PA State Police Handgun Purchaser Database - Violation of PA Law?

[Univ of Saigon 68]

A poster on another forum brought to my attention an article (somewhat dated - year 2000) from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporting that the State Police maintain a database of handgun purchases. The poster stated that he monitors PA legislative landscape and has not seen a change in this.

http://old.post-gazette.com/regionst...00614guns2.asp

[Excerpts] -

State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, a gun owner and member of the National Rifle Association, claims the Pennsylvania State Police are breaking the law by maintaining a database of everyone who has legally bought a handgun in the commonwealth since 1923.

. . . .

"It appears to us they, in fact, are not keeping the law they are charged to enforce," Metcalfe said in an interview this week. "They should destroy all their records to protect the personal privacy of our law-abiding gun owners."

In a written response to Metcalfe meant to be hand-delivered yesterday, state police defended their practice and stated their intention to continue it. They denied Metcalfe's assertion that police are keeping a registry of gun owners, which is illegal in Pennsylvania.

. . . .

Pennsylvania law explicitly directs the state police to purge from their computers information used in the background check. They must destroy the form within three days of the check if the buyer's record is clean.

The law states, in part: "An application/record of sale received by the Pennsylvania State Police pursuant to this subsection shall be destroyed within 72 hours of the completion of the criminal history, juvenile delinquency and mental health records background check."

Another section of the law states: "Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to allow any government or law enforcement agency or any agent thereof to create, maintain or operate any registry of firearm ownership within this commonwealth."

State police have a different interpretation of the Uniform Firearms Act, which dates to 1995. They acknowledge that the law tells them to destroy the records, and police said they do not store the information used for the background check.

Police point out, however, that the law directs dealers to send them the record of sale.

"As soon as we approve a gun sale, we destroy the information. The record of sale form is in a different section. It's always been kept," said Ronald Plesco, director of the state police's policy office at its Harrisburg headquarters.

. . . .

State police do not consider their warehousing of gun sale forms to be a registry. Plesco noted that police do not require people who move to Pennsylvania from out of state to register with authorities if they have a gun.

"I consider this a record of sale database. I looked at what our chief counsel said, and they don't consider it a registry either," he said.

[End Excerpts]

Is this database still in operation?

[rellisonii]

Yes pistol sales db still exists and was ruled legal because it is incomplete since it does not contain records on all pistols, therefore not a registry https://lawcenter.giffords.org/regis...-pennsylvania/

[bogey1]

Yes pistol sales db still exists and was ruled legal because it is incomplete since it does not contain records on all pistols, therefore not a registry https://lawcenter.giffords.org/regis...-pennsylvania/

What do you mean by "all pistols" Still seems like a registry to me . Unless they destroy
all records within 72hrs after the background check

[Univ of Saigon 68]

Thank you for the timely update, Rellisonil.

[:-)]

In my mind they keep the files in a warehouse that looks like this...

[jthrelf]

Ruled not a registry, but used like one by the police in some cases.

[streaker69]

What do you mean by "all pistols" Still seems like a registry to me . Unless they destroy
all records within 72hrs after the background check

You mean like they're required to by state law? It's almost as though they don't care about the laws they're sworn to uphold.

[rellisonii]

What do you mean by "all pistols" Still seems like a registry to me . Unless they destroy
all records within 72hrs after the background check

I agree it is a registry, but politicians can and do make words mean whatever they want. I remember reading somewhere that pistols owned prior to moving to pa do not get registered and legal transfers between family members are not registered therefore the psp sales db is incomplete. So basically our registry is a partial registry so is legally not a registry per reasons....

[Mr_Gixxer]

Ruled not a registry, but used like one by the police in some cases.

In some cases? I hear them run serial numbers on guns over the local police frequencies all the time and it sickens me. And they aren't just checking to see if it was reported stolen either.

To add to this, they also notify the officers if they own firearms at the household they may be visiting as well.

[SevenMilePete]

A poster on another forum brought to my attention an article (somewhat dated - year 2000) from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporting that the State Police maintain a database of handgun purchases. The poster stated that he monitors PA legislative landscape and has not seen a change in this.

http://old.post-gazette.com/regionst...00614guns2.asp

[Excerpts] -

State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, a gun owner and member of the National Rifle Association, claims the Pennsylvania State Police are breaking the law by maintaining a database of everyone who has legally bought a handgun in the commonwealth since 1923.

. . . .

"It appears to us they, in fact, are not keeping the law they are charged to enforce," Metcalfe said in an interview this week. "They should destroy all their records to protect the personal privacy of our law-abiding gun owners."

In a written response to Metcalfe meant to be hand-delivered yesterday, state police defended their practice and stated their intention to continue it. They denied Metcalfe's assertion that police are keeping a registry of gun owners, which is illegal in Pennsylvania.

. . . .

Pennsylvania law explicitly directs the state police to purge from their computers information used in the background check. They must destroy the form within three days of the check if the buyer's record is clean.

The law states, in part: "An application/record of sale received by the Pennsylvania State Police pursuant to this subsection shall be destroyed within 72 hours of the completion of the criminal history, juvenile delinquency and mental health records background check."

Another section of the law states: "Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to allow any government or law enforcement agency or any agent thereof to create, maintain or operate any registry of firearm ownership within this commonwealth."

State police have a different interpretation of the Uniform Firearms Act, which dates to 1995. They acknowledge that the law tells them to destroy the records, and police said they do not store the information used for the background check.

Police point out, however, that the law directs dealers to send them the record of sale.

"As soon as we approve a gun sale, we destroy the information. The record of sale form is in a different section. It's always been kept," said Ronald Plesco, director of the state police's policy office at its Harrisburg headquarters.

. . . .

State police do not consider their warehousing of gun sale forms to be a registry. Plesco noted that police do not require people who move to Pennsylvania from out of state to register with authorities if they have a gun.

"I consider this a record of sale database. I looked at what our chief counsel said, and they don't consider it a registry either," he said.

[End Excerpts]

Is this database still in operation?

Yes it is. And yes, it is against the law.