Article Info
Pennsylvania Constitutional Carry Advances
| Scope | |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Pennsylvania |
| Impact | state |
| Key Entities | |
| Backing SB 357 and SB 822 | Gun Owners of America (GOA) |
| Sponsor of retaliatory HB 2505 and HB 2506 | Rep. Dan Frankel (D-23) |
| Reported SB 357 out on 9-5 vote | Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee |
| Currently holds SB 822, HB 2505, and HB 2506 | Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee |
| Legal Issues | |
| |
| What It Means | |
| |
| Timeline | |
| May 2026 | Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB 357 on 9-5 party line vote |
| June 2026 | Expected Senate floor vote on SB 357; possible House Judiciary Committee vote on SB 822, HB 2505, HB 2506 |
| Related Laws | |
Pennsylvania Constitutional Carry Advances
SB 357 is one Senate floor vote away — and gun grabbers are retaliating with two new bills
From The Boise Gun Club Handbook
Pennsylvania's constitutional carry bill is closer to becoming law than it has ever been, and the other side is panicking.
Driving the news: SB 357, the GOA-backed permitless carry bill, cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 9-5 party line vote earlier this month. It now sits on the Senate floor, with a final vote possible in early June.
Catch up quick:
- Pennsylvania would become the 30th state to recognize constitutional carry if SB 357 passes
- SB 822, a separate bill to strengthen firearms preemption, already passed the full Senate and is sitting in the House Judiciary Committee
- Preemption enforcement would hold local governments financially accountable for passing ordinances that violate state firearms law
The retaliation: State Rep. Dan Frankel (D-23) didn't wait long. After SB 822 passed the Senate, Frankel introduced HB 2505 and HB 2506 — a pair of bills designed to gut preemption and open the door to lawsuits against gun manufacturers by anti-gun municipalities. Both bills landed in the House Judiciary Committee, where a vote could come as early as June.
Between the lines: The timing isn't subtle. Frankel's bills aren't a policy response — they're a pressure tactic. The goal is to give anti-gun committee members political cover to bottle up SB 822 while advancing the counter-legislation in the same room. The House Judiciary Committee is the battlefield right now on all four bills.
What's at stake for Pennsylvania gun owners:
- Constitutional carry would eliminate the permit requirement for concealed carry statewide
- Strengthened preemption would give real teeth to the state's existing firearms uniformity law — local officials who pass illegal gun ordinances could face actual consequences
- HB 2505/2506 would do the opposite: fragment the legal landscape and expose the firearms industry to coordinated municipal lawfare
What's next: Pennsylvania gun owners need to contact their state senator now and push for a YES vote on SB 357 before the June floor session. Simultaneously, state representatives need to hear a clear message: move SB 822 out of committee, and kill HB 2505 and HB 2506.
The bottom line: The votes exist to pass both pro-gun bills if the pressure holds. The only thing that kills this is silence.
- Phils Custom Handloads(Swartz Creek, MI)
- Gls Guns(Sumner, IA)
- J & L Gunsmithing(Chesapeake, VA)
- Oliver Firearms(Spartanburg, SC)
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