Exposed Loopholes In PA Gun Law
What are local lawmakers doing to fix the problem?
A loophole in Pennsylvania law is letting people carry guns legally even though they were denied a local permit. Now, these guns are turning up at Philly crime scenes and the suspects are carrying Florida permits.
Fox 29’s Dave Schratwieser first reported on this dangerous trend about one year ago.
Today, he reports on the efforts to shut down this gun permit pipeline. State Representative Bryan Lentz has introduced a bill that would prohibit Pennsylvania residents from carrying a gun using an out-of-state permit if they have been denied a license to carry in PA.
Dave also spoke to Deputy Commissioner Bill Blackburn with the Philadelphia Police.
The Deputy Commissioner says there are 2500 people who live in Philadelphia with permits to carry a gun in Florida. This is due to the “Firearms Reciprocity Agreement” requiring the state to honor gun permits from over 30 other states. He adds, “What they simply do is circumvent the system - they go online and apply for a gun permit in another state.” This becomes a problem because in the majority of cases, these same applicants were denied a permit in Pennsylvania.
Dave also spoke to the owner of a local gun shop. Basically, the owner thinks that applicants are denied based on “bogus reasons” and the city should bring the local permit requirements in line with other states.
Representative Lentz’s bill to close this loophole is making it’s way though legislation.