JCWohlschlag

The locations in Pennsylvania where concealed carry is legal, but open carry is illegal will somewhat depend on whether you have a Pennsylvania license to carry a firearm.

In Pennsylvania state parks, 17 Pa. Code § 11.215 prohibits all general carry of firearms (outside of the stated exceptions), but effectively since December 16, 2008, House Bill 1845 amended 18 Pa.C.S. § 6109 by adding ¶ (m.2), which specifically allows law enforcement officers and “licensees” to carry concealed despite any other restrictions.

While within a Gun Free School Zone (within 1000 feet of a school), you are not allowed to possess a firearm unless you have a Pennsylvania license to carry a firearm. [18 USC § 922 (q)] Since you have a “CCW” (Pennsylvania license to carry a firearm), this does not affect you.

While within a city of the first class, which Philadelphia is the only one in Pennsylvania, you are not allowed to possess a firearm unless you have a Pennsylvania license to carry a firearm or a reciprocal license. [18 Pa.C.S. § 6108] Since you have a “CCW” (Pennsylvania license to carry a firearm), this does not affect you.

During and within the location of a declared state of emergency, you are not allowed to possess a firearm unless you have a Pennsylvania license to carry a firearm or a reciprocal license [18 Pa.C.S. § 6107]. Since you have a “CCW” (Pennsylvania license to carry a firearm), this does not affect you.

Persons openly carrying a firearm generally cannot get into a vehicle unless they possess a Pennsylvania license to carry a firearm or a carry license from any other state. [18 Pa.C.S. § 6106] There are exceptions to having a carry license for carry in a vehicle for trips in between your home or business and the place of purchase, place of repair, target ranges, etc., but all these specific exceptions require the firearm to be unloaded. It is debatable whether motorcycles and bicycles constitute being “in” a vehicle for legal purposes as no empirical data to prove one way or another has been found so far. Fortunately, again, you have a “CCW” (Pennsylvania license to carry a firearm) so this does not affect you.

The other locations that prohibit open carry also prohibit concealed carry, regardless of whether you have a license to carry a firearm, so firearms are just generally prohibited in these locations:

• Primary and secondary school grounds and buildings are prohibited by 18 Pa.C.S. § 912. There exists a “for other lawful purpose” defense to this, but no empirical proof for how effective this defense would be has been found so far.
• Court facilities are prohibited by 18 Pa.C.S. § 913. They must also provide a locker for you to secure your firearm while there.
• Casinos are prohibited by 58 Pa. Code § 465a.13.
• Certain Department of State buildings are prohibited by 49 Pa. Code § 61.3.
• Any place off limits by federal law or regulation, such as federal buildings [18 USC § 930], military installations (except for hunting and target ranges at some), secure areas of airports, post offices [39 CFR 232.1 (l)], National Park Service grounds (at least until February 2010), etc.
• Any private property where the owner or administrative representative has asked you to leave, or where signs restricting firearms possession have been reasonably posted, can get you charged with defiant trespass. [18 Pa.C.S. § 3503 (b)] Practically speaking, you will likely not be charged for violating a posted sign, but if you are asked to leave, you will be required to abide by that request.
• Detention facilities, correctional institutions, and mental hospitals are prohibited by 18 Pa.C.S. § 5122.

You will likely not end up talking to the police on a daily basis, but you may end up with a few encounters per year. Police officers in Pennsylvania have begun being specifically trained on the legality of open carry since the MPOETC 2009 Mandatory In-Service Training was started, and this training specifically informs them that open carry is generally lawful and does not provide, in and of itself, grounds to stop citizens for investigative questioning. Hopefully, these incidents will gradually decline to the point where they are negligible.

MedPig

Most informative, Thanks!

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QKShooter

Great posting by JCWohlschlag

kpw

You might want to check out this site. Pennsylvania Open Carry Gun Laws, Information, Fliers and Forum - paopencarry.org
There is a printable flier that outlines much of PA's carry and gun laws. It's for CC/OC, very informative and helpful.

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AKsrule

My Two Cents.......

As previously stated - OC is perfectly legal with a few exceptions.

Is it always appropriate?
NO

Will you ever be confronted by the Police because of it?
Probably

Does it offer any advantages?
You might deploy your weapon slightly faster than if it were concealed.

I live in a small PA town - rural county.
Without a doubt there is probably a gun of some kind in 75% of the residences. MANY people carry concealed.

BUT I HAVE NEVER SEEN SOMEONE HERE OPEN CARRY.

( Not counting hunting , range/private land, inside home or business )

I like to blend in.

YMMV

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jpmuscle

is it bad I live literally 5 mins from the PA Line here in NY, have my PA permit and didnt find out OC is legal in PA till like 2 weeks ago. im shamed

rmodel65

have you checked out PA Open Carry

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MP45Man

I live in south central PA and I have never seen anybody open carry. Aside from the soccer mom over in Lebanon, I never even seen it on the news. However, I'm thinking about trying it to gauge the reaction of the people. Someone once told me on here that if you don't exercise your rights, some pol will come along and assume it is not important to you and try to get rid of it. That has a certain amount of logic which I think is important.

kpw

I live in NW PA, just south of Erie. I've seen a few here and there OC but it is far from common. There are a fair number of PFOA forum members around here that do and report on that forum. They've held some OC dinners and have been on the local news. The press was fairly positive and I don't recall reading any real negative reports from them.

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"In a republic this rule ought to be observed: that the majority should not have the predominant power." -
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jpmuscle

im about 30 mins east of erie. im gonna have to start spending more time on PFOA