By DC Dalton founder of the American Gun Owners Alliance
Pennsylvania has a state preemption law that prohibits local governments from enacting gun laws more stringent that state law. It’s been around since the 1970s. Unfortunately, it has no teeth behind it and liberal anti-gun cities in particular have felt emboldened to ignore it. They pass local legislation imposing their own local gun control schemes upon both residents and visitors. Their shenanigans have created quite a patchwork of local laws that has caused all manner of problems for good guy gun owners.
We thought we had it fixed with Pennsylvania ACT 192, the last bill Republican then-governor Corbett signed before he left office. Act 192 merely added teeth of Pennsylvania’s state preemption law on the books. It allowed any resident, or organization that had member residents in an offending municipality to sue to get these laws off the books and to recover legal fees and other costs if they won. ACT 192 got struck down because it was passed by adding it to another unrelated bill.
Fast forward to present day. Pennsylvania pro-gun Republicans introduced a new “Act 192” – HB 2258 – in June with 67 sponsors. The three-page bill passed out of the judiciary committee with an overwhelming 21-6 vote on September 20th and passed first consideration. At this point it looked like smooth sailing for the bill with some Republicans claiming they might have a veto-proof majority supporting the bill.
But then the house Democrats did something that has never happened in the history the Pennsylvania legislature. On September 27th, Democrats introduced 242 amendments to the bill. That’s right, 242 amendments filed by about 30 gun-hating liberal Democrats. And more are on the way. These Democrat legislators came mostly from (surprise!) Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, two of the worst-offending cities regarding illegal local laws on guns.
Michael Bloomberg couldn’t have put together a more frightening list of Second Amendment infringements if he tried. Everything from scary gun bans, magazine bans, magazine licensing, gun licensing, registration of all firearms, mandatory insurance, lost and stolen laws and more. Here’s the list of amendments so far.
Why the skulduggery on the part of big city Democrats? Well, their stronghold cities would have to repeal their local gun laws that keep the poor, inner city residents living there so dependent upon government for their safety. Those same local Democrat-run governments would be on the hook for monetary awards from gun-owner plaintiffs in this time of fiscal austerity.
Yes, the bill would force the big city Democrat party to free their residents from the gun control plantation!
Let’s face it: Pennsylvania’s hoplophobic Democrats had no ‘legal’ means to stop the bill so they decided political terrorism was their only remaining option. They know that the Republican leadership is leery about just tossing all the amendments out via parliamentary procedures. They also know there’s no way the House is going to sit through the nonsense of trying to hear and vote on all these amendments. It would bring Harrisburg to a standstill. So instead of sucking it up and allowing the bill to come to a vote they pulled this unprecedented stunt. It has become ‘by hook or by crook’ for the Democratic party.
This is the same type of nonsense we saw in Washington earlier with the House Dems’ grandstanding of their gun control ‘sit in’. If Democrats can’t get their way on gun control, they are now 100% committed to acts of childishness and political terrorism.
“It’s high time local municipalities were held to the same legal standards that Pennsylvania citizens are held to,” Kim Stolfer of the Firearms Owners Against Crime told me. I concur.
It’s time for gun owners nationwide to get involved. It’s time these Democrat politicians’ phones ring all day long with constituents screaming at them to stop these antics. If these scoundrels get away with it this time, they’ll use it nationwide.
At the same time Republican feet need held to the fire too. Republicans were elected to a strong majority and they need to start acting like they’re in charge. If the children are misbehaving, then leadership should send them to their room without supper.
So if you live in Pennsylvania, you may consider calling your legislator to let him know what you think. Let the Republicans know we’re watching. Either stand up and be counted or trust me, the terrorists will win.
We need federal pre emption. States rights are just an invitation for tyranny of the majority and a steady stream of civil rights violations.
A better thing to focus on at this time would be to split up New York into 3 states and Cali into 6, and blocking DC from getting statehood. If an AWB gets passed at the federal level by coastal politicians, it will screw over everyone even if there is federal preemption of stricter gun laws. We could even split Ohio into 2 states, but I wouldn’t want to leave Cincinnati or Cleveland to their own devices- as much as I hate everything else Columbus does, at least they passed state-level preemption.
