law used to be different?

[ccphilly1984]

A lot of LEO officers and older LTCF holders that don't go online too much said things like open carry is illegal and everything like that, even though the laws as far as i've seen specifically allow it for LTCF in philadelphia and in cars and on foot. did the law used to be different? did it used to be a non-open carry state? I mean one of the guys that said this is the owner of a gun shop and another aparantly has a class 3 firearms liscense and has a small firearms buisness and people on domelights don't know.


What is even worse is that my dad was under the impression that you need a seperate liscense to carry in philadelphia and seperate permits to purchase. I heard of some people who said "way back in the day when i lived in philly i had to walk all around town back and fourth to get a permit to purchase a handgun" ... I say thank god for state pre emption.

[headcase]

I think the laws changed dramatically back in '96...?

[lprgcFrank]

I lived in Philly up to 1985. I purchased handguns in the late 70's and early 80's in Philly without any paperwork runarounds. If I remember right - there was a registration form that went to Philly PD - but that was just another form to sign.

[ccphilly1984]

I lived in Philly up to 1985. I purchased handguns in the late 70's and early 80's in Philly without any paperwork runarounds. If I remember right - there was a registration form that went to Philly PD - but that was just another form to sign.

wow now i feel like a youngin. you lived there until a year after i was born and were of legal age to buy firearms in the late 70's and early 80's.

I thought i did hear somewhere about philadelphia making wacky run around laws in the 80's to early 90's which was the whole reason for the 1996 state pre emption.

maybe the two firearms dealers i was referring to had their ltcf before the 1996 UFA.

[Exbiker]

Open carry was legal for a long time. I have a friend that`s been an Easton cop since back in the early 70`s and I remember a guy open carrying in the circle. The LEO asked him to use discretion but admitted it was legal.
Philly did have a very different set of laws but they were overturned not that long ago. Nutter is trying to put them in place against the state constitution.

[reels18]

Pennsylvania took action in 1989. While not as explicit as Florida's law, or as forcefully worded as Washington's, the Pennsylvania reform put some teeth in the Pennsylvania Constitution's right to keep and bear arms provision.

In 1990, a friend of mine who lived in the city had to hire a lawyer to force them to issue his CCW.

All the rest of us, who lived in the counties, just paid our fees, filled out the forms, then were issued CCWs within 45 days.

It took him over 6 months and close to a thousand dollars to get his.

So, ever since the beginning of "shall issue", Philadelphia has played hard ball with their residents.

Prior to 1989, permits to carry concealed were issued in Pa but were extremely difficult to get.

[ccphilly1984]

some very good information... so prior to 1989, it was a pin in the ass kind of like jersey law and in the early 90's philadelphia were giving residents run-arounds, which lead to the Uniform firearms act of 1996, which voided all of philadelphia's heavy gun control laws. since then philadelphia just instills fears about guns to the law abiding citizens to control them from getting guns thus preventing the citizens from helping to lower crime... hmm...

am i correct? I mean not that it matters... I really like learning about the past and historical things... I loved going through all the old crap when we were cleaning out my great grandmom's old house in north philly... saw old pong systems of my dads, undone model cars, old electronics, antique fold up pool table. The best WHYY show ever was "things that aren't there anymore"... darn it i heard willow grove park was awesome and had a sweet roller coaster.

[Exbiker]

I loved going through all the old crap when we were cleaning out my great grandmom's old house in north philly... saw old pong systems of my dads, undone model cars, old electronics, antique fold up pool table. The best WHYY show ever was "things that aren't there anymore"... darn it i heard willow grove park was awesome and had a sweet roller coaster.

If I remember WGP closed in the 70`s not that long ago. That was back when Dorney had no fence, pay per ride and the public street ran through the center of the park. They also had a stock car dirt track.
That stuff ain`t old.

[ccphilly1984]

If I remember WGP closed in the 70`s not that long ago. That was back when Dorney had no fence, pay per ride and the public street ran through the center of the park. They also had a stock car dirt track.
That stuff ain`t old.

yeah i know i'm young... lol... i wasn't born until 1984... i do remember that people used to be able to smoke in the mall when i was younger... and i remember my mom and grandmom working in the sears tower on the roosevelt boulevard.

[Pa. Patriot]

... even though the laws as far as i've seen specifically allow it for LTCF in philadelphia and in cars and on foot. .

The law does not "specifically allow" OC.
It prohibits concealed carry and carry in vehicles and Phila.
LTCF exempts all three of the above.

OC is legal because the statutes do not prohibit it. Just like they do not prohibit hollow point ammo or semi-automatics. Etc.

To my knowledge, OC has ALWAYS been legal in PA. I'm not sure if the LTCF exception for Phila was added with the UFA or not, but the rest of the state was always legal.

People have been hoodwinked into believing it is unlawful to OC. Sounds like some of them are just trying to justify their ignorance by claiming it "used to be illegal".