• Restore due process protections to anyone facing loss of gun ownership rights. The mental health provisions of Act 17 have resulted in permanent loss of gun ownership rights, and government confiscation of valuable gun collections, witbout reimbursement to citizens who were never declared dangerous or incompetent by any court or psychiatrist. Such blatant disregard for gun rights and property rights must be immediately corrected.
  
  
• Protect the privacy of gun owners. The Courts have ruled that it is illegal to create a registry of gun owners. Therefore, the state has no need to collect any information about the type of gun being purchased in order to conduct a background check on the buyer. Such information needs to be removed from the background check form being sent to the Police.
  
  
• Hold gun dealers to the same standard of care as every other merchant of every other product or service - no more and no Iess. It is unrealistic and unreasonable to hold them to a standard of strict liability (criminal or civil) for actions that customers may take after they leave the store. A gun shop owner is no more able to predict or control the actions of his customers than a cutlery salesman.
  
  
• Support S.B. 56, recognizing the legal rights of established gun clubs.
  
  
• Completely re-write the Uniform Firearms Act. The language of this Act is inconsistent, vague, and illogical - creating uneven enforcement and undue hardship for law-abiding citizens. This situation needs to be corrected.
  
  
• Enforce the mandatory sentencing requirements on crimes committed with a gun. A survey by the PA Commission on Sentencing of crimes committed in 1991 revealed that of all 50,000 convictions on record, the 5 year mandatory sentence was utilized only 312 times. The survey showed that plea bargaining was used in 91% of all convictions. Career criminals, who were found in possession of a firearm, were convicted using a plea bargain 98% of the time. While the Governor can't personally enforce the mandatory sentencing provisions, a Governor can bring the problem to the attention of the public and the legislature for action. If we are to seriously address crimes with guns, then we must make mandatory sentencing more than campaign rhetoric.
  
  
• We recognize and affirm the God-given dignity of the individual and believe that the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights most clearly articulate this basic principle. To restore and preserve that fundamental human dignity, we proclaim...

The right to keep and bear arms is about much more than hunting - or crime. Our Founding Fathers had just fought a revolution against tyranny. They understood that liberty must be able to be protected; and that citizens were its rightful defenders.

The freedoms outlined in the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments guarantee our individual, God-given rights against the invasions of government. The Second Amendment underlines the authority of the individual to protect his liberty.

In truth, it may be said that the Second Amendment is the guardian to the Bill of Rights.