Open carriers attend Scranton City Council meeting; anti-gun ordinance fails to pass

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http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/news/1.295434

Scranton City Council tables legislation on lost and stolen guns
Published: September 30, 2009


Butch Comegys / Staff Photographer Handgun owners Ralph Metzgar, left, of Ransom Twp., and Matt Chamberlain of Clarks Summit watch during Tuesday night's Scranton City Council meeting.


BY JEREMY G. BURTON

Gun-rights advocates from across the region - many openly carrying holstered handguns - crowded into City Hall on Tuesday to protest a proposal that would require lost or stolen firearms to be reported to police within 48 hours.


This is an excerpt. Click on the link above for the full story.

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Good job Scranton open carriers, it is about time that a Municipal Corporation in Pennsylvania complied with State-wide Preemption Law.

From what I understand, no City, County, etc., can enforce anything any different than State-wide Preemption concerning Firearms about any Firearm topic anywhere in Pennsylvania.

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Wait so they were proposing to fine gun owners who had their guns stolen?

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Yes they were, The City Alderman in Scranton were out of control.

Reluctantly, The city of Scranton, under the advice of their attorney, woke up and came to their senses realizing that they could not trump State-wide Preemption.

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Ian wrote:

Wait so they were proposing to fine gun owners who had their guns stolen?

Click to expand...

I couldn't find the actual text of the proposed change on the Scranton City Council web page, but usually these kinds of bills impose a fine or penalty if the gun owner does not report the theft or loss within the allotted time, in this case 48 hours.

I don't believe it's an automatic fine if your gun is stolen. If that's incorrect, then this proposed change is even more ridiculous than it appears.

The theory is that if a gun is recovered at a crime scene, and it is traced back to the last owner of record, this law will prevent that owner from claiming the gun was stolen at some point in the past, so therefore it could not have been them who was involved in the crime. Of course, if you are going to commit a serious crime with a gun, the penalty for "forgetting" to report your stolen gun is nothing compared to the actual crime, so, yet once again, a gun-control law that only affects the law-abiding citizens, and not the criminals.

TFred

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As one of the people there, I can say for sure that it was not defeated. Yet. It was tabled for later. They postponed it until it is found out what the state's Supreme Court rules on it.

This is also on PAFOA: http://forum.pafoa.org/lackawanna-4...ance-city-hall-9-29-please-attend-oppose.html

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i wish i could've been there. thanks to everyone who could make it.