This specific Castle Doctrine bill will ensure that law abiding residents don’t have to retreat in their own homes before defending themselves from criminal attack. It also protects citizens from the expense of fighting civil lawsuits filed by criminals or their families when self-defense was justified. Here are key provisions of HB40:

• The bill eliminates the duty to retreat within one’s home, including attached structures like porches, decks and patios. There is an exception for people who are using their property to further a criminal activity. The provision also applies to vehicles, including non-motorized vehicles.
• The bill also eliminates the duty to retreat on the streets provided one is in fear of grave bodily injury or harm, and provided they are not engaged in criminal activity.
• It provides civil immunity for actions that are ruled self-defense. If the perpetrator sues anyway, it’s a loser pays system, so you can recover attorneys fees.
• HB40 clarifies the definition of loaded firearm to include magazines being secured in a separate pouch, rather than specifying a separate container, provided the magazine is secure, and the ammunition covered.

Contact the members of the House Judiciary Committee today. Based on the response to Castle Doctrine in other states, we know that gun control groups will get involved in this fight, making it seem as if we will have gun fights on every street corner. As we know, such dire predictions have yet to come true. Make sure you voice is heard! Call, e-mail, tweet, or even leave a note on their Facebook walls – just make sure your voice is heard!

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Castle Doctrine to be Heard in PA House

Pro-gun groups at every level have taken on this battle to educate mayors and reduce Bloomberg’s political force in the states.  At PAFOA, our efforts have focused on a quiet education strategy.  However, for those mayors who have so far refused to resign from the group, it is now time to turn up the grassroots pressure that has successfully convinced others to leave.

After a thorough analysis of the Pennsylvania coalition of mayors working with Bloomberg was posted by NRA Election Volunteer Coordinators in mid-August, we worked together to create a strategy to convince MAIG mayors to resign their membership in the organization.

View Bloomberg’s Anti-Gun Mayors in Pennsylvania on a map.

Looking at the map, we conducted detailed research into each of the towns and picked 15 starter cities based on the likely impact of PAFOA residents. Each PAFOA member who received an email this morning lives in a city where, if gun owners work together, they can make a difference for the Second Amendment.

In August, I sent each of the targeted mayors a letter in hopes that a simple explanation of the actions by Mayor Bloomberg in their name would inspire each of them to resign from the organization. In early September, NRA sent their members in key cities postcards calling for grassroots opposition to the members of MAIG. The response to these mailings has been tremendous. Of the original 15 mayors targeted by PAFOA, only two have resigned. Of the mayors NRA targeted in Pennsylvania, 15 have given up their membership. Here are the mayors who have parted ways with Mayor Bloomberg since that time:

• Akron Mayor John McBeth
• Beech Creek Mayor David E. Orr
• Bowmanstown Mayor Keith G. Billig
• Brackenridge Mayor Jeffrey Cowan
• East Berlin Mayor Keith Hoffman
• Gettysburg Mayor William Troxell
• Harmony Mayor Cathryn H. Rape
• Midway Mayor Karen Bartosh
• Mount Penn Mayor Josh Nowotarski
• North Irwin Mayor Leonard L. Santimyer
• Slatington Mayor Walter Niedermeyer
• Summit Hill Mayor Paul R. McArdle
• Tower City Mayor Dale Deiter
• Ulysses Mayor Jane Haskins
• West Reading Mayor Shane Keller

Before this push began, former Williamsport Mayor Mary Wolf told Bloomberg in her resignation letter, “I have learned that the coalition may be working on issues which conflict with legal gun ownership, and that some actions on your behalf are dubious.” Since her defection in 2007, the condemnation by mayors who felt duped has grown louder. Keith Hoffman of East Berlin said, “They swindle you in and then put your name on the list.”

Many mayors around the country are now beginning to report that they knew nothing about joining the group and never recall signing any pledges to support Mayor Bloomberg’s anti-gun policies. Mayors from South Dakota, Texas, and Florida have publicly confirmed that Mike Bloomberg never sought their permission when signing their names to advertisements condemning concealed carry legislation.

