Allegheny County Sportsmen's League Legislative Committee Report

Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League Legislative Committee Report March 2010 Issue 185 ALLEGHENY COUNTY SPORTSMEN LEAGUE ON THE INTERNET http://www.acslpa.org Contacts : Legislative Committee Chairman , Kim Stolfer (412.221.3346) - [email protected] Legislative Committee Vice-Chairman, Mike Christeson - [email protected] Founding Fathers: "It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It [the Constitution] was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect." -- Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on a National Bank, 1791 Harrisburg 5 th Annual Gun member and let them know that he/she needs to listen to the Rights Rally Set needs of their constituents. The preferred dress is business The Fifth Annual 2 nd Amendment Rally date has been set casual. If you don't own a suit or sports coat, try to borrow one for 10 AM on April 27, 2010 in Harrisburg, Pa. Once again we and dress appropriately. Our appearance is a key factor in ask for your help and participation in this event . We will use credibility. Once you see how the team leaders present the this event as a springboard to pass vital pro gun legislation that issues to their Legislators, you may want to again pay a visit to will affect how FFL’s conduct business and your ‘right to bear your Senator or Legislator at their district offices at a later date arms’ throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It to follow up on the issues discussed in Harrisburg. cannot be repeated often enough that the more interest shown at It is important to point out that each person attending these kinds of events, the more our elected officials will notice will need to pre-register on the rally website our presence and the more impact our efforts will have (www.2ARally.com ) and be present if you want a chance to throughout the day. win the prize, which is a Smith and Wesson M&P 15-22. If you Our past four rally’s have highlighted needed changes in haven't pre-registered on the website, plan to show up a little Pennsylvania Firearms laws resulting in improvements and earlier so that we don't experience a last minute rush. This gun protections being enacted into law such as ‘prohibiting the can be seen at www.2Arally.com along with the downloadable confiscation of firearms in an emergency’ and protecting the event flyer, details of the event, maps to the Capital Building, rights of hunters to carry a self defense firearm with them when plus some of the bills we deem to be important issues in the in the field and eliminating the gun ban when riding a Commonwealth. Also included are some of the guest speakers snowmobile and numerous other needed changes. With YOUR invited. If you plan to arrive armed, try to be there by at least 9 help we can begin to raise the awareness of other problems AM to check in your firearm at the door (rear entrance of (political minefields) that exist and encourage changes that the Capitol building by fountain). ‘people’ want and deserve. After all being the 10 th most restrictive state in the country on firearms (according to the Pennsylvania Preemption Law Brady Campaign) certainly hasn’t stopped criminals and cop killers! Violations Continue: After the rally , team leaders will break the attendees up into groups and visit every State House member and State When Will The Legislature and the Senator in the State Capitol to ask for their support for bills Courts Step In??? such as HB 40 (Castle Doctrine), HB 750 (Transportation of Radnor Township Considers Mandatory Reporting of Lost or Firearms), HB 1541 (Penalties for Municipalities that enact Stolen Firearms Ordinance local gun laws), and SB 842 (Castle Doctrine companion to HB On February 8 the Radnor Township 40) plus several other bills. Everyone that pre-registers will be informed of the team (organized by county of residence) they commissioners conducted an open meeting to listen are on ahead of time by e-mail. We need your help to pack the to arguments for and against enacting an ordinance halls of the State Capitol Building to make this a successful requiring the mandatory reporting of lost or stolen event! After we visit all of the Legislators in teams, we suggest firearms. As it has in the past cease-fire PA utilized that you focus your attention on ‘your’ Senator and House local political contacts to pressure the local elected Page 2 officials (otherwise known as strong-arm tactics) into one of four individual plaintiffs in the case. The National considering this legislation. Rifle Association successfully petitioned the high court Of course this group is not one to let the truth for time to join the oral arguments, even though its case, stand in its way and this meeting was no exception to NRA v. Chicago, was not accepted for review by the that rule. Openly manipulating the facts such as how court. The Washington state court's ruling is not binding on many prosecutions were conducted by the other states, and essentially has no weight of law outside municipalities with these ordinances in place and the Evergreen State, and perhaps little inside of it, but it numerous other falsehoods were prevalent does signal where the state high court might come down throughout much of the testimony of the other cease- on other gun rights questions, such as Seattle's challenge fire PA officials. of state preemption. That challenge was derailed last Local gunowners presented a strong defense and month when a King County Superior Court judge ruled factually challenged every contention of the anti-gun that Seattle's ban on guns in city parks was illegal under organization but, as it has been shown in the past, the the state's preemption law, as reported in the last issue of backroom political deals continued to dominate in Gun Week. these situations further justifying the reasoning Five other justices, including Chief Justice Barbara behind a statewide preemption Law. If only this law Madsen, joined Sanders in the majority ruling. Justice James Johnson wrote a concurring and dissenting actually had some teeth in it?! Perhaps the answer is opinion, which supported the incorporation notion, but to be found in House Bill 1541 that has been criticized the majority for not determining that strict introduced by Rep. Daryl Metcalfe. scrutiny applies to the constitutional right to keep and This particular hearing resulted in enough bear arms questions. questions being raised by those in opposition to this The case involves a teenager who was riding in a car ordinance that a vote was postponed for two weeks that was stopped by a Kitsap County sheriff's deputy in so that answers could be obtained from the solicitor. April 2007. Christopher Sieyes was a passenger and he While this may just have delayed the inevitable it is was observed by Deputy Jon Vangesen making a "furtive clear to the casual observer that the fight was worth it movement" which may have been the teen's attempt to and it did draw out the officials from cease-fire PA hide a .380-caliber Bersa semi-automatic pistol under the and showed them to be unscrupulous in their passenger seat. That's where the lawman found the gun, after which he placed Sieyes under arrest. presentation and despicable for their ignorance of the Sieyes was found guilty in October 2007 of second law. degree illegal possession of a firearm under a state statute because he had constrictive possession of the WA high court says 2A applies to gun. The teen appealed, arguing that his conviction was based on insufficient evidence and that it had not states been proven that his possession of the gun was "know- by Dave Workman, Senior Editor ing." He also contended that the state prohibition on In a stunning decision that held the rights of a 17year- firearms possession by a minor violated his constitu- old are not violated by a state gun regulation tional right to bear arms, and that the state should have preventing minors from possessing handguns, the proven that statutory exceptions to the gun law that Washington state Supreme Court ruled that "the allow possession by minors did not apply to him. Second Amendment applies to the states via the In July 2008, the State Court of Appeals requested a Fourteenth Amendment due process clause." supplemental briefing on the constitutionality of the The majority opinion, written by Justice Richard B. statute because of the recent Heller ruling that affirms Sanders and issued in mid-February, acknowledges that it the Second Amendment protects an individual right to does not wait for a US Supreme Court ruling on keep and bear arms. incorporation. The highest US court is taking up that In handing down its ruling, Washington's high court issue right now in McDonald v. Chicago, for which oral majority avoided setting a standard of review, which arguments were scheduled for Mar. 2, the day after this irritated Johnson, who wrote in his separate opinion, "In issue went to press. declining to apply strict scrutiny and instead `look[ing] The McDonald case was filed by the Second Amend- to the Second Amendment's original meaning, the ment Foundation, Illinois State Rifle Association and is traditional understanding of the right, and the burden named for Otis McDonald, who is a Chicago resident and imposed on children by upholding the statute,' the Page 3 majority disregards our long-standing national tradition policy knowing that it would violate the Colorado state allowing younger citizens to bear arms and the level of firearm preemption law and the Colorado Uniform protection that we customarily accord to fundamental Shall-Issue Concealed Carry Law.

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