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Welcome To The Allegheny County Sportsmen's League Voice of 200,000 Sportsmen
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Site Contents Conservation Committee Reports PA Proposed Firearm Legislation 2007-2008 Firearms & Hunting Legislation Court Rulings U.S. Supreme and U.S. Circuit Court Rulings Pennsylvania Commonwealth and Superior Court Rulings Pennsylvania County Common Pleas Court Decisions Order of the Court-Pittsburgh Computerized Gun Registration Court Victory Full Text of Law Reviews on 2nd Amendment Information On Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission ATF's Version of Pennsylvania's Firearms Laws State Laws and Published Ordinances - Firearms 22nd Edition Pennsylvania Electronic Bill Room Library of Congress
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Pittsburgh City Council Passes ‘Illegal’ Gun Ordinance-Legal Action Unavoidable
Pittsburgh City Council has passed an ordinance – Mandatory Reporting of Lost or Stolen Firearms - that is in direct conflict with PA Crimes Code (statewide preemption law—Title Section 6120). The City legislators have been trying to help Cease Fire PA and anti-gun state representative Dave Levdansky pass this measure in the state house without success this past spring. Now the council members have acted in flagrant disregard of the law, the home rule charter, prior court orders and even the advice of their own solicitors in enacting ‘Mandatory Reporting of Lost or Stolen Firearms’ as a city ordinance with only one ‘no’ vote-Councilman Burgess. Prior to the enactment of this ordinance the City Council held a ‘post-agenda’ hearing where the ACSL participated and gave testimony and stood for questioning by council members. During the course of this hearing it became clear that ‘NO’ amount of logic or reason would dissuade Councilmen Shields or Peduto from prostrating public policy at the feet of Cease Fire PA and their willingness to commit criminal acts in pursuit of this agenda. It is also a fact that criminals who misuse firearms in this state do not fear being prosecuted for violations of the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act because they know that that is the first thing that will be plea-bargained away. Of course City Council is, apparently, unconcerned with those problems or in going after career violent criminals and that is exactly what the vote on this ordinance demonstrated—political demagoguery. As part of my testimony at the post-agenda meeting I mentioned the Boston Gun Project and the success that they had in stopping youth firearms homicides for 29 months. Councilman Burgess stated for the benefit of the media that Council was doing everything in its power and ‘turning over every stone’ to stop the killings. Yet nothing has been done in the last decade to bring to Pittsburgh, until very recently, this kind of a project. My question to all of council is ‘why’?? If Councilman Shields, as well as the rest of council, were truly concerned about gun violence then success stories like Boston should have been fast tracked into action! In addition the City of Pittsburgh has twice before ignored state law, subsequently successfully sued by the ACSL and then told by Common Pleas Court (Judge James) to ‘abide by state law’ and ordered to, in effect, cease and desist. These issues involved Council’s enactment of an Assault Weapon Ban and, later, their active participation with Janet Reno’s U.S. Justice Department to register and track ‘every’ gun owner in western PA in a sophisticated computer database. In a rude and disrespectful display of political arrogance, Councilman Burgess sent a letter to Kim Stolfer (Chairman of the ACSL Legislative Committee) explaining that he recognized the ‘illegality’ of the proposed ordinance and would have voted for it if he could. Instead of stopping there, Councilman Burgess went on to ‘challenge’ Kim Stolfer to a public debate on handguns and then scoffed at the likelihood of our participating in this debate. The letter from Burgess was distributed to local media on Thursday and Kim Stolfer did NOT receive his copy until Friday morning after the media contacted him numerous times. Interestingly, the written reply to Burgess to accept his challenge as well as rebut his unfounded and insulting points resulted in the Tribune Review following up with story on the merits of our accusations and positions. You can read more at this link -- http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_602272.html As of this writing, Councilman Burgess and Kim Stolfer will be squaring off on the Kevin Miller show on KDKA radio (1020-AM) on December 19th at 2p.m. The debate will be a lively one to be sure! The fact of the matter is that barring a selfless and ethical act on the part of the Allegheny County DA (Zappala) arresting and incarcerating ‘all’ of the council members who voted for this, the City of Pittsburgh is facing a guaranteed legal action against their actions.
