NEWS PRO SECOND AMENDMENT LAWMAKERS WANT TO LET YOU CARRY A GUN DURING AN EMERGENCY BY STEPHEN CARUSO - FOR THE PITTSBURGH CURRENT
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A
s Pennsylvanians have taken to the Capitol steps in recent months to protest their government, some decided to take a shotgun or assault rifle along for the ride. But many of those demonstrators may have been breaking a rarely enforced state law that bans openly carrying firearms during an official disaster declaration. That potential collision of the right to bear arms and the state’s police power was eliminated by a bill that passed the state House in late June. Legal observers say the law, as written, is on solid constitutional ground, but their opponents strenuously disagree. Gov. Tom Wolf has declared two states of emergencies in the past months — the ongoing statewide COVID-19 emergency declaration, as well as a temporary declaration because of Black Lives Matter protests in some of the Commonwealth’s cities, such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Under Pennsylvania’s Uniform Firearms Act, during such an emergency, “no person shall carry a firearm upon the public streets or upon any public property” during a state of emergency. There are two exceptions,
one for an individual is “actively engaged in a defense of that person’s life or property from peril or threat” or if they have a firearm license, such as a concealed carry permit. A bill sponsored by Rep. Matt Dowling, R-Fayette, would remove these provisions from law. The legislation passed the House on
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127-74 on June 24 and is now in the Senate. All but two of the House’s 109 Republicans, and 21 of 93 Democrats, supported it. “Unfortunately, in the last few months, we’ve seen how easy it is for one person to choose to declare a state of emergency,” Dowling said in a statement. He added that it’s critical gun rights “remain
in place, even if the governor announces an emergency declaration.” The bill also makes one other related change. Under the state’s emergency code, the governor can “suspend or limit the sale, dispensing or transportation of alcoholic beverages, firearms, explosives and combustibles”
