HB 1744 - Looks like donkey dust to me!

[Brick]

I admit I need to go back and re-read the UFA, but at first glance this doesn't seem favorable. I am especially concerned about granting "additional powers" to the Atty General!

PRINTER'S NO. 2323


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THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

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HOUSE BILL
No. 1744 Session of 2007


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INTRODUCED BY CALTAGIRONE, BLACKWELL, DONATUCCI, FRANKEL,
GODSHALL, HARPER, JAMES, JOSEPHS, KOTIK, MANDERINO, McGEEHAN,
MURT, MYERS, M. O'BRIEN, PAYTON, SIPTROTH, STEIL, STURLA,
J. TAYLOR, THOMAS, WALKO AND YOUNGBLOOD, JULY 13, 2007


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REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, JULY 13, 2007


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AN ACT

1 Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, further providing for grading of theft
3 offenses and for sale or transfer of firearms; providing for
4 limits on lending or transferring a handgun, for a study by
5 the Joint State Government Commission and for additional
6 authority for the Office of Attorney General; and making an
7 appropriation.

8 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
9 hereby enacts as follows:
10 Section 1. Sections 3903(a)(3) and 6111(b)(5) of Title 18 of
11 the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes are amended to read:
12 § 3903. Grading of theft offenses.
13 (a) Felony of the second degree.--Theft constitutes a felony
14 of the second degree if:
15 * * *
16 [(3) In the case of theft by receiving stolen property,
17 the property received, retained or disposed of is a firearm
18 and the receiver is in the business of buying or selling
19 stolen property].



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1 * * *
2 § 6111. Sale or transfer of firearms.
3 * * *
4 (b) Duty of seller.--No licensed importer, licensed
5 manufacturer or licensed dealer shall sell or deliver any
6 firearm to another person, other than a licensed importer,
7 licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer or licensed collector,
8 until the conditions of subsection (a) have been satisfied and
9 until he has:
10 * * *
11 (5) (i) Issued a receipt containing the information
12 from paragraph (4), including the unique approval number
13 of the purchaser. This receipt shall be prima facie
14 evidence of the purchaser's or transferee's compliance
15 with the provisions of this section.
16 (ii) Provided to the buyer of a firearm, as defined
17 in section 6102, a copy of the notice provided for in
18 section 6111.6 (relating to notice of limits on lending
19 or transferring a handgun).
20 * * *
21 Section 2. Title 18 is amended by adding sections to read:
22 § 6111.6. Notice of limits on lending or transferring a
23 handgun.
24 Each purchaser of a firearm, as defined in § 6102 (relating
25 to definitions), shall receive a copy of a notice, to be
26 promulgated by the Pennsylvania State Police, containing the
27 following information:
28 Notice of Limits on Lending
29 or Transferring a Handgun
30 As the owner of a handgun, you must comply with certain
20070H1744B2323 - 2 -


