Pennsylvania state police back down on rifle registration scheme

In July of 2009, the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) mysteriously told federal gun dealers doing business in Pennsylvania that they were required to report to the PSP all purchasers' identity and item serial number information for transfers of certain long gun "frames" or "receivers" for guns such as the popular AR-15 rifle, just like Pennsylvania's Uniform Firearms Act (UFA) requires for handguns. Some gun dealers told the State Police "no way," noting that compliance with the State Police demarche constituted a criminal violation of the UFA.
For months gun owners and gun rights organizers protested that the State Police were trying to carry out "registration" of items that were essentially just the guts of long guns, not subject to transfer reporting like handguns under the UFA. As a legal matter in Pennsylvania, gun "registration" is unlawful, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Allegheny County Sportsmens' League v. Rendell ruled that the reports of transfer for handguns (mandated by the UFA) are not technically "registration" because.....READ MORE