http://www.nraila.org/legislation/state-legislation/2014/3/pennsylvania-house-judiciary-committee-to-hear-second-amendment-legislation-next-week.aspx

I've heard about 921 before...why would we want to go to NICS?

Going to NICS will get  rid of the handgun registry the State Police are illegally keeping.

There is a perfectly good system in place to run BGC through the NICS system. The NICS system is FREE.

Our PICS system is not a BGC, it is only the PSP forwarding the info we enter to them, into the NICS system.

There is no logical reason for the PSP to be in the business of what is essentially a middleman.

There is two reasons they have placed themselves as the middleman. #1 is money and #2 is registration.

Again, NICS is free. However the PSP charges us $2.00 for each BGC and a $3.00 surcharge per taxable firearm.

PICS often times will not share data with NICS and it turns what should be a instant check into a hour long wait, or worse, the deal goes into research.

The PSP has 15 days to either approve or deny a gun sale. I've seen many, many times where they will take ALL 15 days to get back with you.

It's also not uncommon for them to just deny a deal due to them having system issues. Only to approve it once the buyer challenges their decision.

When the systems wont play together (which is often) it causes untimely waits for the customer and dealer. Even if it's a 15 minute call on hold. A few of them a day can ad up to a lot of unproductive time for the shop.

The PSP are flat out stealing from you every time you buy a gun by charging for the "free" call + a surcharge.

The PSP are delaying sales of firearms to legal gun owners. A right delayed is a right denied.

The PSP are keeping a illegal data base.  

The PICS department within the PSP is a undue drain on the taxpayers that serves no purpose.

Just for fun, lets compile a list of the crimes that have been prevented by PICS. They said is was for crime prevention. I'll go out on a limb and say it's going to be a very short list.

In 21 years we have never been contacted by PICS and or the PSP for a firearms trace, NEVER.

We are contacted by the ATF about once a month for a firearm trace. So it seems to me that NICS and the AFT have things under control.

The PSP have no business in the firearms business. Please let your representative know how you feel.

Well said Randy.

That's some great info there...never knew about any of that.  Thanks guys!!!

No bill to legalize semi auto for hunting?  They could do it by simply deleting the words "manually operated" from the law.  And stop giving pathetic excuses about the Farm Bureau.  F*** the Fudds.

Well, yes and no. The state police will still have a registry, er a, data base as long as we continue to fill out the stupid form in addition to the 4473. P.I.C.S. has nothing to do with this registry, I mean, data base.

As we all know REGISTRATION IS ILLEGAL under PA CSA TITLE 18 SECTION 6111.4. I guess the police state gets around that by calling it something else.

True story. My daughter had the police called on her by her ex husband. They confiscated the firearm I gifted to her under Title 18 Section 6111 , paragraph B subsection 1. I told her to go get the firearm as no charges were filed. She said they would ONLY RELEASE IT TO THE REGISTERED OWNER (that would be me). I asked the state police lieutenant who was in charge of the barracks (who also happened to be a high school classmate of mine) how they knew I was the registered owner. He said that they have a registry of firearms and owners. I informed him that that was illegal for them to do under Title 18, section 6111.4 and that my gifting of a firearm under Title 18 section 6111 WAS legal. Well I did get the firearm back (after a PICS check) and that day  went and regifted her the firearm.

Addicted, what do you think is more important? Destroying a registry of firearms ILLEGALLY maintained by the state police , or allowing someone to hunt with a semi auto? Judging on how much lead I've seen pump guns spit out, I think we can wait for the Semi autos for another day.

"Spit out lead" Really???

Nice work Zam18th, thanks for the update!

Interesting you should ask.  Why I think it's more important is that it's integral to crippling the anti gun political foothold in PA by taking away their angle of "You can't hunt with that" that they use to push AWB's and the stance of Fudds based on the same which assists them.  We have a lot of gun ownership in PA that doesn't support the pro gun movement, and that gap dividing us from our large potential support base is a major weakness that needs to be mended.  I'm sure you're aware that danger lurks if we were to switch governors, that we're in a bit of vulnerable position being surrounded by NJ, NY, and MD, and have a persistent threat from people moving from those places and diluting our voter and cultural base.  I've lived in NY and CA and seen the danger firsthand of not promoting an active, visible, aggressive pro gun culture first and foremost.  

We in Pa MUST be on the OFFENSE culturally.  This is a BIG aspect of it: get the next generation involved with guns that are fun and cool and interesting, they will be active, interested, and engaged on pushing back against those who want to kick kids out of school for wearing NRA t-shirts, mentioning that their dad took them shooting, etc.  If modern rifle designs become familiar they cannot be demonized.  Notice what people like Andrew Cuomo say to their audiences--what does he go to?  He goes to the "nobody needs those assault rifles" schtick. Why that? Modern designs are what people WANT.  Why would he want to ban or demonize something that isn't popular, isn't advantageous, and fun?  He wouldn't have to.  He picks that weak point and attacks US, that gap between familiar everyday life and the camo clad, two weeks a year, way out in the woods phenomenon.  If there are different guns for that, then he can confine legitimacy of guns to that--basically expensive doorstops sitting around for 11/12 of the year, potentially dangerous to curious kids, expensive to shoot etc.  An obscure, isolated, and inconvenient hobby poses no cultural counter to the anti gun movement and in fact validates it--so Cuomo says THAT'S what gun ownership is about.  And people who only go to the gun shop once or twice a year aren't involved, aren't heavily invested, and thus are not active in supporting a meaningful gun culture that is relevant to those living in suburban areas whose budget can't indulge something they can barely recognize or identify with.