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1 legal obligations and restrictions. You may not lend or give
2 the handgun to any person, except as provided in 18 Pa.C.S. §
3 6115(b) (relating to rules and regulations). A violation of
4 this provision is a crime punishable by five years
5 imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. You may not sell or transfer
6 the handgun to another person unless the sale or transfer
7 occurs at a licensed dealer or the office of the county
8 sheriff, as provided in 18 Pa.C.S. § 6111(c) (relating to
9 sale or transfer of firearms). A violation of this provision
10 is a crime, punishable by two years imprisonment and a $5,000
11 fine. If the person to whom you sell or transfer the handgun
12 is ineligible to possess a handgun, the penalty is seven
13 years imprisonment and a $15,000 fine.
14 § 6111.7. Study by Joint State Government Commission.
15 The Joint State Government Commission shall conduct a
16 continuing study for the purpose of evaluating the extent, if
17 any, to which multiple purchases of firearms, as defined in
18 section 6102 (relating to definitions), by any individual during
19 the period of the study are a contributing factor to the use of
20 firearms in criminal activity. Beginning on the effective date
21 of this section and ending three years from the effective date
22 of this section, the Pennsylvania State Police shall provide to
23 the commission such information as is necessary to conduct the
24 study. The commission may contract with such persons as
25 appropriate for the purposes of carrying out the study. The
26 commission shall issue a final report on the study within three
27 years and six months after the effective date of this section.
28 The commission may issue interim reports as it deems
29 appropriate. No identifying information obtained by the
30 commission may be publicly released by the commission or any
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1 other person in the reports or in any other manner. The
2 commission shall make information which it compiles on multiple
3 firearms purchases available to the Office of Attorney General
4 for law enforcement purposes. The Office of Attorney General or
5 any other law enforcement agency which receives such information
6 shall treat the information as intelligence information subject
7 to the provisions of Chapter 91 (relating to criminal history
8 record information).
9 § 6127. Office of Attorney General.
10 (a) Authority.--In addition to the authority conferred upon
11 the Attorney General by the act of October 15, 1980 (P.L.950,
12 No.164), known as the Commonwealth Attorneys Act, the Attorney
13 General shall have the authority to investigate and to institute
14 criminal proceedings for any violation of this chapter. No
15 person charged with a violation of this chapter by the Attorney
16 General shall have standing to challenge the authority of the
17 Attorney General to investigate or prosecute the case, and, if
18 any such challenge is made, the challenge shall be dismissed and
19 no relief shall be available in the courts of this Commonwealth
20 to the person making the challenge.
21 (b) Record examination.--The Attorney General may inspect or
22 examine the inventory and records of a licensed importer,
23 licensed manufacturer or licensed dealer without reasonable
24 cause or warrant:
25 (1) in the course of a reasonable inquiry during the
26 course of a criminal investigation of a person or persons
27 other than the licensee;
28 (2) for ensuring compliance with the recordkeeping
29 requirements of this chapter:
30 (i) not more than once during any 12-month period;
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1 or
2 (ii) at any time with respect to records relating to
3 a firearm involved in a criminal investigation that is
4 traced to the licensee; or
5 (3) when such inspection or examination may be required
6 for determining the disposition of one or more particular
7 firearms in the course of a bona fide criminal investigation.
8 (c) Authority of law enforcement officers.--Nothing in this
9 section shall limit or abrogate any existing authority of any
10 law enforcement officer to investigate or arrest for any
11 violation of law, or obtain or execute any search warrant,
12 subpoena or other legal process.
13 Section 3. The sum of $300,000 is hereby appropriated to the
14 Joint State Government Commission for the purposes of conducting
15 the study provided for in 18 Pa.C.S. § 6111.7.
16 Section 4. 18 Pa.C.S. § 6127 shall expire three years after
17 the effective date of this act.
18 Section 5. This act shall take effect in six months.

[Pat T]

Thy're trying to stop the "straw purchases". The "study" created in the second part of this crap would have the PSP create an effective registry (like they don't already have one) of firearms on every purchaser for 3 years, then sift the data to see if crimes are related to the purchases and purchasers on record. This one is a big BS! As I understand it, gun registries are illegal under the UFA.

The third part is even worse, if the AG decides to investigate you for straw purchases and files charges, you have no recourse to challenge his authority to prosecute. No way to get out if false charges are brought. And he can search records without a warrant. Yeah, this one's a beauty. Time to get writing to the reps again, folks. Nice catch on these, Brick.

[Brick]

After going through this one section at a time and bouncing off the current UFA, I believe this is one we need to oppose, strongly.

I am not against the provisions requiring the written "notice of responsibilty" or against the notice as written (proposed Sect. 6111.6) since that is all part of the current law and we all should be aware of and abiding by it.

I'm not even troubled by the proposed study of the effect multiple purchases, since multiple handgun purchases are reported directly to PSP anyhow. I am curious about who the "Joint State Government Commission" is.

What really bothers me is Section 6127. I fail to understand what the legislature has against due process. Especially since the wording seems to apply to ALL of the UFA not only the new section. If anyone should be open to challenge it should be the Attorney General!

In a similar vein (with regards to 6127 b) since when does someone surrender thier 4th & 5th amendment rights, when they become a licensed dealer?

[Brick]

This bill is now scheduled for a public hearing to be held by the Judiciary Committee on 19 Sept., 2007 in room 140 of the Main Capitol, Harrisburg