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Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association

Articles by Keith M.

Preemption upheld in Pennsylvania Court

The NRA has prevailed in the appeal of Philadelphia’s firearms regulations in Commonwealth Court.   The decision can be found here.  NRA tried to restore standing to challenge the other ordinances, including “Lost and Stolen,” but Commonwealth Court did not reverse the lower court’s decision on that matter, but did uphold the decision on the assault weapons ban, and one-gun-a-month ordinances.

This ruling sets us up very nicely for a future court battle on all these Lost and Stolen ordinances, provided the Supreme Court is unwilling to revisit Ortiz, which I suspect it won’t.  The City of Philadelphia is losing on virtually all their arguments.  These ordinances were never about lost and stolen guns, straw purchasers or assault weapons, but were merely a means for the City to regain the ability to violate the Pennsylvania Constitution at will, so it could ban guns.  It’s looking increasingly unlikely that ploy will work.

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Keith M.
Posted on
June 18 2009 8:58:02 PM
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Castle Doctrine Introduced

We are very pleased to report that Senator Richard Alloway has introduced the “Castle Doctrine” Bill in the Pennsylvania Senate.  Introduced as Senate Bill 842, it would, according to the NRA, “permit law-abiding citizens to use force, including deadly force, against an attacker in their homes and any places outside of their home where they have a legal right to be.  It is clearly stated that there would be no “duty to retreat” from an attacker, allowing law-abiding citizens to stand their ground to protect themselves and their family.  SB842 would also protect individuals from civil lawsuits by the attacker or the attacker’s family when force is used. ”

This bill stands a good chance of getting heard and passed out of committee if we look at the composition of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but only if we make our voices heard.  Below is a list of committee members with links to contact information, along with their NRA grades, to aid in messaging.

Majority (R)

Minority (D)

Please contact the committee members, and ask that they support this bill.  The question will be where Stu Greenleaf is going to stand on this bill, and whether he’ll want to bring it up.  But pretty clearly, we have a lot of highly rated Republicans on this committee, and we could do worse with the Democrats, so it has a good chance.  Let’s get it passed, get it on Rendell’s desk.  Even if he vetoes it, we can make it a campaign issue in the 2010 Governor’s race.

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Keith M.
Posted on
May 27 2009 3:24:52 PM
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Nancy Pelosi Calls for “Compromise” on Guns

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi took to the airwaves to discuss gun control on Good Morning America this week, proposing new restrictions on gun owners in response to the Pittsburgh shootings.  Her proposal to the show’s host includes registration of guns and their owners, a step that has historically lead to confiscation.

In addition, Speaker Pelosi recommends we ban guns from crossing state lines.  She will put an end to competitions such as NRA’s Camp Perry, hurt hunters who prefer to take to the fields in a neighboring state, and potentially even restricting whether or not gun owners can take their firearms with them if they move.  These restrictions are absurd!

The only way to shut Nancy Pelosi’s gun control fantasies down is to take quick action to put pressure on “blue dog” Democrats, who come from more conservative districts, and are most vulnerable to calls for gun control.  We have a number of them in Pennsylvania.  They are:

If you live in any of these districts, please use the links above to contact your representative and tell them that you oppose the Speaker Pelosi’s gun control agenda.  Express skepticism about your trust in the Democratic Party to protect your Second Amendment rights.  Be aware that many of the representatives above are pro-gun, and will likely be on our side, but don’t let them take you for granted, and make sure they understand that you expect them to represent the interests of gun owners in your district, and not help Nancy Pelosi bring her San Francisco attitudes on guns to Pennsylvania.

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Keith M.
Posted on
April 10 2009 1:34:54 AM
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Pro-Gun Democrats Stand Up to Holder

Following on the heels of getting the Department of Defense to reverse its policy on destroying one fired brass, once again allowing it to be sold to the public, we’re quite fortunate to have sixty five pro-gun Democrats stand up to the Obama Administration on the issue of re-instituting the expired ban on so-called “Assault Weapons.”

We Pennsylvanians are fortunate to have a number of our Congressional delegation among the signers, and they deserve our thanks and praise.  Those Representatives are:

  • Tim Holden (PA-17) Dauphin, Lebanon, Schuylkill, Parts of Berks and Perry.
  • Paul Kanjorski (PA-11) Carbon, Columbia, Monroe, Lackawanna, Luzerne
  • John Murtha (PA-12) Greene County, Parts of nearly half the southwest.
  • Christopher Carney (PA-10) Wayne, Pike, Susquehanna, Bradford, Sullivan, etc
  • Jason Altmire (PA-04) Allegheny County, Beaver, Butler, parts of others.

