Judiciary Committee Moves Legislation to Impose Minimum Sentence on Felons Illegally Possessing Firearms
HARRISBURG – House Judiciary Committee Majority Chairman Ron Marsico (R-Dauphin) moved legislation to impose a five-year mandatory minimum sentence on felons who illegally possess firearms today during the Judiciary Committee’s scheduled weekly voting meeting.
“There is currently no mandatory minimum sentence for felons who illegally possess firearms. We need to get illegal guns off our streets and in order to do so, we must implement tougher penalties for felons violating our laws,” said Marsico. “Tougher penalties will deter felons from illegally possessing firearms as well as provide our prosecutors with the tools they need to combat the straw purchasers who illegally provide these firearms.”
House Bill 1091 would impose a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for felons who illegally possess firearms and also designate the crime of a felon illegally possessing a firearm as a “crime of violence,” triggering the second strike (10-year mandatory) and third strike (25-year mandatory) provisions for repeat offenders.
In addition to House Bill 1091, several other bills moved through the committee this week, including:
House Bill 1339, which would create a new offense for criminal surveillance making it illegal for a person to engage in surveillance while trespassing in a private place. This legislation stemmed from complaints initiated by constituents who were concerned about their privacy due to the use of technology (such as unmanned radio-controlled helicopters equipped with high-definition video equipment) to intrude on their neighbors’ privacy.
House Bill 1567, which would create the offense of theft of secondary metal. The term “secondary metal” is defined to include the wiring and piping from homes, utility properties and electrical infrastructure. The grading of the offense follows the scheme of other theft offenses found in the Crimes Code in that the grading is enhanced when the value of the secondary metal increases, ranging from a misdemeanor of the second degree to a felony of the third degree.
House Bill 1716, which would amend Title 42 concerning jury selection commissions. Title 42 currently requires the formation of a jury selection commission in every county. But the General Assembly amended the County Code to permit the abolishment of the office of jury commissioner. Under this bill, in a county in which the office of jury commissioner has been eliminated, the jury selection commission will consist of the president judge of that county.
The legislation will now go to the full House for consideration.
Representative Ronald Marsico
105th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
RonMarsico.com
Media Contact: Autumn R. Southard, 717.652.3721
asouthar@pahousegop.com