courtesy NBC Philadelphia

Wait, isn’t open carry legal in Pennsylvania? Well, kinda. As PAFOA makes clear . . .

While Pennsylvania has a specific law that requires a License To Carry Firearms for the concealedcarry of a firearm, and the carry of firearms in vehicles, the law is silent on the legality of openlycarrying a firearm in other situations, making it de-facto legal.

There is however a law that requires a License To Carry Firearms to carry either way in “cities of the first class”, which as defined by law is only the city of Philadelphia.

So Philly managed to secure their own carve-out. Pittsburg, apparently, is chopped liver.

In any case, imagine Officer Krzysztof Wrzesinski’s surprise when he ran across an un-named 12-year-old strolling down the street in northwest Philly carrying an AR-15. He and 19-year-old Michael Mitchell, who was with him, were both arrested (Mitchell was packing a Smith M&P SHIELD without a permit).

Police made the arrests Saturday after responding to a report of a person with a gun on the 2200 block of Kennedy Street in Bridesburg.

Michael Mitchell, 19, of the 2200 block of Kennedy Street, was charged with violating the Uniform Firearms Act – a third-degree felony.

The Philly PD has charged him with pretty much everything they could think of.

He also was charged with five misdemeanors, including criminal conspiracy, terroristic threats, corruption of a minor and reckless endangerment of another person.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

64 COMMENTS

      • Good one!

        As far as Philly being “first class”, I always understood it to be third world, as in “shithole”!

  3. What should have resulted in a stern talking to and a ride home to their parents brings felony charges. Right, we are talking about Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia correct? Idjits.

    • REALLY? A 12 year old MAYBE being “supervised” by a 19 year old in the streets of Philly? I don’t care if it was in Phoenix [home] – they are TOO young to be waltzing around town with guns. I KNOW the media will not call them the gang members/criminals that they are but I’m gonna guess that’s what they are. Or are the Mormons packin’ these days?

      • And I was “too young” to be hiking around the woods and desert with a shotgun when I was 19, by your logic?

        • 19 and on your own, fine. Twelve on the streets of Philly accompanied by a felon, not so much.

  5. So, I guess the state capitol – Harrisburg – is ‘second class’ too!
    As for the teenage suspect, which is it – a 19 year-old with an M&P, or an 18 year-old with a Glock?

    DrDKW

    • The First class thing means it is a city of a million plus. Only, Philadelphia County meets that reg. The rifle while legal, the pistol belongs to the boys Mother. Thus is stolen. The boys are 19 and 12.

  7. In the progressive world, there is no bigger crime than being potentially dangerous. I woudn’t be surprised if they treated them more harshly than the FL killer.

  8. Is.. is that photo a 12 year old?

    What the hell were they feeding him?

    (yes I know it was the other guy)

  9. Any way to get BLM to come out and defend these two fella’s 2As rights? By the photo it looks like they are mixed, but way blacker than Shaun King.

  10. Whatever Philadelphia may be, its a couple hundreds years past being a 1st Class anything. Probably since Apr 17, 1790

    • While true.

      The whole first class city for everyone who doesn’t live in PA, just means Philly is the only place that has a population dense enough (I know right….), to be considered a city.
      Pittsburgh is too spread out due to its terrain to be considered a first class city.
      The permit in city limits also stands because the chief of police in Philly gets to make all the big shot calls.
      Example: you can get your CCL from your local sheriffs office OR the Philly Chief of police……

      Lets just say my local sheriff is WAY more forgiving than the Chief.

  11. LEO sure does look pleased with himself.

    Also, his badge number. He could wear it upside down and it would still be right.

  12. A 12 year old child walking down a public street carrying an Ar-15. That shows the 12 year old mentality. It also makes news and furthers the left’s agenda. To disarm American adults. Children trying to show off aren’t helping our cause , just adding fuel to an already raging fire. & where were his parents , why weren’t the guns in question properly locked away. This is no laughing matter.

    • Funny, at 12 I would regularly walk public roads with either a pump action shotgun or a semi-automatic rifle. That is what 12 year old boys are supposed to do. Sounds like you need to buy some Massengill.

  13. Maybe us folks with Pennsylvania LTCF should open carry some ARs in Philadelphia in protest of their overreaction to the kid carrying the AR.

    That should PO Mayor Kenney.

      • If it were anywhere else in Pennsylvania, the kid’s actions would be legal.

        If he was just a few miles south, west, or north, he would have been good to go.

        The only problem would be that many suburban cops don’t know the law. One of them was questioning the legality of the guys working the counter at the local gun store while open carrying handguns. At least the cop was willing to be educated. He knew what the law was by the time he left the store.

  14. Seriously a 12 year old carrying a rifle in Philly?!? Egged on by a dim 19year old…oh well.

  15. So the laws we have now in place work when enforced.

    Comes at great timing with the house meeting to enact fresh new gun laws this week…..blah…

  16. Dan,

    You actually missed the applicable part of the law. It matters because in PA, a “firearm” is a handgun. Here’s the law:

    18 Pa.C.S. § 6108:
    “No person shall carry a firearm, rifle or shotgun at any time upon the public streets or upon any public property in a city of the first class.”

