By Dave Dalton

Pennsylvania –-(Ammoland.com)- Any gun owner that has lived in Pennsylvania for at least a few years probably knows the story of the doomed legislation titled ACT 192, the last bill then Republican governor Corbett signed before he left office.

The bill was later found to be unconstitutional, not because of the content but because it was passed by adding it to another unrelated bill about stolen metals.

That's a big no no in PA and the supreme court killed it.

Act 192 was simply a way to try and enforce a law that had been on the books in the state since the late 70s. That law preempted any local or county government from enacting any firearm related law tougher than state law. The only problem with the original law was a person needed to ‘show harm' to sue a local government to get the law repealed. What ‘show harm' meant was the person had to be arrested, hire an attorney to fight the charge and the law, with no means of recovering their money. Thanks to that gotcha many cities enacted their own laws despite knowing they were 100% illegal.

Act 192 finally allowed any citizen, or organization that had citizens in the municipality, to sue to get these laws off the books and to recover legal fees if they won.

Fast forward to 2016. PA Republicans introduced HB 2258 in June with 67 sponsors. This bill is a stand alone version of Act 192 that Republicans were determined to get through. The bill passed out of the judiciary committee with an overwhelming 21-6 vote on September 20th and passed first consideration. At this point it looked like smooth sailing for the bill with some Republicans claiming they might have a veto-proof majority supporting the bill.

But then house Democrats did something that has never happened in the history of the Pennsylvania legislature. On Sept 27 it was announced that the Democrats had introduced 242 amendments to the bill. That's right, two hundred and forty two.

What is even more mind boggling is that these 242 amendments came from around 30 liberal Democrats, mostly from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, two of the worst offending cities regarding preemption. That's almost 8 amendments per legislator.

And these amendments look like a who's who of anti-gun wants. Michael Bloomberg couldn't have put together a more frightening list of 2nd amendment infringements if he tried.

Everything from an assault weapon ban, a large capacity magazine ban, complete registration of all firearms, lost and stolen ordinances and more. Trust me, if these passed it would make California look like Texas when compared to Pennsylvania. Here's the list of amendments so far.

As Kim Stolfer, president of Firearms Owners Against Crime described it, they have committed ‘political terrorism‘.

He went on to say ‘It's high time local municipalities were held to the same legal standards that Pennsylvania citizens are held to” and I couldn't agree more.

So what's the Democrats plan? Well, they are scared to death that this bill could pass and become the law of the land. These cities would have to repeal their illegal ordinances or risk being on the hook for massive lawsuits. They had no ‘legal‘ means to stop the bill so they decided this ‘terrorism‘ was their only remaining option. They know that the Republican leadership is leery about just tossing all the amendments out in an election year, something that can be done via parliamentary procedures. They also know there's no way the house is going to sit through the teeth nashing nonsense while trying to hear and vote on all these amendments as it would bring Harrisburg to a standstill.

So instead of sucking it up and allowing the bill to come to a vote they pulled this unprecedented stunt. It has become ‘by hook or by crook‘ for the Democratic party.

This is the exact type of nonsense we saw in Washington recently with that absolutely childish ‘sit in' while demanding a vote on a ‘no-fly no-buy‘ bill. If Democrats can't get their way they are now 100% committed to acts of childishness and ‘political terrorism'. They will continue this nonsense until people get off their couches and stand up and get involved. When their phones ring all day long with people screaming at them to stop they will be forced to back off and if PA people don't get involved they may just doom this state to becoming the next New Jersey. If Democrats get away with this they will continue to use this tactic over and over potentially spreading it through the entire country. They could effectively kill every Republican sponsored bill as blackmail all while demanding anti-gun legislation move forward.

At the same time Republicans in PA, and elsewhere, need a good ripping too. They need to be told in no uncertain terms that we will not allow these type tactics and they must fight back. They are the majority and they need to start acting like it. If the children are misbehaving leadership needs to send them to their room without supper.

So if you live in Pennsylvania, get off the couch. Pick up the phone and start calling legislators and do it NOW.

There are less than 8 days remaining in this session. Also contact house leadership and let them know they are on notice. Your god-given rights are a few more incidents like this from being taken away from you and I mean that more than anything I have meant before. Either you stand up and be counted or trust me, the ‘terrorists' will win.

Dave Dalton – founder American Gun Owners Alliance

http://amgoa.org

About American Gun Owners Alliance

The American Gun Owners Alliance strives to be a communication system for gun owners that can be trusted to provide verified, honest information they would not normally have the means, direction, or knowledge to get otherwise. AMGOA seeks to bring every person who supports the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, from all facets and subsets of that term, together, as one voice. It endeavors to do so through facilitating information both to and from them, so that all factions of firearm owners, be they hunters, sport shooters, self defense orientated, non-gun owner supporters, activists, men, women, or whatever their creed, can communicate effectively. http://amgoa.org