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Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20150&cosponId=15400
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: December 1, 2014 12:36 PM
From: Senator Anthony H. Williams
To: All Senate members
Subject: Registration of Firearms
 
In the near future, I will be reintroducing SB 815 to address public safety and gun ownership accountability through registration of firearms in the Commonwealth. Currently, the Uniform Firearms Act, 18 Pa.C.S. Ch. 61 Subch. A, does not require registration of all firearms.

A registration law would provide for responsible ownership of firearms because it would make essential information available to law enforcement for purposes of tracing crime, as well as reduce illegal firearms sales by creating owner accountability. Studies demonstrate that the increased information derived from a registration system helps law enforcement to speed the tracing of guns used in crime and aids police in identifying the types of firearms to which an individual may have access. Moreover, in 2001, the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research released a study examining the relationship between the presence of state licensing and registration laws and the source of state crime guns, by analyzing firearms tracing data of crime guns recovered in 25 U.S. cities. This study concluded that states with some form of both registration and licensing have greater success in keeping firearms initially sold by dealers in-state from being recovered in crimes than those states without such laws in place. More specifically, in U.S. cities located in states with both licensing and registration laws, 33.7% of guns recovered from crimes were originally purchased from in-state dealers. Alarmingly, in cities located in states with only licensing or registration laws, 72.7% of guns recovered from crimes were originally purchased in-state. Not surprisingly, in cities located within states with neither registration nor licensing laws in place, that recovery rate jumped to 84.2%.

Presently, firearms dealers must provide records of handgun sales and certain other firearms to the Firearms Division of the PA State Police (“PSP”). PSP maintains a permanent database of handgun sales only, and retains no record of long gun sales. In fact, the Uniform Firearms Act explicitly prohibits any law enforcement or government agency from creating or maintaining a registry of gun ownership. In its 2004 decision confirming that the PSP’s existing record of only handgun sales does not constitute a registry of firearms, the PA Supreme Court recognized the weaknesses of such a record: “[T]he database does not maintain a record of all firearms owned by Pennsylvanians, which would include long guns, or firearms that are owned by Pennsylvanians, but not purchased in the Commonwealth. Additionally, the database of handgun sales does not include handguns that are transferred between spouses, parents and children, and grandparents and grandchildren. See 18 Pa.C.S. §6111(c). Nor is the database a survey of existing ownership.” Allegheny County Sportsmens’ League v. Rendell, 860 A.2d 10 (Pa. 2004). A registry of firearm ownership would finally account for such transfers and firearms purchased out-of-state and carried into the Commonwealth, while providing law enforcement with important tracing information to combat crime.

Previous co-sponsors of this legislation include Senators FARNESE, FONTANA, TARTAGLIONE and HUGHES. If you have any questions regarding this legislation, please contact my office at 717-787-5970. Thank you for your consideration.



Introduced as SB445