PITTSBURGH, PA –-(Ammoland.com)- When Joe Biden took office, he asked all the Trump-appointed United States Attorneys to resign. Most did, including United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Scott Bradly.
With the resignation of Bradly, Biden appointed Stephen R. Kaufman to be the Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Kaufman has a history of prosecuting La Cosa Nostra members, but now he is turning his attention to disarming law-abiding citizens of the Pittsburgh suburbs.
Some people traveling will accidentally bring a firearm or firearm part to an airport checkpoint during the year.
Acting United States Attorney Steve Kaufman Asked PA Sheriffs To Revoke The Carry Permits
Kaufman has asked local Pennsylvania sheriffs to revoke the license to carry a firearm (LTCF) of anyone that accidentally brings a gun to an airport checkpoint. This action isn’t a jailable offense unless the person carrying the firearm has criminal intent. Under the current law a violator will have to pay a civil penalty of $3,000 to $14,000 for a loaded gun and $1,500 to $2,475 for an unloaded firearm, respectively.
Although it is wise to have separate range bags and travel bags, not everyone uses different bags. The traveler can easily overlook a part of a firearm or a pistol itself. It is a costly mistake, but not one that should cost someone their rights. Until now, it didn’t cost someone their rights.
Kaufman even acknowledges this by stating: “[t]he United States Attorney’s Office, the FBI, the Allegheny County Police and TSA currently review every incident in which TSA screeners discover a gun during security screening at the airport checkpoint. Almost inevitably, the passenger being interviewed claims that they forgot that the gun was in their bag and no criminal charges are filed.”
According to Pennsylvania law, Sheriffs in the Keystone State can revoke someone’s LTCF for “good cause.” The law says that “character and reputation” issues can be cause for revoking an LTCF. If the state convicted someone of a crime in the past and they have criminal ties, a Sheriff can legally deny someone their right to carry a gun under Pennsylvania law.
Nowhere in the law does it state that having to pay a civil fine disqualifies someone from having an LTCF. Gun rights advocates worry that if a civil penalty can remove someone’s LTCF, a speeding ticket can disqualify someone from legally carrying a firearm under PA law.
According to the United States Attorney, the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Department happily agreed with Kaufman’s request. The law enforcement office has started to revoke gun owners’ carry licenses. Allegheny County covers the city of Pittsburgh, which is the biggest city in Western Pennsylvania.
Enforcing the request could be legally dubious, according to Gun Owners of America. The gun-rights organization sent a letter to Allegheny Sheriff William Mullen demanding that the department not violate Pennsylvania law by enforcing Kaufman’s request. According to GOA State Director, Dr. Val Finnell said GOA is ready to fight back and spare no expense to stop what the group sees as an infringement of the people’s right to bear arms.
“This isn’t a crime, pure and simple,” said Dr. Finnell. “There is no statutory authority for the Sheriff of Allegheny County or any other Pennsylvania sheriff to revoke an LTCF for inadvertently taking your firearm through airport security.”
Pennsylvania is a right to carry state, but if the Sheriffs can disqualify a gun owner for any offense, many in the gun community would argue that Pennsylvania is a may-issue state.
The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to AmmoLand’s request for comment.
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About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
Tyranny and treason against the oath they swore to the people, the nation and the constitution is what they are doing. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, to assemble PEACEABLY (not riot), freedom of speech, freedom OF not FROM religion, self defense, the defense of others, the right to keep and BEAR arms are all GOD given, constitutionally protected UNALIENABLE RIGHTS. They are not legally subject to license or permit according to the constitution. See the 2A. The 2A actually RESTRICTS GOVERNMENT’S ROLE in it’s/their ability to delay or deny it. See; SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. RIGHTS are not legally… Read more »
Looks like someone downvoted you because they are incapable of detecting sarcasm…
Someone CLEARLY does NOT have a life!
Why is it all of this B/S is never brought to light and Treated as Treason, they all get a Free PASS, All politicians and all that take that oath???????
For the same reason that all the media does is LIE like rugs.
