PA firearms
Could someone please refer a Pennsylvania resident to this thread so that I can ask them a couple questions?
1.) What is the process like in PA to obtain a firearm
2.) Is an extendable baton legal?
3.) Does anyone know any good ranges in the Philadelphia area?
4.) Would anyone be willing to shoot with me if I traveled to their location/preferred gun range?
5.) Do you know if any ranges have a storage facility that I could pay to use?
Thanks in advance for any help.
1)Purchase from FFL, requires PA-issued driver's license or non-driver ID card. Must be 18 or over for long guns, 21 or over for handguns. Must pass a PICS (instant-check) background check (usally takes 15 minutes, may take up to a 15-day pending period if there are complications.) Face-to-face transfers at an FFL are legal but many FFLs do not process them because there is too much paper involved. Off the top of my head, the only place in the Philly area who does do them is Johnston's Automotive and Tackle in Croydon (Buck's County.)
2) Expandable batons are technically legal but using one in a self-defense situation that is not 100% justified in the use of force can lead to a number of charges including the use of prohibited offensive weapons, aggravated assault, posession of an instrument of crime, etc. etc. Pepper spray is a much safer (from a legal standpoint) alternative.
3) There are several good ranges in and around Philly. The ones that come to mind are The Firing Line in South Philly (S. Front Street @ Dickinson Street,) South Philly Archery & Gun Club (Ellsworth St. btw S 8th & S 9th,) and the club where I shoot, Classic Pistol (Southhampton, Bucks County.) There are several others, but those are the ones where I have experience.
4)I'm always looking for shooting partners, but Southhampton's a bit of a hike from University City, and not worth the complications of SEPTA if you're not bringing your car to school.
5)Don't know of such facilities at a range. Not likely, as I'm pretty sure ATF regs require that a weapon left in the custody of an FFL (as most ranges are) log it into their inventory and their bound book, noting the name and contact info of the legal owner and the reason it was left in their custody (ie. sale, repair, consignment)
More to the point, though, I've lived in Philly my whole life and have never NEEDED a firearm. I've lived in neighborhoods far worse than Drexel's corner of U.City (East Kensington, anybody?) and never drawn my weapon. If you want a long gun, fine, but it's definitely not worth getting kicked out of the dorm or expelled for. Pepper spray, folding knife, flashlight are all, or probably more, than you will need.
On the note of roommates and storage, I kept my handguns in a storage locker with cable locks on them, and my shotgun in the closet cable-locked to a U-bolt in the walls stud when I had roommates.