PA Bill Number: HB2311
Title: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program.
Description: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program. ...
Last Action: Laid on the table
Last Action Date: Sep 23, 2024
Pa. law allows game commission to regulate use of semiautomatics :: 11/23/2016
Gov. Tom Wolf has signed into law a bill that permits the use of semiautomatic rifles and handguns for hunting.
The law does not expand the type of guns that may be owned or possessed in the state, nor does it make semiautomatics legal for hunting in time for the upcoming firearm deer season, which opens Monday.
The new law authorizes the state Game Commission to regulate their use in hunting situations. The board of game commissioners is expected to adopt regulations in 2017, including the calibers, seasons and the type of game that can be hunted.
Unlike automatic weapons — or machine guns, which fire multiple cartridges with the single pull of the trigger — semiautomatics require the shooter to pull once for each shot. The next cartridge is automatically pushed into the firing chamber.
Guns with other types of actions are currently legal for hunting. They require the shooter to manually move each cartridge into the chamber, either via a bolt, a lever, a pump or a single action that requires the hammer to be cocked for each shot.
Semiautomatic rifles and handguns are currently legal to own, possess, shoot and use for self-defense in Pennsylvania. Semiautomatic shotguns are currently legal for waterfowl and small game hunting, but must be plugged to a three-shell capacity. They also are legal for deer hunting in special regulation areas and do not require plugs.
“I am pleased that this measure is now law in Pennsylvania,” said the initiative's co-sponsor, Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-Venango. “I’ve heard from numerous sportsmen and women who would like to use the same semiautomatic rifles for hunting that they practice with at the firing range, but Pennsylvania is one of the few states that [had disallowed] these firearms for hunting of any kind.”
With the bill's approval, Pennsylvania becomes the 49th state to permit hunting with semiautomatic rifles.
Shira Goodman, executive director of the gun-violence prevention association CeaseFire PA, said the group has remained neutral on the legislation.
The use of semiauto rifles for hunting had been debated in some form by the General Assembly since 2011.
The Senate bill was approved Oct. 26 by a vote of 40-7. The next day, the House voted, 160-25, in favor of HB 263. On Monday, the governor signed it into law.
