Pa. has a mind-boggling loophole in its gun laws that must be addressed

When 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks took his father’s AR-15 and made his way to the site of Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13, he had not yet committed a crime under Pennsylvania law, even though he did not have a license to carry it. That’s because the AR-15, the semiautomatic assault rifle he used to shoot the former president, is not considered a firearm in our state.

Pennsylvania has what is referred to as a long gun exception, a carve-out most likely drafted to exempt sporting rifles from state licensing requirements. This legal loophole defines a rifle as a firearm if the barrel length is less than 16 inches. The AR-15, with its standard 16-inch barrel length, is categorized as a sporting rifle and therefore doesn’t count as a firearm.

Outside of Philadelphia (which has a special law), a license is not required to buy, sell, or carry an AR-15. A person can carry it in plain sight (“open carry”) or concealed. Direct person-to-person sales are allowed, which means guns can be sold without a background check. As a result, individuals who have been banned from having a gun because a court has found them to be a danger to their domestic partner can buy an AR-15, and the state has no idea. So can people with histories of violence and mental health problems.

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This is every bit as mind-boggling as it sounds. The AR-15, a semiautomatic military weapon built for war zones, is designed to maximize casualties. After the expiration of the assault weapons ban in 2004, these guns became wildly popular, the image of the gun used as a political symbol by Second Amendment rights activists. Built to minimize recoil and maximize accuracy, AR-15s can make even a mediocre marksman a good shot.

Mass shooters understand the power of this gun. The AR-15 has been used in most of the recent high-profile mass shootings, including Newtown, Conn., Uvalde, Texas, and Las Vegas. But Pennsylvania law doesn’t recognize it as a firearm because of the length of its barrel. And if the AR-15 isn’t a firearm, then Crooks couldn’t be penalized for having one — even though he had no permit to carry it, and wouldn’t have been eligible to apply for a permit to carry a firearm until he was 21.

The Pennsylvania Crimes Code was drafted in the 1970s, at a time when weapons like the AR-15 were only available in the military. The rifles that the “firearms” definition sought to exclude were long guns, used by hunters and target shooters, from the Pennsylvania backwoods to the Olympic Games. Because AR-15s also have a 16-inch barrel, they are also excluded from the definition of “firearms.”

But the AR-15 is not a hunting rifle. The bullets move so fast and in such quick succession that they tear up deer and other game, making it impossible to eat. But the Pennsylvania legislature has done nothing to reclassify this gun despite its popularity — one in 20 adults in America now owns one.

The AR-15 is not a hunting rifle.

There are a couple of caveats, which should give readers small comfort. Semiautomatic rifles are defined as “firearms” under the statute used to prosecute felons who are found carrying guns. And, in Philadelphia, it is a misdemeanor to possess any gun, including any kind of rifle, without a license. But Philadelphia only accounts for 12% of the state’s population.

It would be nice to think this loophole’s continued existence is merely an oversight. But that might be naive.

Republicans, who have controlled the Pennsylvania legislature for decades, often rely on the National Rifle Association to fund their campaigns, making any increase in gun regulation a nonstarter. U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.) recently told the Washington Post that he believes protecting the AR-15 is “the number one priority of the gun lobby.” Some Republican lawmakers have taken to wearing mini AR-15s as lapel pins. In many ways, the AR-15 has become a powerful political symbol associated with the Republican Party, a cultural touchstone among gun enthusiasts.

Pennsylvania Republicans are all too happy to police handguns in Philadelphia, but they are not so eager when it comes to the guns most commonly seen in rural, white communities.

The attempted assassination of former President Trump presents an opportunity to address this indefensible hole in our gun laws. Let’s urge Pennsylvania lawmakers to revisit this strange exclusion, and stop ignoring these weapons. And if Republicans block these efforts, let’s make sure they pay for it at the ballot box in November.

Dana Bazelon is the former policy director for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.