With December already upon us, there are only a few more days remaining in the 2017 legislative session and neither Senate Bill 5 nor House Bill 671 have made it to the Governor’s desk. As reported earlier in the year, local governments such as in Harrisburg, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia continue to violate the current preemption law and your town could be next.
SB5 previously passed the state Senate with a 34-16 vote while HB671 passed the state House with a 134-53 vote. Each bill is currently sitting in the Judiciary Committee of the opposite chamber. Please contact your state Senator and state Representative and urge them to SUPPORT these two bills! Click the “Take Action” button below to contact them.
State firearms preemption was enacted by the Pennsylvania Legislature over three decades ago to avoid the possibility of a complex patchwork of regulations across the state making it difficult for responsible firearm owners to ensure that they are following the law. However, in defiance of current law, local governments continue to debate gun control ordinances.
Citizens with no criminal intent should not be placed in jeopardy of running afoul of local restrictions they don`t even know exist simply because they have crossed from one municipality to another. Gun owners continue to be unduly burdened by local ordinances which violate the current state firearm preemption law.
Both HB671 and SB5 would correct this problem by ensuring laws regarding firearms and ammunition are uniform across the state. It is imperative that one of these bills passes this year to ensure that gun owners and sportsmen are able to exercise their rights equally across the Commonwealth.
Again, please contact your state Representative and state Senator and urge them to pass this legislation. In addition, please call your state legislators at their Harrisburg offices. You may you’re your legislators here. Stay tuned to www.nraila.org and your email inbox for further updates.