It has become obvious the oath of office means nothing if it did how could biden be allowing the invasion of millions of illegal’s. He swore an oath to uphold the constitution and to protect it from all enemies foreign and domestic. He has even failed in that. It is much like the oath I took when entering the Army. Does that not mean he should be removed from that office? However, would harris be any better? Just how much of a dilemma do we find ourselves in today? After due consideration it appears we now have no leader at all. Furthermore, those in power whether elected or… Read more »
Damn, I will sleep so much better in knowing that these dangerous “criminals” will be denied the means to defend themselves.
Let’s hope that PA Sheriffs remember their Oath and tell Kaufmann that the Constitution requires them to tell him to pound sand.
The only reason any presidential appointed DA would request such an action, is because he/she opines that the president will fire their ass if they don’t. And any sheriff who would attempt to comply, ought to be ousted by the citizens within his/her jurisdiction. If the 2nd amendment to our Constitution isn’t enough to disobey that request, what is? If the 2nd isn’t binding, why is the 1st? President Trump could answer that in a helluva hurry; why can’t Biden?
Disarming honest law-abiding citizens makes totalitarian socialists feel more comfortable.
So everyone should simply open carry. Or just simply NOT COMPLY. § 21. Right to bear arms. The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned. § 25. Reservation of powers in people. To guard against transgressions of the high powers which we have delegated, we declare that everything in this article is excepted out of the general powers of government and shall forever remain inviolate. (May 16, 1967, P.L.1035, J.R.1) § 2. Political powers. All power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority and instituted… Read more »
Deep State reveals itself again if your paying attention. Deep State always trying for transformation from within. Wolf is in the e Hen house long ago.
Wolves & the Shepard work together to control it’s Sheeple & Slaves.
Roman Crook & Flail…
So much for the GOA endorsed candidate for sheriff in Allegheny County PA. Sheriff Kevin Krauss is living up to his disappointments.
This is the current sheriff, Sheriff William Mullen, not Kevin Kraus. The election for the new sheriff isn’t until November 2nd.
Kraus is the GOA “endorsed” candidate, the election is in November. William Mullen is the current sheriff.
GOA has letters from Butler, Clearfield, and Forest County sheriffs stating they will not revoke LTCFs in this situation.
If these socialist marxist so called democrats get in complete and total power somehow all guns will be considered illegal in individuals hands. Many think it is necessary to repeal the second amendment before any such action could be taken. That however is not true at all. Hillary Clinton’s plan was to stack the supreme court with like thinking democrats and they reinterpret the word militia to mean a government agency and all firearms in individuals hands will become illegal and subject to confiscation immediately. However these socialist marxist so called democrats have not thought through the process of confiscation very well. There are… Read more »
No need to worry about things on a national level. By thinking and acting locally this can all be undone just like the Founding Fathers managed it.
https://bussjaeger.us/blog/?p=1402
Biden wants to make “gun violence” a public health issue so he can order the CDC to issue gun “guidelines” like their guidelines for masks and COVID vaccines. If the CDC conducts research similar to what they did in the early 90’s, they will find that defensive gun uses occur at an annual rate of from 50,000 to 2.5 million (or more). That would be a good thing; however, I doubt that Biden would allow that outcome to be reported just like he suppressed the reporting of deaths and serious injuries resulting from the vaccine.
more criminals on prowl (cop) bad players in uniform are still bad players all the ex leos defending the criminals they worked with grow a spine and look at the crimes committed under color of law, it is more than pathetic
How in the world would revoking their license to carry make things better? It wouldn’t. Just another anti 2A infringing on the rights of US citizens every possible way they can. Is the Sheriff actually required to obey the wishes of the US Attorney? It says Kaufman asked Pennsylvania sheriffs to revoke the license. He did not demand it.
If we law abiding citizens are as smart as I believe us to be, and we were to be hit with a scenario such as this, we should all do what criminals already do; laugh it off, ignore the laws and carry fully loaded every time we venture outside. There is nothing in our Bill Of Rights that is of more importance than the 2nd amendment, and if we can’t legally practice and depend on it’s guarantees, we need to fight fire with fire. No pun intended.
Order followers.