A while back there was a member here in the PAHTF that was new to the state and wanted to get his permit and was having issues because he was told that he needed to have county residents as his references.
Well I ran into that myself today.

I had 2 cops for my references but couldn't use them because they lived in Dauphin, not Lebanon County. I used other people instead, but it irked me because I specifically asked these guys beforehand if they would be references for me.  Is this a change in the law, or are sheriffs just wanting to keep things more localized?

It is the sheriffs, illegally altering the application process. State law says the application and the application process shall be uniform throughout the State. No where, no where..........no where does the application process require the references to be from the same county or even from the same state.

Philly just had to re-do their application process because they ILLEGALLY required the references to sign some kind of form. No such form is required by state law. Just as no references are quired to be from the same county, etc.

However, it's going to take someone to raise a stink, such as contacting the media and hope they run a story or suing the sheriff in court to get the illegal processes changed.

Allentown/Lehigh County said you need 2 PA residents for references.

All of the above is 100% correct.

I'll be closing on a house in Collegeville (Montgomery Co) end of December and moving in January. My only PA connections are my step mother and three sisters (i.e. all immediate family. ). I couldn't list 2 PA references for the life of me,  and the few I do know (family) certainly don't live in montco. I have no choice but to list my NY and AZ people as references. We'll see what happens,  I guess.  

Prince has a blog post from a couple weeks ago about this topic.  Sheriffs asking for refrences regarldess of where they are from may be illegal.

Philadelphia settled a lawsuit on this back in October, and one of the settlement items was they will not ask for refrences.

After reviewing the law as of November 13, Berks County will no longer ask for refrences.

I think with a small push many more counties will give up the practice.

http://blog.princelaw.com/

That was me and I did get my LTCF after someone help me with the references I needed. I still keep in touch with him very nice person. I also have not forgotten about your invite to go shooting. Just been very busy finding a job, In which I did. Now  a PMC employee

I just got a renewal letter from the Lancaster County Sheriff. They included the application and it does not say references have to be from same county. I thank the whole application is different from 5 years ago. Maybe I just do not remember it correctly.

You can imagine my confusion when I was upset about them requiring you to have references in the same county and then it happened to me.

carbon county makes you have 2 references who live in county as well

Directly from Indiana County

Q. Who are qualified references?
A. References must be:
1. Residents of Indiana County for at least 3 years.
2. Must be 21 years of age.
3. Cannot live in the same household.
4. Cannot be a relative by blood or marriage.

It has to change now because of the new law which should of not been needed in the first place. UFA across the state.

I agree, but I'm afraid that it'll take someone suing some county or other to get everyone on the same page.

I just renewed in york county and didnt use county residents.  They didnt call them either.

I filled out one of those bullshit forms for a co-worker who lived in philly. It went as far as asking me to "explain in a few concise sentences why the applicant should be granted a LTCF." To my surprise he got it a month later, I heard they deny a lot of applications.

Might just require a well written letter sent to the Sheriff explaining the law.  Especially now that HB80 passed.

The Berks sheriff removed the requirement for references entirely, after being made aware of the law.

I did not have an LTCF until I moved to Chester Co. My references were from Montgomery Co where I worked, & Berks Co where I moved from.

The officer questioned my references when I applied & I let him know I was new to the area. He wrote in giant letters DOES NOT KNOW ANY REFERENCES IN CHESTER CO on my application. 20 days later I received my license in the mail.

Renewed mine about 2 years ago in Chester County...form clearly says they "prefer" to have references from the same county.  Both of my references were not from Chester County.  Sgt. started scolding me like a 12 year old caught with cigarettes (this has happened to me, so I know what that's like ).  As much as I wanted to scold him back and point out where it clearly says "prefer" which is not the same as "required", I just pulled out my phone, made a couple phone calls and added a 3rd reference.  None of the 3 referencese I had listed were contacted.  Whole situation still pisses me off!

Philadelphia is notorious for "making" their own laws/regulations regarding LTCF. For years they wouldn't even issue them (they lost that fight), then tried to delay the process (they lost that fight), then tried charging more $ (they lost that fight), then they wanted 2 photo's instead of the state standard of one (which they also lost on) and the "references" battle keeps going back and forth (they'll change/alter it, then revert back, so on and so forth). They also use a non standard references form which asks "why should this person be issued a LTCF" (rather than "should this person NOT be issued a LTCF"). They clearly treat it as a "may issue" state (via questioning) when they know full well that it's a "SHALL issue" state (meaning they MUST issue unless valid conditions for refusal).
Do not be fooled, they know the law, they simply have the bully attitude of "We'll get away with whatever we want to" (until they are challenged).
On my coworkers reference I wrote "because he is an upstanding law abiding citizen, to which you MUST issue an LTCF as per PA law".