WPXI TV News - Westmoreland, PA Ready To Allow Open Carry Of Guns In Parks

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http://www.wpxi.com/news/23164305/detail.html

SNIP


Westmoreland County Ready To Allow Open Carry Of Guns In Parks



Posted: 4:39 pm EDT April 15, 2010Updated: 5:54 pm EDT April 15, 2010
GREENSBURG, Pa. -- [/b]Westmoreland County commissioners are ready to allow people to carry guns openly in county parks.

The Westmoreland County solicitor believes an ordinance, enacted in 1974, must be updated to reflect state law allowing guns in public places including parks.

“Now we've got to change the ordinance of the parks to agree with the law of the land and people are going to be permitted to carry guns openly in the park,” Director of Public Works Claude Petroy said.

“We have to comply with the law,” he said. “We cannot change it. We can’t walk up to somebody and say, ‘You're not allowed to carry that gun here.’”

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Thanks Mike,



For everyone Else, there is an Open Carry Meet-n-Greet to be held next Saturday 04/24/2010 at Twin Lakes Park. more info can be found here.



http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/forum46/39293.html



Thanks

Chris Smith

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Heading to the court house now, the Vote is at 1000 Hours.

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Was in Bradys run park Sat 17 wanted to OC I didn't know the law called the park info center to find out guess what ? They didn't know either so they said go ahead but that the sheriff's dept was out because it was the open of fishing season. Was there for 2 hrs had no problem.:lol::celebrate

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Link to the Trib Live Article for today:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_677752.html

Westmoreland County Commissioners voted yesterday to change an ordinance to allow guns in all county parks.

Commissioners Tom Balya and Tom Ceraso, both Democrats, said they had no choice but to amend the county's 1974 parks ordinance so it concurs with state law that allows firearms in public places, including parks.

"We would be foolish to try to keep an ordinance on the books that would not pass muster in court," Balya said yesterday after a handful of county residents both for and against the proposed ordinance change addressed the commissioners.

Republican Commissioner Charles Anderson did not attend yesterday's meeting and did not cast a vote.

The change approved removes wording from the original ordinance, which was amended in 1995, that banned firearms from specific areas of county parks. The revised law now carries no prohibitions of guns, but bans the discharge of firearms outside of designated hunting areas.

The county allows hunting in six parks: Mammoth, Twin Lakes, Cedar Creek, Northmoreland, Bridgeport Dam and Chestnut Ridge.

Gun opponents asked commissioners to table the proposal.

Marian Elizabeth Mientus of Norvelt told commissioners she will no longer take her goddaughter to the park because of the revised gun ordinance.

"I don't want anyone to fear for their children's safety in the recreation areas of the county parks. Why do we need more guns in our parks where we take our children to play? What is more important than our children's safety?" Mientus said.

Ann Moser of Ligonier told commissioners that allowing guns in the parks would encourage more dangerous activity and that she, too, feared for her children's safety as a result of the change.

"This ordinance is about white, angry men who enjoy looking menacing," Moser said.

Proponents of the ordinance change said it was needed to bring Westmoreland County into compliance with state law. For decades, the Westmoreland County park police have virtually ignored the prohibition on guns in the parks and issued no citations to anyone with a firearm.

Chris Smith of Penn Township lobbied commissioners to pass the change. Smith is holding a rally in favor of the Second Amendment this weekend at Twin Lakes Park and said he began researching the gun issue to ensure those attending could legally take their firearms into the park during the event.

"This gun rights issue was never a rally about gun rights. It was about the county adhering to state law," Smith said.

Commissioners said the revised ordinance will have little or no effect on park visitors.

"We could not have enforced an ordinance that was unlawful in our commonwealth," Ceraso said.