In Pennsylvania, the imperative the encourage mayors to leave Bloomberg’s coalition is clear. In addition to Bloomberg’s attacks on concealed carry reform at the federal level a disturbing trend has emerged in the state level battles. Each of the cities to pass local gun control ordinances in challenges to the state preemption laws is lead by members of MAIG. Pittsburgh’s mayor, a longtime supporter of MAIG, has recently tried to breath life into a gun ban that the state Supreme Court previously struck down as illegal. Philadelphia’s Mayor Nutter has been an outspoken supporter of MAIG’s policies, and we don’t need to remind you of all of the gun control attempts the city has made under his watch.

If you received an email from PAFOA this morning asking you to call your mayor, please act soon. There is an opportunity to make a tangible difference in your local community, cut the reach of Michael Bloomberg’s gun control campaign, and stop the spread of anti-gun legislation here in Pennsylvania. The presence of that call to action in your inbox means we’ve crunched the numbers, and we believe you can make a difference for the Second Amendment.

If you did not receive an email, please confirm that we have your town or zip code on file. This information is what we use to analyze whether enough PAFOA members are likely to make a difference in the local battles. If you do have correct location information in your profile, keep an eye out for future calls to action.

Targeting Pennsylvania’s Mayors Against Guns

When PAFOA was created, it was designed around a community model with the goal of allowing people to help people without requiring that someone be at the top involved in everything. Looking back over the last 3 years I am happy to say that Pennsylvania gun owners have taken that model and run with it, accomplishing more together than any one of us could ever do alone.

You have been instrumental in tanking gun-control legislation proposed by those who would strip us of our freedoms in the state legislature, you have helped friends and neighbors stand up for their rights, and you have strengthened my belief in the future of the right to keep and bear arms in Pennsylvania and the United States.

We still have a lot of work to do and our job will never end, but thank you all for your support and your involvement,

Daniel Pehrson, Founder & President, Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association

PAFOA Forum Breaks 20,000 Registered Users

This ruling sets us up very nicely for a future court battle on all these Lost and Stolen ordinances, provided the Supreme Court is unwilling to revisit Ortiz, which I suspect it won’t.  The City of Philadelphia is losing on virtually all their arguments.  These ordinances were never about lost and stolen guns, straw purchasers or assault weapons, but were merely a means for the City to regain the ability to violate the Pennsylvania Constitution at will, so it could ban guns.  It’s looking increasingly unlikely that ploy will work.

Preemption upheld in Pennsylvania Court

This bill stands a good chance of getting heard and passed out of committee if we look at the composition of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but only if we make our voices heard.  Below is a list of committee members with links to contact information, along with their NRA grades, to aid in messaging.

Majority (R)

• Greenleaf (chair), B rated
• White (vice chair), A rated
• Browne, A- rated
• Earll, A rated
• Gordner, A rated
• Orie, A rated
• Piccola, A+ rated
• Rafferty, A rated

Minority (D)

• Leach (minority chair), F rated
• Boscola, B+ rated
• Costa, C rated
• Fontana, not rated
• Stack, C- rated

Please contact the committee members, and ask that they support this bill.  The question will be where Stu Greenleaf is going to stand on this bill, and whether he’ll want to bring it up.  But pretty clearly, we have a lot of highly rated Republicans on this committee, and we could do worse with the Democrats, so it has a good chance.  Let’s get it passed, get it on Rendell’s desk.  Even if he vetoes it, we can make it a campaign issue in the 2010 Governor’s race.

Castle Doctrine Introduced

In addition, Speaker Pelosi recommends we ban guns from crossing state lines.  She will put an end to competitions such as NRA’s Camp Perry, hurt hunters who prefer to take to the fields in a neighboring state, and potentially even restricting whether or not gun owners can take their firearms with them if they move.  These restrictions are absurd!

The only way to shut Nancy Pelosi’s gun control fantasies down is to take quick action to put pressure on “blue dog” Democrats, who come from more conservative districts, and are most vulnerable to calls for gun control.  We have a number of them in Pennsylvania.  They are:

• District 3 – Kathleen A Dahlkemper
• District 4 – Jason Altimire
• District 10 – Christopher Carney
• District 11 – Paul E. Kanjorski
• District 12 – John P. Murtha
• District 17 – Tim Holden

If you live in any of these districts, please use the links above to contact your representative and tell them that you oppose the Speaker Pelosi’s gun control agenda.  Express skepticism about your trust in the Democratic Party to protect your Second Amendment rights.  Be aware that many of the representatives above are pro-gun, and will likely be on our side, but don’t let them take you for granted, and make sure they understand that you expect them to represent the interests of gun owners in your district, and not help Nancy Pelosi bring her San Francisco attitudes on guns to Pennsylvania.

