PA/FL non-resident question

[Kael]

I noticed this in my maryland shall issue email update today.

3) Florida permit no longer good in Pennsylvania
There have been rumors of this for a while ... but now it's official. PA State Police and others may arrest you if you carry in PA with a non-resided Florida permit. PA now will only recognize Florida resident permits...

So I've decided to apply for another permit to cover me in PA. Is VA my only option for the PSP to recognize? Or are there other's worded the same way as the Virginia agreement?

Thanks,
Pat

 

[mp510]

Centre County, PA is very good about issuing PA Non-Resident Carry Permits by mail, as long as you have a permit in your home state (if available). Noticing your in Maryland, I presume you probably don't have one.

 

[Kael]

Noticing your in Maryland, I presume you probably don't have one.

That's correct. I should have specified, a PA non-resident would be perfect, but its not an option.

 

[glockman19]

Is Utah good in PA?

 

[wdlsguy]

Is Utah good in PA?

No.

http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/crime.aspx?id=184

 

[samtechlan]

I think non-res VA is your best choice to carry in PA.

 

[Steve in PA]

Its not "others", its only PSP pushing the issue. And the AG's Office will only say it "appears" that the permit will not be honored.

Until it is put in plain english that Fla non-resident license will not be honored unless the person is actually from Fla, no one will be getting arrested by me.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

I think I see the problem:

The State of Florida will recognize valid Pennsylvania permits to carry concealed firearms by valid Pennsylvania permit holders while said permit holders are present in the State of Florida.


The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will recognize valid Florida licenses to carry concealed firearms by valid Florida permit holders while said permit holders are present in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.


This Reciprocity Agreement applies only to the carrying of firearms as defined and authorized by the applicable statutes of Pennsylvania by valid license/permit holders from the respective states and not to any other types of weapons.

The second paragraph (of the portion of the reciprocity agreement I quoted) doesn't limit Florida licenses in PA to resident licenses only. But ...

The next paragraph, while apparently intending to limit the agreement to firearms, throws in a little verbiage saying that the reciprocity applies only to license holders "from" (not "by" or "of") the respective states. So if I am a resident of Maryland who holds a non-resident license issued by Florida, I am not "from" Florida and therefore it could be argued (and apparently IS being argued) that I am not entitled to reciprocity when I am in Pennsylvania.

I don't like it, but I believe in a technical (legal) sense it is correct. I suppose the argument will ultimately hinge on whether the word "from" refers to the individual holding the Florida license, or the Florida license itself.

Isn't language a wonderful thing? Just think ... if not for language, we couldn't possibly communicate.

 

[Kael]

Aguila Blanca,
you're correct. When I called the AGs office (a few months ago) they said the problem was in the preamble of the agreement, which specifically references the citizens of Florida and PA.

I'm just going to get the VA. Seems 100$ is worth it to avoid the possibility of arrest.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[K-Romulus]

It gets worse:

Supposedly, the PSP have decided at some point that ALL non-res permits are invalid in PA.

Here is a March 2007 letter from the AG's office stating as such:

http://www.handgunlaw.us/documents/PA_AG_Letter-50.jpg

The one redeeming thing is that the letter writer is NOT the office that handles reciprocity. http://www.snowflakesinhell.com/?p=800

The guy who writes the snowflakesinhell blog is seeking clarification on this PSP non-res policy.

 

[Kael]

Supposedly, the PSP have decided at some point that ALL non-res permits are invalid in PA

K-Romulus,
I think this all stemmed from the new VA agreement, which specifically says non-resident permits will be honored by each state. My understanding is the PSP decided that based on the wording of the VA agreement, all agreements must be worded similarly if they were to honor the non-res.

I kind of hoped I was wrong (which is why I asked the question) but apparently not.

To be honest, I'm surprised they accepted the FL and NH non-res for as long as they did, since NH and FL won't honor a non-res PA.