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ATTENTION Pennsylvania Members! PICS OUTAGE!

1K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  vic2367 
#1 ·
PICS OUTAGE SCHEDULED !

FYI.........

http://ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=8&f=14&t=277923

"I got a letter today from the PSP. From Sept 02 thru Sept 06 the state Instant Check system will be down for the implementation of a new database. All checks during this time will be put on an "Undetermined" or "Denied" status.

THERE WILL BE NO APPROVAL NUMBERS ISSUED DURING THIS TIME.

I just wanted to make you guys aware of this. It's not your dealers fault if you walk in his store during those dates. Don't go whining to him about it, he's not happy about it either.

The letter says till the 6th but I would expect a few days of "Working the bugs out" after that date."
 
#4 ·
Thx for the mention - hopefully won't be a problem for me but - darned site better knowing about it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pennsylvania PICS Shut Down for Upgrade

The Pennsylvania State Police have notified us of its intent to shut down the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS) from 6:00 PM Sunday, September 2, until 12:00 noon on Thursday, September 6.

While we understand and appreciate the need to upgrade the systems hardware and software, we believe any maintenance should be done during non-business hours so that it does not inconvenience or interfere with a law-abiding citizens right to purchase a firearm. NRA is working with the Pennsylvania State Police, members of the State Legislature, and the Attorney General to resolve this matter.

Read More: http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=3201
 
#5 ·
Sad, isn't it?

I guess that's all it takes to stop gun purchases--the gov't stops background checks to prove you are innocent to exercise a right.
 
#6 ·
NEWS RELEASE

PA STATE POLICE PLAN TO HALT GUN SALES ‘A CIVIL RIGHTS OUTRAGE,’ SAYS SAF

BELLEVUE, WA – A state police plan to halt firearms sales in Pennsylvania from Sept. 2 through Sept. 6, ostensibly to update that agency’s background check system, is a civil rights outrage, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.

“The Pennsylvania State Police have just provided a strategy to any state agency, and the FBI, for arbitrarily suspending the constitutional right to keep and bear arms,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. “No government agency should have that authority, and we are hopeful that state lawmakers will successfully derail this plan until the state police find some other way to update their system without interrupting firearms sales.”

The plan has gun dealers and Pennsylvania gun rights activists justifiably angry. Firearms retailers will literally be put out of business for four days, right at the start of early dove and goose seasons, at a time when many have planned sales in preparation for the general fall hunting season openers.

“There might be a ‘colorable argument,’ to paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, that this shutdown violates Article I, Section 21 of Pennsylvania’s Constitution,” Gottlieb observed. “That Article clearly states that ‘The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned’. I’d say there are enough questions about this plan to justify shelving it, at least temporarily. That’s preferable to denying the gun rights of an entire state population temporarily.

“Surely there must be a means to allow firearm sales to remain uninterrupted during this computer system update,” he continued. “This is America, the ‘can do’ nation. We put men on the moon, we manage to repair highways without completely stopping traffic. We don’t put civil rights on hold just because our computers need an upgrade.

“Imagine the public fury if the right of free speech, the press or religion were suspended for four days,” Gottlieb concluded. “Firearms rights are equal to any other constitutionally-protected right, and they must never be subject to software upgrades or any other unreasonable delay. As the late Dr. Martin Luther King once noted, ‘A right delayed is a right denied’.”

-END-

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Copyright © 2007 Second Amendment Foundation, All Rights Reserved.
Second Amendment Foundation
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Voice: 425-454-7012
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FAX: 425-451-3959
email: InformationRequest@saf.org
 
#11 ·
Technically, it's not a suspension of the right to keep and bear arms, because it's not as though everyone who has guns has to not have them during the outage... BUT, for anyone who doesn't have guns and wants to GET them during the outage, it is indeed an infringement on the right to keep and bear arms, because you have to be free to OBTAIN one before you can keep and bear it. So yes, this plan is troubling, and does indeed rise to the level of outrage. Especially because it also screws with commerce in guns in addition to simply being able to get them. Store owners are justifiable in being angry.

If the state were changing software for the issuance of driver's licenses, you can bet that they would not throw the switch to shut down the old computer system until the new one was in place and working! Why not the same when it comes to gun background checks?! No excuse to have a period of days when there's a dead-spot. No excuse at all.
 
#12 ·
It's not just the whole rights issue. A lot of gun shops/sporting goods stores run sales the first week of September. A lot already had the sales in the books and advertisements ready to go. Then all of a sudden the PSP says "Hey you cant sell guns at the opening of hunting season." which also goes against PA Title 18 Section 6111 which allows for the sale of a gun after 48 hours of the PICS system being unavailable.
 
#13 ·
how bout contacting your state rep or senator ?
 
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