No more Florida 'gun birds'

YOU'VE HEARD the term "snow birds," used to describe us Northerners who hightail it to Florida when temperatures drop.

But there's a growing class of "gun birds" who, when thwarted in their attempt to get a Pennsylvania license to carry a concealed weapon, can exploit a loophole that allows them to get a license from Florida.

According to a Daily News report last week, the cops and the District Attorney's Office in Philadelphia are getting increasingly frustrated with this loophole. The rest of us should be too.

Imagine: If a permit to carry is revoked from someone in Philadelphia because of a criminal conviction, or if a permit application is denied, Florida will issue one that is perfectly valid here. This is because of a broad interpretation of a reciprocity agreement between our state and others.

Reciprocity is one thing: Pennsylvania has formal gun-license reciprocity agreements with 14 states. If you have a permit to carry a concealed weapon here, you can carry that concealed weapon into other states. This summer, a federal amendment that would have loosened the laws even more was defeated, thanks in part to a vote by Sen. Arlen Specter.

Some gun owners complain that the Philadelphia police are too scrupulous in issuing permits, relying not just on a background check for criminal history but also on character and background checks. Philadelphia isn't too stringent: it has issued more gun permits than the entire state of New Jersey, says CeaseFirePA, which is hoping to get this reciprocity issue addressed with gubernatorial candidates.

So far, 2,651 Pennsylvanians have been issued a Florida permit.

Changing this loosey-goosey arrangement should be a priority. This will require either Attorney General Tom Corbett to revisit his interpretation or a clarifying amendment from the Pennsylvania Legislature.

We should say no to gun birds. *