Bearing Arms
Back in April I reported on a case out of Pennsylvania. The case, Firearm Owners Against Crime – Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action, et al. v. PSP Commissioner Evanchick, involved the substantial delays that residents of the Keystone State had to suffer through concerning firearms related background checks. As reported previously, Pennsylvania is one of the few “point of contact” states concerning the FBI NICS check, and the Pennsylvania State Police acts as an intermediary between the FFL/Issuing Authorities and FBI NICS System. I’ve argued for years that since the NICS system is completely computerized now, such “point of contact” systems are redundant and useless. Further, it’s my belief they’re unconstitutional. A decision came down in the case, and some of it’s consistent with my thoughts exactly. …
While this victory is through the Commonwealth Court, the case will have an effect on similar ones in other states, such as New Jersey (another state ripe with excessive delays). The same argumentation can be cited in other jurisdictions where Permits to Purchase Pistols, Firearm ID Cards, and the state acts as the point of contact for background checks are all required to exercise a fundamental right. If anything, once a permit of any kind is issued, said permit should be considered an “ATF-qualified alternate permit”, and no background check should be required at all.
