PA Bill Number: SB1198
Title: In plants and plant products, providing for plant and pollinator protection; conferring powers and duties on the Department of Agriculture and ...
Description: In plants and plant products, providing for plant and pollinator protection; conferring powers and duties on the Department of Agriculture and .. ...
Last Action: Referred to AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Last Action Date: May 17, 2024
Pennsylvania: Should this guy be allowed to carry a concealed gun? Yes, Pa. court says :: 07/06/2017
State police can't deny a man a concealed carry permit for a pistol just because they believe he has a violent past and was twice involuntarily committed for mental health treatment, a Commonwealth Court panel has ruled.
Instead, the state judges found that Richard Brandon must get that permit because police don't have sufficient documentation to support their belief that he isn't fit to carry a concealed firearm.
This case comes down to a paper trail, or rather, a lack of same.
Senior Judge Dan Pellegrini wrote in the state court opinion that the dispute erupted after Brandon sought a carry permit through the Butler County Sheriff's Office in 2013. His application was denied after a state police background check indicated he had twice been involuntarily committed for mental health treatment.
Brandon, who is represented by attorney Joshua Prince, a lawyer who recently challenged Harrisburg's gun ordinances, filed an appeal, contesting the accuracy of that background check.
State police replied by insisting they had information Brandon had been involuntarily committed in 1987 and 1994. Brandon contended that isn't true.
During a hearing on Brandon's appeal, a Butler County official cited a request for a mental health commitment that a state trooper filed against Brandon in the supposed 1994 case. That request stated that Brandon had crashed his motorcycle while riding with a shotgun strapped to his back and that he would not let a doctor treat the severe burns he suffered, the officials noted.
That same official cited another Incident Report Emergency Services form that indicated Brandon was targeted for a mental health commitment after he threatened his roommate with a rifle in 1987. The official said the form also stated Brandon had to be restrained and made statements including, "They are trying to kill me," Pellegrini noted.
Yet a state police official said his agency had no documentation on file to verify that Brandon had been committed in either case. Prince challenged the state police information as "hearsay" that could not be used to deny his client a carry permit.
State police appealed to Commonwealth Court after an administrative law judge from the state attorney general's office ordered that a carry permit be issued to Brandon because the police lacked the documentation to justify a denial.
Pelligrini seconded that decision, stating that the administrative law judge "did not find PSP's documentary evidence to be credible and we will not overturn this credibility determination."
http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/07/should_this_guy_be_allowed_to.html
