gun for target practice and for hunting. there was also a checkoff for "protection". the police chief actually asked me if i was sure i didn't want to check off "for protection". he said , this way, if you are ever caught with the gun in a situation where the 2 reasons wouldn't apply, you would be covered. i actually had to tell him i didn't want to conceal carry the firearm, that i wasn't interested. anyway, i digress.
my question is: does anyone remember when it became legal to obtain a ccf permit in pa. as i stated in the above paragraph, it was necessary to go to your local police for a permit. the law hadn't changed yet that required county sheriffs to handle all requests ( i believe that is the time when they changed the law to "shall issue" which, of course, meant that a local LEO could no longer deny you a permit because you weren't politically connected or he didn't like the way you looked.
i want to email the author of this article and correct him about states allowing conceal carry much earlier than 1987, but i need the facts. can anyone help with this request? thank you very much for your time.
btw, consider yourself lucky you live in pa. In ks. there is no reciprocity for pa. ccf permit holders. in order to get a permit, you must complete an 8 hour course that can cost up to 100.00. the permit fees are also higher. i was shocked to find out that kansas law just recently changed (2007). prior to that, it was virtually impossible to obtain a ccf permit. you would think a "red" state like ks. that enshrined "dodge city" would have some of the most liberal laws in the country. you think of kansas as the wild wild west. nothing could be further from the truth.

[knight0334]

While Florida was one of the first states to issue permits on a Shall Issue basis - there were a couple states before FL to issue on a Shall Issue standard.

Many states prior to the popular Shall Issue standard had "May Issue" laws. PA's "May Issue" statewide Uniform Firearms Act started in the 1930's, but many counties issued on a Shall Issue basis. PA became Shall Issue in 1989. PA criminalized/regulated "concealed carry" in the 1800's, but allowed the counties/municipalities to issue permits. So, a permit scheme in some form existed by the late 1800's for concealed carry. Open carry without a license was still legal.

Prior to Shall Issue, people could still carry concealed, depending on state laws, with the respective states' May Issue standards. And people could still carry openly in most states, with or without a license, depending on the respective state laws.

This Florida hype is just that, hype. Unlicensed carrying and licensing in one form or another existed well before Florida adopted Shall Issue. What is notable with Florida is, immediately prior to FL's Shall Issue law there was a period of a few months that NO license was required to openly carry guns and that the state still "May Issued" permits for concealed carry. Folks were carrying cowboy style in big cities, which scared the sheeple. So, it drove FL's legislators to enact a carry law the forced concealed carry, and made a licensing standard. Prior to the "open carry era" FL only had a may issue permit that was often denied just like how a carry permit is denied in NY, NJ, or MD.

All of FL's changes from the pre-'87 law was brought about because somewhere/somehow it was determined that FL's may issue standard was too discriminate, thus not allowing the people to practice a right. The "Shall Issue" standard satisfied the courts and legislators enough to keep there from being an infringement.