Pennsylvania State Senator Cris Dush (R-Bellefonte) is asking colleagues to cosponsor legislation to let law-abiding state residents carry concealed firearms without a permit, something he tried but failed to get enacted the last session.
The senator’s original bill passed the General Assembly in the autumn of 2021, but then-Governor Tom Wolf (D) vetoed it. Its chances of becoming law have diminished even further insofar as Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro recently was elected in November to succeed Wolf and Democrats won a majority of seats in the State House of Representatives.
Current law requires Pennsylvanians ages 21 and older who wish to keep concealed guns on their persons or in vehicles to get a permit from their county sheriff. To acquire the document, a weapon owner must pass a background check, produce two character references, and pay a $20 application fee.
Dush and other gun-rights advocates view the permitting process as unduly onerous and duplicative since prospective firearm owners must already pass background checks to purchase their weapons.
“This legislation defends the rights of the citizens in our Commonwealth and I urge you all to co-sponsor this legislation,” he wrote in a memorandum describing his bill to fellow senators. “Those Pennsylvanians that follow the law each day should not be punished or hindered if they choose to carry a firearm.”
In urging the adoption of his “constitutional carry” policy last session, he emphasized his experience as a law-enforcement specialist in the U.S. Air Force and as an officer with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. He also cited data showing that over 90 percent of prisoners — both men and women — lacked a male role model growing up, arguing brutality in America owes not to gun ownership but to deeper social ills.
“We have put fatherhood out the door,” he said in a Senate floor speech. “Over and over again it was said: Gun violence, gun violence. Well, it’s not ‘gun violence.’ It’s violence.”
Dush also stressed the sweeping language with which the Pennsylvania Constitution addresses gun rights: “The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned.”
Despite the broad protection the state Constitution affords firearm owners when Wolf rejected Dush’s original legislation, the governor called for stricter gun restrictions, including more stringent background checks and storage requirements.
“Each year there are more than 1,600 victims of gun violence in Pennsylvania,” the governor said. “These victims and communities deserve to have meaningful legislation passed to address the scourge of gun violence.”
Shapiro, who will get sworn in as governor on January 17, also came out strongly against the Dush bill when it landed on Wolf’s desk.
“This change isn’t just unnessecary [sic],” he tweeted. “It’s flat out dangerous.”
The PA GOP passed a bill changing our concealed carry law — allowing anyone to carry a concealed firearm without a permit.
This change isn't just unnessecary. It's flat out dangerous.
The only thing preventing this from becoming law is our Governor's veto pen. We must keep it.
— Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) November 28, 2021
The attorney general’s Twitter post mischaracterized the bill as “allowing anyone to carry a concealed firearm without a permit” when the legislation would not nullify other requirements for gun possession.
Currently, 25 states have permitless concealed-carry policies. In his 2021 veto message, Wolf insisted that such states have an 11-percent higher murder rate than states without it. A 2020 Rand Corporation review of pertinent studies found “limited” evidence that liberalization of concealed-carry policy worsens violent crime.
Advocates for responsible firearm ownership contend that many individuals who carry concealed weapons have successfully stopped violent incidents. In April 2018, for instance, the Montana-based Crime Prevention Research Center noted that news of 10 such incidents broke in the U.S. in the prior two months alone.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Pennsylvania Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Cris Dush” by Senator Cris Dush.