Every day carry pistols and modern rifles shot every weekend are much better--an average not-yet-but-might-be gun owner can relate to a J frame or S&W Shield in the pocket or purse as a body guard for shopping and travel and an AR as mix between golf and a Harley.   But there exists the support gap because it's comparatively new within the cultural spectrum and can be dismissed as a fad.   However, were the gap to be closed and unity achieved, instead of us being surrounded by Cuomo, Bloomberg, Malloy, et al. we would surround them--THEY would become the weirdos, the irrational nuts who have no place in American culture, because there would no longer be that divide.  We would have the full backing of all 200 years of American tradition to resist the anti gun culture instead of being separated from that strength as we currently are now here where we need it the most.

We have several major entities, including governments of multiple states, who have declared war against us.  We must fight and win, and that means destroying their means of fighting us.

Any questions?  Do you see it now?

That seems a better Tactical position than throwing out the my right' blanket

A lot of the hunting fudds seem to shy away from anything beyond their narrow view of guns & hunting...

When the discussion comes up, I always make the statement that I will never apologize for carrying a gun in the protection of my family! That often seems to strike a common ground with them and we can move forward from there.

Yep, and all of that lead isn't going into the deer. Mostly trees and the ground.

Seriously I've heard people on several occasions where the gun sounded like a semi auto at best, a malfunctioning machine gun at worst. Mind you, I'm all for using semi autos for hunting, but I find getting rid of the state police registration, er, Database to be more of a worthwhile goal.

Yeah, but the 21st amendment in the state BOR says: The right of the people to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves and their state, SHALL NOT BE QUESTIONED. What does that have to do with hunting? I must have missed it in the state BOR where it says you have the right to hunt and fish.

The danger of a new governor is less than miniscule. Believe it or not, governors DO NOT MAKE LAWS. The legislature does. Frankly I would rather have an anti gun governor and 2/3rds of legislature on our side, than a pro gun governor and a libtard house and senate.  If they have enough votes in the house and senate they can over ride a governor's veto. See how that works?

Let New Yawk have Cuomo, Virginia have McCaulffe, New Joisey have Chris (the fat ass libtard) Christie and Maryland have Maloy. As for me, I'd rather have a pro gun house, senate, governor, AG, and state supreme court. But I may be asking too much.

I do see where you're coming from, though. If we make semi autos legal for hunting, they can't take them away. All that is a moot point if a libtard legislature decides to ban /confiscate them, or magazines over X number of rounds. And guess what? The police state knows you have the gun! So they can just come around to your house and confiscate it when the law tells them to.

I agree, this needs to be changed. While the above changes are clearly more important and pressing, legalizing semi-autos for hunting is long overdue. I just want to be able to hunt with my favorite rifle in my favorite State. It is not about follow up shots or capacity. Hell, there could be no magazine in the weapon and I would be completely fine with it.

Hence the need for us to get reinforcements.  We need to have the entirety of the legislature and the police on our side in all seasons at all times for all purposes so there's absolutely no chance. To do that, we need the people and the vote.  To do that, we need to get rid of the arbitrary line dividing our guns into separate categories which as I mentioned above divides gun owners into two (or more) categories.  We need to close the gap in our ranks and eliminate the problem of not-pro-gun gun owners exerting sphere of influence.  

For every "I've got my hunting gun, you don't need those things" there's their kids and grandkids living in Narberth and Bryn Mawr and Lower Merion (sorry to not know any rich Pittsburgh suburbs to name)  who have money and friends--that means 10-20 votes in favor of anti gun politicians because grandpa says AR's are scary and wrong because they can't hunt with them. That grandpa or middle aged dad is who they know in the gun owning world and is the only information they get besides the news and Hollywood.  And guess what, that information is exactly what they take to the polls, and like I said that's on a 10-20 to 1 scale.

THAT is the legislative threat we face.  Again, I'm saying we disarm that time bomb and bust it into pieces rather than keep trying to move the clock hands back every time it gets to 0:02.  For every 20 bolt action only grandpas we cure of the Fudd disease that means 200-400 pro gun voters added to us and taken away from the enemy--that's a BIG swing.  And it's what we need to bring PA back to solid red instead of purple teetering into deep blue.

The danger is HUGE not because governors make laws, but because they make headlines.  They have enormous pull in what conversation topics appear in the press and thus in the public mind.  Controlling the topics controls the flow of information thus controlling the tone of public thought, which translates culturally.  Remember the whole importance of the legislature?  That's controlled by public thought.  The schools are too, and guess what, the public mind you have to contend with for the next 20-40 years gets shaped there.  If we have an anti gun governor, THEIR thoughts are what gets spoken about.  This is reality whether you and I like it or not.

If we don't stop it, they will install one here too.  And again, see above.

another reason to go nics over pics is that pics requires transfer the same day whereas nics gives you thirty days.

that may not sound like a big deal but if your standing there waiting and get a delay and you leave then and hour later i get a call saying your GTG and you cant come back till tomorrow to pick it up then you have to do another background check.