BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today filed a challenge to the firearm regulation enacted in Pennsylvania and its enforcement by the Pennsylvania State Police and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, including warrantless searches judicial.
SAF is joined by Shot Tec, LLC and a private citizen, Grant Schmidt. They are represented by attorneys Joshua Prince and Dillon Harris, Civil Rights Defense Firm, of Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania. The defendants are Colonel Christopher Paris, Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) and Montgomery County Sheriff Sean Kilkenny in their official duties. The action was filed in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.
The petition challenges Col. Paris and the PSP’s “interpretation, implementation and application” of the firearms regulation “that is being applied” by Kilkenny, according to the court filing. The petition alleges that Sheriff Kilkenny “has implemented a policy … which, according to him, based on the promulgation and implementation of (the regulation) by the PSP, allows him, absent probable cause and a court order and in violation of…the Pennsylvania Constitution, to enter those…homes or businesses.”
The plaintiffs further assert that this inspection allows the sheriff to impose penalties against state firearms license holders “for failing to have ‘secure storage’” in an emergency when the PSP “has not promulgated any regulations that address the what constitutes ‘secure storage’”. ‘ or sufficient guarantees… when the General Assembly only delegated to the PSP the power to establish said standards”.
“The State Assembly has never enacted a law allowing warrantless searches of licensees, but the state police enacted a regulation requiring licensees to submit to such searches, which are now planned by the sheriff’s department,” the director said. SAF executive Adam Kraut. “We believe there are serious constitutional problems involved in this scheme, particularly when an administrative agency simply waives an individual’s constitutional rights by implementing regulation without any framework from the legislature. Equally troubling is the sheriff’s claim that he would revoke an individual’s license who asserts his right to be free from illegal searches and seizures. We have filed this petition to ensure that constitutional rights are respected.”
SAF Founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb observed: “No statute should allow White card regulations that any law enforcement agency must enforce because of the inherent danger of overstepping legal authority and constitutional protections that must be protected in a free society. We are seeking a court remedy to stop this, especially when it comes to warrantless searches.”
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt legal action, research, publishing, and education group focusing on the constitutional right and inheritance to own and own guns. fire privately. Founded in 1974, the Foundation has grown to more than 720,000 members and supporters and runs many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.