So… you want to give Cali 10 more electoral votes, and New York four more?
Most of California’s geography contains fairly conservative people.
If you could give so cal and the bag their own states and split the rest up into a few more it would most likely help counter balance the lefties, at least the authoritarian aspects. Mostly an educated guess on my part. If you haven’t heard of it before Google “the state of Jefferson”. Most of California is sick of California’s politics.
Look at the voting habits in NY State, specifically the voting up state.
I want to live in the state of Jefferson!
The last federal preemption was FOPA. How’d that work out? Toothleses protections and essentially a machine gun ban.
If you roll the dice on federal preemption, which is already on shaky constitutional grounds itself, you’ll end up worse off and regretting it.
There are at least a dozen higher priority items on the agenda than federal preemption.
Jonathan- there you go, thinking again! If even 10% of NRA members could actually use basic powers of observation like you do here, NRA would go out of business. Which would be a blessing for every gun owner in America.
If NRA, Inc. endorses LEOSA, which preempts all state and local gov regulations on carrying for police and retired police, and has no provision for Duty to Inform for instance, why would anyone trust the traitors at NRA to negotiate a decent nationwide reciprocity or anything else at the federal level? Police object to your carry license, then you have to go to Washington, D.C. for an administrative hearing with the ATF? Tons of nightmare scenarios which would be ten times worse than the mess we already have at the state level.
NRA, Inc. relies on police collaborators like John Boch and his rubes at the grassroots level to buy into the lies. As long as people send them money, NRA will keep selling them out to the police unions. Watch what NRA does, not what they say.
There is this thing called the 2nd amendment, perhaps youve heard of it (I keed I keed)
In all seriousness 2a is federal preemption of all federal, state and local firearms laws and seeing as it is enumerated, it is exempt from the 10th in this case. When it comes to firearm laws, states rights do not apply. If we would simply recognize the actual constitution we wouldnt need so called “state preemption laws”.
But they don’t and we do. Now let’s talk about an actual solution. NFA repeal, federal preemption, and mandatory reciprocity.
Federal preemption is a mixed bag of risks. This observation does NOT mean it ought to be discarded summarily. Rather, it means that we have to carefully evaluate whether a particular provision does, on balance, more harm than good.
Does the 2A preemption do more harm than good? Did Heller? Did McDonald? Did FOPA? LEOSA?
We must be careful not to drink too heartily at the Federal trough lest we undermine too-much the States’ Rights argument. It will be very difficult for the Antis to use Federal power to supersede States’ Rights so long as we have many State legislators standing up for us. Granted, we may have to live many decades in a house-divided with onerous laws in CA, NY, MD, NJ, etc. Yet, we are unlikely to lose the war in the long run.
At the same time, the Constitution compels States to respect the rights of citizens of other States and to honor the determinations of other States. These are clearly Federal powers to enforce upon the remaining 5 – 10 States that infringe.
What we have to “get” is that a refusal to exploit these Federal powers does NOTHING to inoculate the 2A from any other Federal infringement. The Antis have had no difficulty imposing infringements Federally; e.g., the Hughes amendment or the AWB act. The Antis have no reluctance to draft deeply from the Federal trough.
242 ammentmwnts….And we used to tar and feather tyrants. Today that would be to good for this lot. Nice knowing elected representatives want to keep black people from lawfully protecting themselves.
We also used to string them up in the town square, and display their heads on buildings and bridges.
Soon
Where the heck to you go today to FIND a pike? Cold Steel make such? This country needs a good $100 .halberds. And inexpensive pitch.
Give me some ten foot poles and a machete, I’ll have you set in a few minutes.
Here ya go. These ought to suffice:
http://www.paulchenhanweiswords.com/medieval-polearms.aspx
Not a pike per say but they make a lance that’s a pretty convincing substitute lol.
I’m glad others feel the same as I do regarding treasonous behavior.
Them good ole days….
The Pittsburgh/Philly cabal is going for a parliamentary procedure hack, and have initiated a DDoS attack (Despotic Denigration of Sanity) on the legislature.
We need to pass laws that all bills are heard on their own. You want an amendment, file a new bill.
I never heard so much radicalism in one sentence. –The Establishment
But then how would we be able to pork-barrel things, close registries, or (not) send old 1911s to the CMP?
