PA’s ‘Constitutional Carry’ Will Be Vetoed, But It’s Not Dead

The idea gained traction in state legislatures across the nation over the years. Here in Pennsylvania, it just recently passed both chambers of the General Assembly. Now all that stands behind concealed carry without a license is a signature from Gov. Tom Wolf.

Unfortunately for Pennsylvania gun rights advocates who spent years trying to get permitless concealed carry passed, that is not going to happen. At least not now. Wolf has already said he’ll veto the measure when it lands on his desk.

Regardless of Wolf’s pending veto, the fact that the legislature approved the measure says something about the direction gun rights may be moving in Pennsylvania.

Republican Votes ‘No’

“I voted no,” State Rep. Todd Stephens, R-151, told Patch.

Stephens formerly worked as a Montgomery County prosecutor before being elected to the state House. He was also a federal prosecutor who worked on gun crime cases. Stephens said that many folks he knows in law enforcement oppose permitless carry from a public safety standpoint.

A Republican, he is in the minority of his party in opposing the measure. In fact, he was one of around only eight from his party who recently voted in opposition to permitless concealed carry.

Stephens cited statistics showing some states experienced an increase in certain crimes coinciding with the repeal of their respective concealed carry permit laws; he said Arizona saw an increase in aggravated assaults committed with a firearm and Missouri saw an increase in suicides among young people when that state lowered the minimum age for concealed carry to 19.

Stephens said the statistics he referenced came from CeaseFirePA, a gun control advocacy group. Gun rights proponents would argue that that statistics coming from a group like CeaseFirePA could be cherry picked, however, to support its position.

Stephens also said the change in Pennsylvania law to get rid of carry licenses seems somewhat unnecessary given that it is already relatively easy to obtain a License to Carry Firearms in the commonwealth, since this is a “shall-issue” jurisdiction, unlike a small handful of other states, which require some type of justifiable need in order to obtain a license. (Most states today are ‘shall-issue.’)

“It’s a pretty simple process which includes a background check,” Stephens said.

Not Fringe Legislation

The move to eliminate concealed carry permits has picked up steam in recent years across the country.

And make no mistake, despite a possible claim to the contrary, this is not fringe legislation – as is evidenced by the fact that 21 other states across the nation already have repealed their concealed carry permit laws. So if Pennsylvania did adopt the measure, it would mean close to half of the country would have such a law on the books, hardly an anomaly.

Those who support the measure say it is unnecessarily redundant to make law abiding citizens obtain a license to carry a gun that they’re already undergone a background check for to purchase and possess in the first place.

“It’s a duplicative process. Folks go through the exact same background check and the same process,” said State Rep. Aaron Bernstine, a Republican from Lawrence County near the Ohio border, and the lead sponsor of Pennsylvania’s constitutional carry bill.

Bernstine spoke to Patch about his proposal, and why he feels it’s necessary to repeal the state’s concealed carry law.

“This is legislation that many people have worked on for a long period of time,” said Bernstine.

Bernstine said one thing that proves carry licenses are unnecessary are, of all things, COVID-19. During the height of the pandemic, carry licenses that became expired were allowed to be extended for a certain period of time by the government due to the pandemic. Bernstine said people were essentially concealed carrying on licenses that were technically expired, and blood was not running in the streets, as some would claim.

When it comes right down to it, Bernstine said, people should not need a government permission slip to exercise a right enshrined in the constitution, and not just the federal constitution — the wording in Pennsylvania’s state constitution actually appears to be more clear than the Second Amendment, with Article 1, Section 21 stating, “The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned.”

Definitely no mention of the word ‘militia’ there, as there is in the Second Amendment. .

Not A ‘Red’ Vs. ‘Blue’ State Issue

The movement to eliminate gun licenses does not appear to be wholly political, even though the gun debate is often framed as a partisan issue. Some ‘blue’ states have also gone the route of permitless concealed carry.

Pennsylvania, which has a strong history of firearms ownership, is somewhere in the middle politically, as it is often looked at as somewhat of a ‘purple’ state.

Another often overlooked issue is that in Pennsylvania, it is already legal for individuals to carry their firearms openly without a license; a license is only needed to conceal carry. The only caveat is in Philadelphia, a license is needed both openly and conceal carry. Still, open carry is completely legal within the city limits, so long as Philadelphia residents are licensed.

Bernstine’s proposal would eliminate the need for Philadelphians to obtain a license to carry their firearms either openly or concealed.

Bernstine says Pennsylvanians should not be punished simply because they choose to carry their firearm concealed as opposed to showing in the open.

Law Enforcement Concerns

While those like Bernstine maintain constitutional carry is unlikely to cause problems in Pennsylvania, others disagree.

