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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 10, 2012 10:36 AM |
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| From: | Representative Daryl D. Metcalfe |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Regulation of Firearms and Ammunition |
| Commonwealth law already provides, in most circumstances, for preemption of local firearm laws. Section 6120 of the Crimes Code specifically prohibits local regulation of the ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms, ammunition or ammunition components in conflict with statewide law. This section implements the statewide constitutional right recognized by Article I, Section 21 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which reads as follows: “The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned.” Despite these clear constitutional and statutory limitations, some of our local officials have gone out of their way to enact piecemeal local restrictions regarding the ownership and possession of firearms. The end result is that citizens are forced to incur significant expenses to hire attorneys to challenge these illegal and unconstitutional ordinances. In the near future, I plan to re-introduce legislation to clarify that any party who successfully challenges one of these illegal local firearm ordinances will be entitled to reimbursement from the offending jurisdiction for:
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Introduced as HB805