Amendments are a necessary evil. If the original version of a bill leaves loopholes or has unintended consequences revealed during debate, an Ammendment is necessary to correct this deficiency. I provide an example unrelated to firearms, but at the time had the same passions behind it:
In WV several years ago, there was a major chemical spill that contaminated the drinking water supply for several counties afterwards the state legislature passed an above ground storage tank law forcing registration and inspections. Prior to amendments, the language was so broad as to lop drinking water tanks (including those at the water treatment plants) in with the some of the most dangerous chemical tanks, simply because they were near a water intake (as is to be expected for a tank at the treatment plant).
At the national level I just laughed at the sit in.
Only a bunch of Democrats are dumb enough to stage a sit in in a room full of chairs and sit on the damn floor.
I’ve also thought for awhile that the picture his hilarious. Cummings looks like he needs to be burped and put down for a nap.
Actually he needs to email the IRS looking for info on “true the vote.”
funny you should say “put down for a nap”…
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/crybabydems.jpg
So my presumption is that they do this because they feel they can get away with it and there are no consequences (besides the facts that they are extremist tyrants). I’m not familiar enough with State Legislature, but the Republicans need to make them pay for this in a serious way or else they will do this everytime there’s something they dont like. What actions can they take? Does anyone know? They must be severely punished for their tyrade. Shut down anything and everything they have, don’t let them speak a word on the floor, create new bills that are wayyy extreme so they get the point. U wanna act like children, we’re gonna play hardball then and start throwing at your head until u get back in the batters box and play fair.
Just have a quick voice vote on every amendment.
These legislators aren’t THAT busy.
If you can rip through them quickly, you can do 240 of them in 2 hours.
“Vote to close discussion on amendment 1, proposed by the douchebag from Philly, all those in favor say ‘Aye'”
“Vote to accept amendment 1 as proposed by the douchebag from Philly, all those opposed say ‘Nay'”
Thanks for posting this. The leadership of the Pennsylvania House and Senate need to hear us as well as each local representative. Tell them we want — A Clean Bill voted on , NO Amendments.—- This has Bloombergs fingerprints all over it. — Full contact info below.
http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=310305
“They also know there’s no way the House is going to sit through the nonsense of trying to hear and vote on all these amendments. It would bring Harrisburg to a standstill. ”
That is EXACTLY what the Republican leadership in the House should do, schedule NOTHING but hearings, discussion and votes on ALL 242 amendments proposed by the dumbocrats. Take all session to cover these amendments, then vote each one down, and schedule it such that on the last day of the session, vote on the bill itself after all the amendments have been voted down.
NOTHING else will get passed this whole session, and there would be no one to blame except the dumbocrats.
Only 8 days left to conduct State business. Pass HB 2258 ‘ Clean ‘ or get nothing else done. !!
http://www.house.state.pa.us/session.cfm
PA put Wolf in and gun rights have suffered. Elections have consequences
…with minor clarification: ”PA” didnt put Wolf in so much as Philly and Pittsburgh did.
and Corbett ran a piss poor campaign.
Massa Stephen Kinsey is “Kappa Alpha Psi” one of them thar diverse n inclusive clubs you folk keep rioting for? Sounds more like KKK. With all them Concave and s…..t. http://www.kappaalphapsi1911.com/
Looks pretty diverse and all-inclusive to me.
They have black people, colored people, negroes and African-Americans.
The Illinois legislation always has bills being proposed that are anti gun and pro gun. Just like there is always a new federal AWB bill being proposed every year. The real truth is that a lot of people who is pro-gun right are tired and not that willing to push new laws, look at how much IGOLD dropped over the last few years. At the same time, the anti-gun stuff is going no where, as they really don’t want to wake up the pro-gun side. And can you imagine if they did not get preemption, we would have the same as Pennsylvania has right now but 50 times worse.
“The real truth is that a lot of people who is pro-gun right are tired and not that willing to push new laws, look at how much IGOLD dropped over the last few years.”
