The atmosphere in Pennsylvania when it comes to firearm offenses is one of great trepidation. People are very concerned, and I will say especially in Philadelphia, where my office is located. People are familiar with the gun violence on the streets of Philadelphia. And when someone is arrested with a firearm on their person, or in their car, and they don’t have a license to carry, it’s an extremely serious offense. And I will say even furthermore, if you’re a convicted felon, who doesn’t have the right under the law to possess a firearm, you’re charged with an additional charge, called violation of the Uniform Firearms Act Section 6105, which is essentially a felon in possession of a gun.

And those cases are treated extremely seriously. You’re most likely looking at state prison if you’re convicted because not only is the crime taken so seriously, but your prior records score, of course, has to be – you have to have a prior record score in order to even qualify for the offense, because you have a prior conviction.

So you’ve already bumped yourself up in the sentencing guidelines and you’re looking at extreme punishment. And when you have officers being shot at, you have young children coming out of school being shot at – if you’re in possession of a firearm without a license in Philadelphia, you better be prepared to win that case on a motion to suppress, or in some other fashion show that the firearm perhaps in a car, or in a house, didn’t belong to you, or you’re looking at some significant penalties.

And I will say that counties outside of Philadelphia are also extremely tough when it comes to people carrying firearms if they don’t have a license to carry them.