Stephens, the Republican lawmaker from Montgomery County who voted ‘no,’ says he fears the measure would harm law enforcement’s ability to carry out its duties, since police would no longer know who is carrying a hidden firearm inside a vehicle during a traffic stops.

Under current law, a carry license is needed in order to carry concealed inside a motor vehicle, meaning the legality of open carry essentially applies to being on foot, and doesn’t include carrying loaded firearms while driving.

Asked if he had received any backlash from his Republican colleagues for voting against the measure, Stephens said that he did not.

“It’s a diverse state and I’ve always been an independent voice representing my constituents,” Stephens told Patch. “Moreover, given my background as a federal firearms prosecutor I don’t think anyone was surprised that I sided with our law enforcement community.”

Stolfer, of Firearms Owners Against Crime, pointed out that not all law enforcement opposes permitless concealed carry. He said there is law enforcement representation on the FOAC board, and within his organization, and there is plenty of support there for permitless concealed carry.

Others also believe if passed, constitutional carry would cause problems with increases in gun related crime or suicides in Pennsylvania.

“Simple incidences are more likely to turn violent,” Adam Garber, executive director of CeaseFire PA, told Patch. “This legislation … would lead to more violent crime and more homicides in our commonwealth.”

Garber conceded that some folks already do carry openly without a license, since it’s legal under Pennsylvania law, but he feels that more people would carry guns if they were allowed to do so in a concealed fashion with no governmental permission.

“I think fundamentally it’s about both the law enforcement component … but it also will likely lead to more firearms being carried in public even though the visibility doesn’t look any different.”

Disagreement On Statistics

Stolfer, of the FOAC, said that the statistics cited by Garber’s gun safety group, which pushes for more strict gun laws in Pennsylvania, are skewed and cherry picked, and he offered up his own stats showing that in states where constitutional carry has been passed, violent crime has actually gone down.

“It’s making this a safer society,” he said.

Stolfer provided Patch with a link to an academic paper written by Carlisle E. Moody, a professor with the College of William and Mary who works in that university’s Department of Economics, Crime Prevention Research Center.

In his paper, Moody wrote that “a review of the bulk of the research studying the effect of right-to-carry laws shows that the weight of evidence indicates that such laws reduced violent crime.” Moody stated that studies showing that various kinds of violent crime actually increased due to right-to-carry carry laws are believed to be somewhat flawed since “they compare states that only recently have adopted right-to-carry laws with states that have had these laws for many years, instead of comparing against states with more restrictive laws.”

Moody’s paper was referencing right-to-carry, but not necessarily constitutional carry.

Stolfer said the states recognized as being the four safest states in the country — Vermont, Maine, Utah and Wyoming — all have permitless concealed carry. Vermont has had it on the books for many decades. He maintained that even many urban dwellers in those areas support constitutional carry, going against commonly held believe that people who reside in cities on average oppose gun carrying laws because of population density arguments and arguments relating to urban crime.

All But Dead This Legislative Session

For now, despite the passage in the General Assembly, constitutional carry is likely headed to its demise, as Gov. Wolf plans to veto the measure.

“The governor will veto the measure when it reaches his desk,” Wolf’s spokeswoman, Elizabeth Rementer, told Patch. “We do not have a timeframe on that at this time.”

Rementer said Wolf believes constitutional carry would “lower the bar allowing for unvetted, permitless people to carry hidden weapons while they walk the streets and would hurt the commonwealth’s system for responsible gun ownership. We need to stop this nonsense.”

Rementer’s comments were not unexpected, as Wolf has gone on record stating constitutional carry would not become law under his watch.

But just because Wolf will veto the bill, doesn’t mean a future governor would not. And Wolf’s days in the governor’s seat are numbered, as his second and final term is nearing an end.

Therefore, the question now remains whether or not constitutional carry in Pennsylvania is a matter of when, not if, in Pennsylvania.

Bernstine, the state representative who sponsored the bill, says that it is not out of the realm of possibility that the measure goes through the legislative process again in a couple legislative sessions from now, when Pennsylvania has a new governor.

An attempted veto override is also always an option this session, but it was unclear whether enough legislative votes would be there to get the job done.

As for the issue coming back up in future sessions, and whether a future governor would sign the measure into law, it really depends upon who is sitting in the executive chair.

But when you get right down to it, it’s not fantasy to think ‘constitutional carry’ could be coming to the Keystone State at some point in the not-too-distant future. When you combine Pennsylvania’s firearms culture with its gun ownership rate and the historical trajectory with respect to right-to-carry laws and moves toward constitutional carry across the country, it very well could become the law of the land in Pennsylvania sooner than later.

Patch