PA Bill Number: HB829
Title: In preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Description: An Act amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor Code, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Last Action: Signed in House
Last Action Date: Jul 3, 2024
Pa residents react to proposed gun registration bill :: 03/18/2019
(WTAJ) - House Bill 768 would require people to pay to register all of their firearms each year. Blair County Sheriff James Ott said he's adamantly against it, but understands people have concerns about gun safety.
"I am not opposed to looking at concerns when it comes to people who legally aren't permitted to have a firearm or who medically, so psychologically, aren't permitted to have a firearm. They're are concerns, and they need to be our focus. Our focus shouldn't be on our law abiding citizens," he said.
Sheriff Ott said other weapons are used in assaults and homicides, and there are no restrictions on those items.
"It's not the gun. The gun does not shoot itself. The person behind it, whether it's a gun, whether it's a knife, whether it's a hammer, a baseball bat, those items cannot function on their own. They have to have that person that make the decision to use it to do the effort. Let's focus on that person," Sheriff Ott said.
Duncansville resident Don Fowkes said he does not think the law is right for legal gun owners.
"For the fees of $10 a year for each gun, and then the government knows everything you own and everything you have, I just dont think that's fair," he said.
While some residents support the idea of having a log of all of guns that are in the community, most people are against the bill.