But in addition to those above who voted to protect our Second Amendment rights, we should also note those Democrats who chose not to take any preemptive action:

  • Robert Brady (PA-01) (Philadelphia)
  • Chaka Fattah (PA-02) (Philadelphia)
  • Joe Sestak (PA-07) Delaware Co. Chester County (Part)
  • Patrick Murphy (PA-08) Bucks County, Philadelphia (Part)
  • Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) Montgomery County, Philadelphia (Part)
  • Kathleen A. Dahlkemper (PA-3) Erie County, Parts of Surrounding counties
  • Michael F Doyle (PA-14) Allegeny County (Pittsburgh)

If your representative is on the first list, call them and thank them for their support.  If they are on the latter list, ask them why they were not among the signers.

This is a very important development in terms of the likelihood we’ll be looking at a new Assault Weapons Ban in the 111th Congress.  It takes 218 votes to pass a bill out of Congress, and with these 65 Democrats, we could lose 28 Republicans, and a renewal still would not have the votes to pass the House.  If Obama wishes to pass a renewal of the failed semi-auto ban of the Clinton years, it will be, at best, an uphill battle.

But this is not to say that gun owners are out of the woods.  We still have anti-gun leadership in key positions in Congress, and still have one of the most anti-gun Presidents in history occupying the Oval Office.  This pass over the mountains may be blocked for the time being, but we must think about where they will try to cross next.

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Keith M.
Posted on
March 19 2009 2:23:25 PM
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Action Needed on D.C. Gun Rights!

Last week, gun owners secured a major victory when 62 Senators – a strong bipartisan majority – voted in favor of an amendment that would repeal Washington DC’s draconian gun laws to a bill that would give the District of Columbia a voting seat in the House of Representatives.  (The new post-Heller laws are nearly as bad as the outright gun ban, and are the subject of yet another lawsuit which has yet to be heard.)  The Senate made clear to the leaders of the District that if they want to have a vote in the United States Congress that they must honor the Bill of Rights.

However, Nancy Pelosi, fearing the same amendment would be added in the House, actually pulled the bill from the calendar in order to have time to pressure members.  This morning, the Washington Post published an article that gives us an idea of what Pelosi’s is doing in the House.  Left-leaning groups are putting pressure on 60 moderate Democrats to try and pull away the 28 votes they need to avoid having the amendment attached on the House floor.  Many Pennsylvania Congressmen are likely in those targeted by these groups.  They are being told that people back home don’t care about gun rights, and that their seats are in no danger from a pro-gun backlash.

This battle over a local Second Amendment issue will have repercussions on the entire country, and will definitely effect the 2010 elections.  It is critically important that gun owners contact their members of Congress.  You can find your member here.  We must demonstrate to Congress that the threat from gun owners is real, and that we are watching what they are doing.

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Keith M.
Posted on
March 06 2009 4:49:42 PM
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One-Gun-a-Month in New Jersey

Some of you may have noticed this editorial over at The Philadelphia Inquirer declaring the imminent passage of “One-gun-a-month” rationing scheme in The Garden State, and admonishing Harrisburg to follow Trenton’s lead.  There are two problems with this editorial.

One, it assumes that this law to ration gun ownership is effective at its stated purpose, which is to reduce illegal gun trafficking.  We know from other states that have passed it, that it has now been shown to do any such thing.  South Carolina had a long standing gun rationing scheme, which is repealed because there was no evidence that it was effective.  Multiple sales are already reported to the BATF and local law enforcement, so if these types of purchases are really a problem, more laws aren’t the solution.

The other mistake is to assume that passage of gun rationing in New Jersey is inevitable.  It is not.  You get a hint of that here:

That effort deserves the full support of lawmakers from South Jersey, including Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester). But Sweeney is not yet on board with the proposal, and seems to be quoting from the NRA’s bullet points about the need to enforce existing gun regulations more fully.

This reveals the Inquirer’s true intention in publishing this editorial, which is to publicly shame Senator Sweeney into signing on to Bryan Miller’s gun rationing scheme.  The reason they have to do this is because they are coming up short on votes in the New Jersey State Senate to get this latest restriction on Second Amendment rights passed.  I would encourage everyone to send a note to Senator Sweeney to thank him for standing up for your rights.  If you’re a New Jersey resident, the critical time is now for contacting your Senators and State Assemblymen.

There is a very real chance of stopping a gun control bill in New Jersey.  Only a few years ago, Bryan Miller could ask the New Jersey legislature to jump, and they would ask “How High?”  Now they are starting to ask questions.  This is critical for both Pennsylvania and New Jersey residents.  For New Jersey residents, it’s the first step in reversing a long decline in gun rights that’s happened since 1968.  For Pennsylvanians, it’s a chance to ensure that Bryan Miller, and the full resources of the New Jersey Gun Control movement are tied up fighting in Trenton, rather than in Harrisburg.  We will both benefit from this win, but we must keep the pressure on.

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Keith M.
Posted on
January 06 2009 10:19:30 PM
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