Nancy Pelosi Calls for “Compromise” on Guns

Legislation requiring gun owners tell police if their firearm is lost or stolen will be considered by Harrisburg City Council after Tuesday’s recommendation of support from council’s public safety committee.

Under the proposal anyone discovering the loss or theft of their firearm must tell city police within 24 hours or face a fine of from $50 to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail.

These laws are more feel-good legislation that allows city councils to tell their constituents they are doing something while not actually doing anything, and on top of that they are completely illegal because firearm regulation is reserved for the state legislature under Pa.C.S. § 6120:

John Hohenwarter, NRA Pennsylvania State Liaison, earlier Tuesday told The Patriot-News “Harrisburg does not have the authority to go out and pass their own ordinance” because firearms can only be regulated at the state level. He said the same is true of the five other cities. “The bottom line is they don’t have the authority to do it so why are they even debating it?”

But nevermind the law, Council President Linda Thompson Explains:

Council President Linda Thompson said the impact of gun violence on the city trumps any threat of legal challenge.

It’s interesting how if a citizen ignores the law they go to jail, but if a city council does it it’s a moral responsibility. Funny how that works.

Harrisburg City Council Backs Illegal “Victimized Twice” Gun Control Measure

PAFOA Store Back Open Selling T-Shirts and Hoodies

We Pennsylvanians are fortunate to have a number of our Congressional delegation among the signers, and they deserve our thanks and praise.  Those Representatives are:

• Tim Holden (PA-17) Dauphin, Lebanon, Schuylkill, Parts of Berks and Perry.
• Paul Kanjorski (PA-11) Carbon, Columbia, Monroe, Lackawanna, Luzerne
• John Murtha (PA-12) Greene County, Parts of nearly half the southwest.
• Christopher Carney (PA-10) Wayne, Pike, Susquehanna, Bradford, Sullivan, etc
• Jason Altmire (PA-04) Allegheny County, Beaver, Butler, parts of others.

But in addition to those above who voted to protect our Second Amendment rights, we should also note those Democrats who chose not to take any preemptive action:

• Robert Brady (PA-01) (Philadelphia)
• Chaka Fattah (PA-02) (Philadelphia)
• Joe Sestak (PA-07) Delaware Co. Chester County (Part)
• Patrick Murphy (PA-08) Bucks County, Philadelphia (Part)
• Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) Montgomery County, Philadelphia (Part)
• Kathleen A. Dahlkemper (PA-3) Erie County, Parts of Surrounding counties
• Michael F Doyle (PA-14) Allegeny County (Pittsburgh)

If your representative is on the first list, call them and thank them for their support.  If they are on the latter list, ask them why they were not among the signers.

This is a very important development in terms of the likelihood we’ll be looking at a new Assault Weapons Ban in the 111th Congress.  It takes 218 votes to pass a bill out of Congress, and with these 65 Democrats, we could lose 28 Republicans, and a renewal still would not have the votes to pass the House.  If Obama wishes to pass a renewal of the failed semi-auto ban of the Clinton years, it will be, at best, an uphill battle.

But this is not to say that gun owners are out of the woods.  We still have anti-gun leadership in key positions in Congress, and still have one of the most anti-gun Presidents in history occupying the Oval Office.  This pass over the mountains may be blocked for the time being, but we must think about where they will try to cross next.

Pro-Gun Democrats Stand Up to Holder

However, Nancy Pelosi, fearing the same amendment would be added in the House, actually pulled the bill from the calendar in order to have time to pressure members.  This morning, the Washington Post published an article that gives us an idea of what Pelosi’s is doing in the House.  Left-leaning groups are putting pressure on 60 moderate Democrats to try and pull away the 28 votes they need to avoid having the amendment attached on the House floor.  Many Pennsylvania Congressmen are likely in those targeted by these groups.  They are being told that people back home don’t care about gun rights, and that their seats are in no danger from a pro-gun backlash.

This battle over a local Second Amendment issue will have repercussions on the entire country, and will definitely effect the 2010 elections.  It is critically important that gun owners contact their members of Congress.  You can find your member here.  We must demonstrate to Congress that the threat from gun owners is real, and that we are watching what they are doing.

Action Needed on D.C. Gun Rights!