That is an accurate statement. The IGOLD crowd is tired, and old, looking at the pictures. Most of them are average, decent people. But as long as they let people like John Boch mislead them, they are part of the problem too. Speaker of the Illinois House Mike Madigan and the Democrats in Springfield look out at the IGOLD mob and laugh at them, because they let racist hicks like Brandon Phelps fill up his bill with everything the police unions want, slap an “NRA” label on it, then sell out NRA members. You can’t be taken seriously by your enemies if you don’t take out the traitors in your own ranks.
“And can you imagine if they did not get preemption, we would have the same as Pennsylvania has right now but 50 times worse.”
Which is true also, preemption is a good thing in the Illinois bill. But it only takes a simple majority for the Democrats, Brandon Phelps included, to strip it out. Every violation of Phelps carry bill is criminal, so any cop has the excuse to use force removing you from Starbucks if it’s posted no guns.
The dirty little secret of Illinois grassroots is that most of the downstate people were willing to sell out Otis McDonald in Chicago to “get a bill passed” because they figured the local police would give them a pass if they accidentally walked into a posted Starbucks in Champaign. It’s an ignorant Klan mentality from 1962 that doesn’t make sense in 2016. Police will kill a license holder just because they can, then NRA can act surprised and put out a press release about Illinois horrible carry bill and the “Chicago politicians” that passed it.
If you deliberately build a house with a rotten foundation to save a few bucks, don’t be surprised if the roof collapses on your head. John Boch is a mouth with legs, and he hasn’t followed through on his promises from five years ago now that the carry bill has passed. As long as state and local grassroots have people that promote the police over the citizens, regular people are going to get killed. It’s a good lesson for everyone in this country who supports gun rights.
You have seen IGOLD only on pictures and have the audacity to criticize us who take day off and drive hundreds of miles to Springfield to attend?
Yes, the concealed carry law is not perfect. It took some haggling to get it through and we can improve it piece by piece. But saying that NRA and ISRA suck because they couldn’t get everything 100 percent to your liking is not helping anyone except gun grabbers. It’s easy to shout from the sidelines. What is name of YOUR grassroots organization that pushed through shall issue carry licence in Illinois? What was the bill number?
242 amendments, 8 days, 16 hour days is a little under 2 amendments per hour. Heck , bump that to “noone leaves, 24 hours/day until we get through this, yes we’ll bring in bread and water for dinner, and the water is coming from Flint Mi” and it’s doable.
🙂
If a solid majority wants them gone, I bet you could close discussion and vote them down in 30 seconds to a minute each.
But I sort of like the idea of arguing it for a week straight, 24 hours a day, and pass the clean bill when all the Dems are asleep.
National Right to carry is not enough the us need national constitunal carry in any public space + national stand your ground law + nfa complete repeal !
Pretty tough to bring Harrisburg to a stand still, when that is pretty much where it is on everything. 242 amendments might be unprecedented but this is typical. Last years budget BS pretty much convinced my district’s rep to retire. He’s a good gun guy too, belongs to my gun club, and sponsors handgun safety training for our district. His replacement should show the same support for gun owners, but we’ll see.
Never let your state government enact a full time legislature. This is what you get.
I don’t know about PA, but in TN the criminal court judges are all state employees. The state judicial board should instruct the criminal court judges to dismiss charges brought under the laws that violate the state preemption law at arraignment. They should also be instructed to look very favorably on lawsuits brought by victims of those local laws for false imprisonment.
Judges (in TN at least) can be removed from the bench for judicial misconduct. Some years ago, in Shelby County (Memphis), a judge became a Hollywood celebrity. He spent a couple of months each year in Hollywood doing his TV show. After a couple of years of this the state judicial board told him to make a choice. He could be the Hon. Joseph Brown in TN, or he could be Judge Joe in Hollywood, but not both. He chose Hollywood for the money.
A year later he demanded a big raise and the producers of his show told him to stuff it. He came back to Memphis and ran for reelection and lost. Don’t know what he is doing now.
“Political terrorism”????
Laying it on a bit deep?
Ever read the story about the boy that cried ‘WOLF’?
Sure, call them out on their chicanery but leave out the hyperbole.
Why are so many blacks so anti-gun?
Gun control made them easy targets for the KKK. It’s kind of like Foghorn Leghorn voting for Colonel Sanders.
Also, does it bother anyone else that 4473 forms still ask you for your race?