Philadelphia Finally Gets That We Can Legally Open Carry Guns

The first indication that Philadelphia, the biggest city in Pennsylvania, was starting to understand that people can legally open carry their guns came on May 18, 2013 at the End the Fed rally. As previously reported here by The International Libertarian, Edd Skitz was stopped by a police officer and asked for his license to carry a firearm. On seeing this my first though was "oh no, here we go". I was pleasantly surprised when seconds later Edd was continuing his way, gun still on his hip.

One week later came the Philadelphia Gun Rights Rally at which dozens of gun owners open carried in defiance of Philadelphia's ordinance prohibiting "... firearms and deadly weapons in or around City-owned or City-occupied facilities...". The police didn't interfere with the march which went off peacefully. Video of the rally can be seen at this mainstream media coverage of the event.  Pictures can be seen at the Facebook event page Philadelphia Gun Rights Rally.

Participants then joined the Save The 2nd! rally at Independence Hall. This too included open carrying though it was on federal rather than city property where open carrying is well established as legal as long as state law allows it.

Below are pictures taken during the Save The 2nd! rally (many of the participants, guns,  and signs were also at the Philadelphia Gun Rights Rally):

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (jpfo.org)

Mark Fiorino (organizer of the Philadelphia Gun Rights Rally) and K X

 

 

Gilberton Borough, PA Police Chief Mark Kessler