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Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association

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Committee Vote on Castle Doctrine and 3 Anti-Gun Bills Tuesday

Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Castle Doctrine legislation – a move we’ve been waiting on since November 19 when they held a hearing! However, it comes at a price.

In addition to the vote on the important self-defense reforms, the committee is planning to vote on three anti-gun bills on the same day!

Contact the members of the House Judiciary Committee today. Tell them that you want their support on HB40 – the Castle Doctrine bill. This specific Castle Doctrine bill will ensure that law-abiding gun owners can feel safe knowing that they can defend themselves from attackers whether it is inside or outside your home. It also protects citizens from the expense of fighting civil lawsuits filed by criminals or their families when self-defense was justified.

But tell them that they must vote down the three gun control bills:

  • HB1043 which would create a “Firearm Trafficking Czar” and lead to another bureaucratic agency looking for ways to restrict gun sales in Pennsylvania.
  • HB1044 that would end preemption and allow cities to create their own gun bans and carry rules, and
  • HB1045 that would arbitrarily ban certain semi-automatic firearms in the Keystone State.

Self-defense reform should not come with a price that includes gun bans, wasteful spending on a new government-funded anti-gun leader, and gutting our state’s gun laws.

Contact the members of the House Judiciary Committee today. Based on the response to Castle Doctrine in other states, we know that gun control groups will get involved in this fight, making it seem as if we will have gun fights on every street corner. As we know, such dire predictions have yet to come true. Make sure you voice is heard! Call, e-mail, or even tweet – just make sure your voice is heard!

« Email Judiciary Committee Members with two clicks! »

« Show support for Castle Doctrine on Twitter with two clicks! »

Below are the members of the committee who have not signaled clear support for our rights on these four bills. Please focus your efforts on contacting these lawmakers.

Representative Phone Number Alternative Contact
State Rep. Thomas Caltagirone (D-127) (717) 787-3525 Email
State Rep. Kathy Manderino (D-194) (717) 787-1254 Email
State Rep. John Pallone (D-54) (717) 783-1819 Email
State Rep. Dom Costa (D-21) (717) 783-9114 Email
State Rep. Joseph Brennan (D-133) (717) 772-9902 Email
State Rep. Paul Drucker (D-157) (717) 705-2003 Email

Twitter
State Rep. Bryan Lentz (D-161) (717) 787-8574 Email

Twitter
State Rep. Josh Shapiro (D-153) (717) 783-7619 Email
Twitter
State Rep. Greg Vitali (D-166) (717) 787-7647 Email
State Rep. Chelsa Wagner (D-22) (717) 783-1582 Email
Twitter
State Rep. Ronald Waters (D-191) (717) 772-9850 Email
State Rep. Ron Marsico (R-105) (717) 783-2014  
State Rep. Mike Vereb (R-150) (717) 705-7164 Twitter
State Rep. Will Gabig (R-199) (717) 772-2280  
State Rep. Dick Stevenson (R-8) (717) 783-6438 Email
State Rep. Glen Grell (R-87) (717) 783-2063  
State Rep. Kate Harper (R-61) (717) 787-2801 Twitter
State Rep. Bernie O’Neill (R-29) (717) 705-7170 Email
State Rep. Katie True (R-41) (717) 705-7161  
Posted by
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Daniel Pehrson
Posted on
May 24 2010 9:00:15 AM
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Open Letter to the Radnor Board of Commisioners Regarding Lost & Stolen

To Members of the Radnor Board of Commissioners:

I write to you as the Founder & President of Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association, an organization representing tens of thousands of gun owners across the Commonwealth, including many in Radnor. We share concerns about the ordinance you may discuss and vote on tonight brought forth by CeasefirePA, as noted in your published agenda.

The so-called “Lost-and-Stolen” firearms ordinance is illegal under current state law. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held 14 years ago, in the case of Ortiz v. Commonwealth that “The General Assembly, not city councils, is the proper forum for the imposition of [firearms] regulation.” Today, the majority of voters from all parties support that decision, as was reflected in a recent statewide poll.

As you will likely hear from many gun owners tonight, the legal issues that will be created with this ordinance will likely result in costly litigation for the city should you pass and enforce it. These are financial burdens that few city officials will find easy to justify to hardworking taxpayers. However, the members of PAFOA would like to offer an alternative to such expenses. Rather than passing a toothless ordinance designed only to harass gun owners, consider diverting what you plan to budget for the enforcement costs and legal defense to general law enforcement funds. Focus on reducing all crime and fully funding investigative teams who can help put dangerous criminals behind bars.

There are already many federal and state laws on the books that target straw purchasing and other types of criminal gun trafficking. Using what limited resources the town has to fully fund law enforcement needs will help bring the full weight of current laws – all of which are far more strict – down on those who pose a true danger to Radnor’s residents.

We ask that you either table the ordinance indefinitely or take a solid vote against a redundant, meaningless ordinance which will ultimately cost the city far more than its taxpayers can afford in these tight times.

Sincerely,
Daniel Pehrson
Founder & President
Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association

Posted by
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Daniel Pehrson
Posted on
February 08 2010 1:37:29 PM
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Philadelphia Daily News Smears Florida/PA Reciprocity

Many of you have no doubt seen this article in the Philadelphia Daily News, outlining the completely lawful practice of Pennsylvanians obtaining concealed carry licenses from the State of Florida, and using that license to carry in Pennsylvania, a “loophole.” We are currently working on a more detailed rebuttal to this article, but in the mean time we thought we would share with you our statement to the Daily News reporter when we were asked to comment on this issue:

As most gun owners in Pennsylvania know, owning or carrying a firearm in the city of Philadelphia can be risky given the history of abuses by the city’s police department. Under current PPD policy, law abiding carry license holders have had their license revoked for being victims of theft, including having their houses broken into. At PAFOA, we’ve also had reports of the police department illegally revoking permits of members issued by other counties when the victim’s car was broken into while visiting the city.

In fact, the abuse of license holders is reflected by the PPD’s inexplicable permit revocation rate of nearly 12%, while every other county (including Allegheny which contains Pittsburgh) is well below 1%. When the stats are run, Philadelphia is responsible for  30-40% of all carry permit revocations in the entire state each year.

As a result, it is not surprising that some gun owners may opt for the more uniform standards of another state license over the discriminatory abuses of the Philadelphia Police Department. In times of tighter budgets, some gun owners may also opt to carry only one license from a state which is more widely recognized than ours instead of getting multiple.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask.

Posted by
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Daniel Pehrson
Posted on
February 05 2010 1:10:08 PM
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