    Note that it specifies “firearm, rifle or shotgun.” Long guns are considered distinct from “firearms.” Which means you don’t actually need a concealed carry permit (called LTCF in PA) to conceal a rifle.

  17. The law states that anyone under 18 cannot posses a firearm without parental supervision and one has to be over 21 to posses a handgun without adult supervision! Both of these kids are stupid for walking around with firearms in public in an antigun city. Maybe they were trying to get inducted into a gang?

    • What law might that be?

      There is no requirement to be 21 to possess a handgun, at least not federally. My home state issues CHLs starring at 19, though they are technically not even required to carry most places.

        • That depends on the state. The age 21 for handguns is for FFLs. A lot of states have no law on the books, so you can purchase on in a private sale in a lot of states at 18. My state it is 21 for regulated firearms (which used to include things like AK-47s and AR-15s, but all of those are now banned, but grandfathered. So all regulated firearms now are handguns and receivers of a banned weapon (because many can be built in a non-banned configuration, like an AK-47 pistol, which is legal)).

          At 21 you just plain can’t own a handgun in my state (legally). There is no age for long guns in my state for possession, but there is for purchase (18).

          A lot of firearm laws are stupid, but let’s be a little self honest here. Both of these kids were likely up to no good. I am not about to prosecute potential crimes, but they did break the law as it exists on the books. You combine that with “probably up to no good” and I am not about to shed a tear. I feel a bit for the 12 year old as it is possible he really didn’t know what he was doing or might have been doing later was illegal.

          There is a huge difference between a 12 year old with a .410 over their shoulder roaming the country side looking for some squirrels to slay or bottles to bust and a 12 year old with an AR-15 over their shoulder roaming a city. There has been for decades and decades and not simply a legal thing.

  18. And this is for P-Dog, they don’t have any rights under the 2nd amendment, cause they’re under age to carry in Pa

  19. OMG!!!
    Black military assault thingies. With clipazine pew pews. And thats just on the LEO’s bat belt.

  20. I read the older boy yelled for his little brother to go grab his ar15, he wasn’t just strolling around willy nilly, there was some altercation across the street from their house and he got the rifle as his older brother instructed and then pointed it at a man. Article also said they put the guns inside of a car when the police showed up or asked them to? its a really weird situation

  22. The charge inflation is B.S., but on the basic stop, nail ’em.

    If you want to protest and be a test case, I’m for it. Get with some others, get organized, get some media attention, and do it right. I’ll kick in for your gofundme legal defense account. A twelve year old walking around with an AR and his grown man buddy packing a pistol, though? That has trouble written all over it.

    Constitution aside, running around like that, oblivious to the obvious consequences, reflects a serious and disturbing lack of judgment and forethought, even on the 19 year old’s part. That idiocy alone should cost him his gun rights for a while, until he matures more.

  24. People who open carry are morons. People who open carry rifles risk being shot in the fu@&$ng face…by me.

    • Proceed with caution. Never forget, everything one posts online, will remain. It can and will be used against you by both law enforcement and the courts.

    • There’s a moron in this discussion all right, and it’s not the open carry proponents.

    • I open carry all the time. Just not in the big city. Nobody wants to fumble with concealment wear while drawing on a grouse.

      • Open carrying when hunting or in the woods is something totally different. I do that myself. But those who open carry in the cities are just retards who want people to think they’re tough or a badass because they’re carrying a gun for all to see. Funny thing is, there isn’t one of them that I couldn’t take their pistol and beat them to death with it before they even knew what happened. Open carry is nothing more than a statement. By guys who can’t fight or shoot worth a shit.

          • Nothing ninja about it, just a fact. If you open carry in general public, you are the fudd, believe me.

  25. here in wisconsin one can open carry at the age of 18…no problems

    otherwise they would have changed it

    just like in iowa…one can conceal carry in a bar there AND drink just dont be over .08

    again…never been a problem

    different/better* people makes a difference i guess…

    *different/better being defined as generally less disordered due to a marked reduction in overall godlessness

    remember how as king saul became more and more separated from God he became more and more a maniacal lunatic

    those type of people are day by day becoming more and more the base and mainstream and thus the leadership of the modern democrat party

    as with most disordered people theyve gone berserk and dont even realize it

    thats the one thing above all else that should scare the daylights out of us the most

    because their desire to shred amendments to the constitution will not stop after the 1st and 2nd

  26. Pittsburgh. We spell it with an H. Differentiates us from those lesser Pittsburgs.

    Also… What the hell!? Philly isn’t first class anything!

  28. So how do you look at the picture and still get the brand wrong? And who wrote the caption? Hopefully the police dept can at least read the side and identify who made it.

Comments are closed.