Obama's AG pick Holder has long anti-gun history by Dave Workman, Senior Editor Eric Holder, the man chosen by president-elect Barack Obama to be the next attorney general of the United States, has an anti-gun track record that has gun rights activists alarmed, not only about the man, but about the signals that Obama is sending about how his administration will actually deal with gun rights. Within hours after Holder's nomination was announced, activist Internet forums were busily discussing his background, with ample documentation. Prominent among those was the transcript of Holder's weekly briefing on March 20, 2000, when he was deputy attorney general under Janet Reno during the Clinton Administration. At that time, he went on record urging Congress to pass legislation requiring handgun licensing and "safety certification" for all handgun buyers, and a federal law mandating trigger locks on all handguns that are sold. He also pushed for adoption of "smart gun" legislation that would explore technology ultimately resulting in the development of firearms that could only be used by a single individual. Before that, he had lobbied Congress to pass federal legislation requiring background checks on all gun show transactions, even between private parties. Holder was one of several people who signed an amicus brief in the Heller case that supported the Washington, DC, handgun ban and also argued that the Second Amendment did not affirm an individual civil right. Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, said Holder's nomination to become this nation's chief law enforcement officer "tells American gunowners that Obama's campaign claims supporting the Second Amendment were empty rhetoric." "America's 85 million gun owners have ample reason to be pessimistic about how their civil rights will fare under the Obama administration," Gottlieb said. "Mr. Obama will have a Congress with an anti-gun Democrat majority leadership to push his gun control agenda. Gunowners have not forgotten Mr. Obama's acknowledged opposition to concealed carry rights, nor his support for a ban on handgun ownership when he was running for the Illinois state senate." Gottlieb told Gun Week that it is no small wonder there was a rush on gun shops all over the country immediately after the election. With Holder, he indicated, there is a concern that the Justice Department might be lethargic about protecting the rights of gunowners. He also said that Holder's addition to the Obama team is another signal about the direction that the new administration is going to tilt when it comes to gun rights versus gun control. "Barack Mama vigorously portrayed himself on the campaign trail as a man who supports gun ownership," Gottlieb said, "but now that he has won he is surrounding himself with people who are avowed gun prohibitionists.” The New GUN WEEK, December 15, 2008
Pennsylvania woman plans suit stemming from open carry issue Meleanie Hain's attorney says the Lebanon, PA, woman has endured the ridicule of neighbors and lost baby- sitting jobs since she achieved notoriety for openly, and legally, carrying a gun to her 5-year-old daughter's soccer game, according to The Patriot-News of Harrisburg. And it's Sheriff Michael DeLeo's fault, according to a malicious-prosecution lawsuit that civil rights attorney Matthew Weisberg said he planned to file on Nov. 24. "The sheriff should have known Meleanie had the right to openly carry," the Philadelphia-area attorney said. Since DeLeo tried to take away her permit to carry a concealed weapon, "she has become a pariah in her small. community," Weisberg said in the newspaper's report. Hain achieved national attention after she took a gun, holstered on her hip, to a soccer game Sept. 11 at Optimist Park in Lebanon. After some other parents complained, DeLeo revoked her concealed weapons permit, saying she showed poor judgment. Lebanon County Judge Robert J. Eby reversed the sheriff's decision on appeal during a court hearing attended by about 60 gun rights activists. Eby also lectured Hain, telling her that what is legal is not necessarily right. He asked her to conceal her gun if she carried it to soccer games. But Hain said after the hearing that she planned to continue carrying it openly since it is her right under the Second Amendment. Weisberg said the parents who sent their children to her in-home baby- sitting service knew she openly carried a gun, but didn't care until after the sheriff revoked her license. "She lost those jobs because of the negativity surrounding her prosecution," he said. Weisberg said the lawsuit
will seek George Christiansen, attorney for the Lebanon County Sheriff's Department, acknowledged he has received a letter from Weisberg about the intention to sue, and he has turned it over to the county's insurance company. "I don't know the legal basis for the lawsuit," Christiansen said. "Mike DeLeo exercised what the state statute put upon him regarding the issuance of permits. I'm convinced it was a valid judgment call. Everybody can sue anybody for anything." DeLeo revoked Hain's permit under the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act, which gives sheriffs the right to deny permits to anyone "whose character and reputation is such that the individual would be likely to act in a dangerous manner to public safety." "I just did my job," DeLeo told the newspaper. "The courts have ruled, and we respect that ruling." The New GUN WEEK, December 15, 2008
Local communities challenge the enforcement of Pennsylvania law In what appears to be a coordinated effort a number of local communities are feeding off the anti-gun antics of the Philadelphia city Council and Mayor by introducing their own legislation mandating the reporting of lost or stolen firearms. This is being done in the shadow of the decision by Commonwealth court that there is no authority for any community to make these decisions. The fact that they are prohibited from enacting these ordinances by Pennsylvania title 18 crimes code subsection 6120 but also the home rule charter seems to fall on deaf ears even though each community retains their own solicitor who was supposed to advise them on the legality of their efforts. These efforts appear to be headed for a showdown in the Supreme Court and more will be coming out in the near future about additional efforts to confront these clearly illegal policies.
