June 27, 2000
Captain Jeffrey B. Miller
Legislative Liaison
Pennsylvania State Police
1800 Elmerton Avenue
Harrisburg, PA 171 1 0
Dear Captain Miller:
We appreciate the response which you provided to our earlier inquiries
regarding the Pennsylvania State Police practice of maintaining a registry of
handgun sales. We want to note, however, that we were disappointed you were not
able to cite any specific statutory authority regarding the registry.
We continue to use the word registry because, according to the Statutory
Construct-Ion Act of 1972, words are to be construed 'according to their common
and approved usage.' 1 Pa.C.S.A. § 1903. Webster's II New Collegiate Dictionary
(1995) defines 'registry' as 'Registration (or) ... a place for registering.' In
turn, "registration' is defined as "An act of registering (or)...an
entry in a register." Finally, 'register' is defined as 'A formal or
official recording of items, names or actions.' We are at a loss concerning any
distinction between your maintenance of records of sale and a 'registry.'
The prohibition of 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6111.4 regarding registries, including the
legislative intent of that section, seems to speak for itself. However, in this
letter we would like to focus on the provisions of 18 Pa-C.S.A. § 6111 which
were discussed in our original correspondence. The second-to-last paragraph of
your reply, dated June 13, 2000, reads as follows:
'As to your concern regarding long gun records of sale, please note that,
absent mechanical failure of PICS, no record of sale exists for long guns- When
there is a mechanical failure of the PICS system requiring completion of long
gun records of sale, this information is equivalent to a .PICS document, which
is purged after completion of the PICS check.'
The aforementioned lack of statutory citation in the above paragraph makes it
difficult to respond, but it appears you were referring to portions of 18
Pa.C.S.A. § 6111. According to the language of that section, no information on
any application/record of sale may be maintained by the Pennsylvania State
Police.
First, it may be helpful to consider a section of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes, specifically 1 Pa.C.S.A. § 301, dealing with statutory
arrangement. The Consolidated Statutes are divided up into Titles, such as Title
18 (Crimes Code), and then other major subdivisions, such as parts, articles,
chapters. For example, Part II, Article G, Chapter 61 of Title 18 deals with
'Firearms and Other Dangerous Articles." Subpart A of that chapter is
entitled Uniform Firearms Act. Further subdivision results in sections,
identified by Arabic numerals. Sections are 'subdivided into subsections,
paragraphs, subparagraphs and such other minor subdivisions as may be
required...' I Pa.C.S.A. § 301(c) (emphasis added).
Once the arrangement of Consolidated Statutes is taken into consideration, it
becomes clear that 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6111 prohibits the maintenance of any records
of sale.
IS Pa, C. S.A. l@i 6111. Sale or transfer of firearms.
(b) Duty of seller.--No licensed importer, licensed manufacturer or licensed
dealer shall sell or deliver any firearm to another person, other than a
licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer or licensed collector,
until the conditions of subsection (a) have been satisfied and until he has-,
(1) For purposes of a firearm as defined in section 6102 (relating to
definitions), obtained a completed application/record of sale from the potential
buyer or transferee to be filled out in triplicate, the original copy to be sent
to the Pennsylvania State Police, postmarked via first class mail, within 14
days of the sale, one copy to be retained by the licensed importer, licensed
manufacturer or licensed dealer for a period of 20 years and one copy to be
provided to the purchaser or transferee. The form of this application/record of
sale shall be no more than one page in length and shall be promulgated by the
Pennsylvania State Police and provided by the licensed importer,
licensed manufacturer or licensed deader. The application/record of sale
shall include the name, address, birthdate, gender, race, physical description
and Social Security number of the purchaser or transferee, the date of the
application and the caliber, length of barrel, make, model and manufacturer's
number of the firearm to be purchased or transferred.
(I. IL) On the date of publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin of a notice
by the Pennsylvania State Police that the instantaneous records check has been
implemented, all of the following shall apply: (1) In the event of an electronic
failure under section 6111.1(b) (2) (relating to Pennsylvania State Police) for
purposes of a firearm which exceeds the barrel and related lengths set forth in
section 6102, obtained a completed application/record of sale from the potential
buyer or transferee to be filled out in triplicate, the original copy to be sent
to the Pennsylvania State Police, postmarked via first class mail, within 14
days of sale, one copy to be retained by the licensed importer, licensed
manufacturer or licensed dealer for a period of 20 years and one copy to be
provided to the purchaser or transferee. (ii) The form of the application/record
of sale shall be no more than one page in length and shall be promulgated by the
Pennsylvania State Police and provided by the licensed importer, licensed
manufacturer or licensed dealer.
(iii) For purposes of conducting the criminal history, juvenile delinquency
and mental health records background check which shall be completed within ten
days of receipt of the information from the dealer, the application/record of
sale shall include the name, address, birthdate, gender, race, physical
description and Social Security number of the purchaser or transferee and the
date of application. (iv) No information regarding the type of firearm need be
included other than an indication that the firearm exceeds the barrel lengths
set forth in section 6102.
(v) Unless it has been discovered pursuant to a criminal history, juvenile
delinquency and mental health records background check that the potential
purchaser or transferee is prohibited from possessing a firearm pursuant to
section 6105 (relating to persons not to possess, use, manufacture, control,
sell or transfer firearms), no information on the application/record of sale
provided pursuant to this subsection shall be retained as precluded by section
61 1 1.4 (relating to registration of firearms) by the Pennsylvania State Police
either through retention of the application/record of sale or by entering the
information onto a computer, and, further, an appUcation/record of sale received
by the Pennsylvania State Police pursuant to this subsection shau be destroyed
within 72 hours of the completion of the criminal history, juvenile delinquency
and mental health records background check.
(1.2) Fees collected under paragraph (3) and section 6111.2 (relating to
firearm sales surcharge) shall be transmitted to the Pennsylvania State Police
within 14 days of collection.
(emphasis added).
An analysis of Section 6111 finds that '(b) Duty of Seller' is a subsection,
divided into a number of paragraphs, including '(1.1)', which are further
divided into subparagraphs, such as '(iv)", which is the subparagraph
containing language relevant to this topic. While subparagraph (i), under
Section 6111 (b) (1.1), specifically limits its application to long guns, not
all of the other subparagraphs are so limited. If you look at the language
highlighted in subparagraph (iv), it becomes very clear that the prohibitions
and required destruction of applications/records of sale cover all
applications/records of sale provided pursuant to this subsection." This
refers to subsection (b) of Section 6111, which covers applications/ records of
sale for both long guns and handguns (handguns specifically within Section 6111,
subsection (b), paragraph (1)).
We would ask you to provide us with confirmation that the Pennsylvania State
Police intend to comply with the law and destroy all applications/records of
sale and information gleaned from those applications/records of sale. Thank you
in advance for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Representative Daryl Metcafe
Representative Jerry Birmelin
Representative Scott Hutchinson
Representative Rod Wilt
Representative Samuel Rohrer
Representative Thomas Yewcic
Representative Bob Bastian
Representative Tom Stevenson
Representative Russ Fairchild
Representative Teresa Forcier
Representative Allan Egolf
Representative Timothy Solobay
Representative Jeffery Habay