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Upcoming Events
ACSL Awards Banquet
April 4, 2009
Harmar House
Details Later
Allegheny Sport, Travel & Outdoor Show February 18 - 22, 2009 David Lawrence Convention Center 1000 Fort Duquesne Boulevard Pittsburgh, PA 15222 For more information: http://sportandtravel.com/pittsburgh/
Important Information
Legislative Committee Forum
Help US help YOU and YOUR fellow gun owners by clicking this link: ACSL Problem Reporting & Documentation Procedure (Your information will be handled in complete compliance with the choices you make at this page)
Consumers Cautioned About Heating Fuel Contracts; Consumers Urged to Report Problems
Attorney General Tom Corbett is cautioning Pennsylvania consumers to carefully review their options concerning any long-term heating fuel contracts they may have authorized.
"With the unusual swings in heating oil prices that we have seen over the past year, a growing number of consumers are questioning their long-term fuel delivery contracts," Corbett said. "It is important for consumers to understand the options and limitations of various contracts, and to report problems involving deceptive or misleading practices to the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection."
Corbett said that consumers who are concerned about the price they are paying for heating fuel should carefully review the details of any delivery contract they have signed.
Some contracts call for the delivery of a certain number of gallons of fuel, for a fixed price, which was set when the contract was signed. Other contracts set a maximum price that consumers will be charged for each gallon of fuel, but allow prices to adjust downward if the current price is lower. A third type of contract does not limit the price for fuel, but simply extends winter fuel bills over a 12-month period, allowing consumers to budget a fixed payment every month.
Corbett said that if the current price for heating fuel is lower than the price in your contract, consumers should carefully review the terms of their agreement to see if the price can be adjusted downward. Consumers may also want to contact their heating oil supplier to see if their contract can be re-negotiated.
Consumers who are having difficulties with fuel companies honoring delivery contracts, disputes over delivery prices and concerns about misleading or deceptive price advertising, should contact the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Hotline at 1-800-441-2555 or file an online consumer complaint at www.attorneygeneral.gov. Source: PA DEP
Making Homes Energy Efficient Before High Heating Bills Hit With the cost of heating homes expected to hit record levels this winter, the Department of Environmental Protection is urging residents to make their homes as energy efficient as possible before the heating season begins.
More tips for energy conservation are available at www.depweb.state.pa.us, keyword: Energy, then click on “Pollution Prevention/Energy Efficiency.” Information is also available at www.StayWarmPA.com, including conservation tips and resources for getting financial assistance with utility bills and home weatherization. On Sept. 11, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission kicked off its annual “Prepare Now” campaign to increase consumer awareness on rising energy prices, explore ways to reduce energy usage, educate consumers about the availability of low-income programs, increase awareness for safe home heating, and discuss potential policies and strategies. Visit www.puc.state.pa.us, and click on “Prepare Now” or call the PUC at 1-800-692-7380. Source: PA DEP
Environmental Quality Board Approves New Marcellus Shale Drilling Fees To Cover Increased Inspection, Permitting Costs The Environmental Quality Board approved a Department of Environmental Protection request today to impose new fees for Marcellus Shale drilling permits that will replace the flat $100 permit fee with a variable fee structure based on well depth.
Reducing groundlevel ozone would benefit people with respiratory problems and help the state meet federal air quality standards.
For more information, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us, keyword: Public Participation. Source: PA DEP
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The next regularly scheduled meeting of the ACSL will be held at 7:30 PM
January 8, 2009
ALLEGHENY COUNTY COURTHOUSE
GOLD ROOM
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