Hundreds of Pennsylvania gun rights activists met in front of the state capitol in Harrisburg on Apr. 27 for the 5th annual Gun Rights Rally. After a number of speakers were heard and dozens of sympathetic state representatives had been introduced, the crowd broke into smaller groups to personally lobby their state legislators.

The organizer of the rally, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Cranberry), acted as master of ceremonies and introduced speakers, including Suzanna Gratia Hupp, the former Texas legislator and long time concealed carry advocate; Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America; Marinelle Thompson, one of the founders of the Second Amendment Sisters; Rep. Scott Perry (R-Cumberland), author of the Keystone State's "Castle Doctrine" bill, currently under consideration in the legislature; Peggy Tartaro, executive editor of Women & Guns; Kim Stolfer, chairman of Firearms Owners Against Crime, and NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre.

All of the speakers praised the activists who had come from every corner of the state for making a difference and continuing to push for reform in the state as well as for passage of Perry's "Castle Doctrine" bill.

Hupp was in the Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, TX, in 1991 when a crazed gunman killed 23 people, including her parents. Hupp, whose handgun was in her car because Texas state law then prevented her from bringing it into the restaurant, later became a spokeswoman with a powerful message who testified for right-to-carry laws in several states. She was also elected to several terms in the Texas legislature.

She told Pennsylvania gun activists at the rally that they can "make a difference" in pushing for laws that make it easier to legally use a firearm to defend one's family.

Hupp's story "illustrates when the government restricts the right to bear arms, law-abiding citizens lose and criminals win," Metcalfe said.

Tartaro called Hupp "the Rosa Parks of our movement; a woman minding her business, living her life, when extraordinary events intervened." She urged the crowd to remember that leaders come from the grassroots.

"Right here in your state you have (a state) pre-emption law, but cities from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and other places, are saying 'to heck with that law,' " said LaPierre. "That's not the way our country works, and we're not going to let it stand."

Preemption has been a key issue in the Keystone State, where 37 cities, townships and boroughs have adopted ordinances or resolutions punishing law-abiding gunowners if they fail to promptly report lost or stolen firearms. Gun rights supporters say only the state legislature, not local governments, can enact gun control laws.
Firearms supporters claim such legislation makes criminals out of ordinary gunowners. But they have had trouble finding a person who could sue to overturn local ordinances because "we can't find anyone they charged with these illegal laws," said Harry Schneider of Cranberry, legislative chairman of the Pennsylvania Sportsmen's Association.

Metcalfe said his bill, HB-1541, would require towns in which gun ordinances are overturned to reimburse plaintiffs for "actual damages, reasonable attorney fees and other legal costs."

While preemption reform and the "Castle doctrine" bill are on the front burner for gun rights activists, the antis have taken aim at both.

"The municipalities are acting because the General Assembly has failed to act," said Joe Grace, executive director of CeaseFirePA, a gun control group, in an interview with The Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Grace's group also opposes Perry's "Castle doctrine" bill which would allow a person to legally shoot an intruder who forcibly enters his or her home without risk of criminal or civil prosecution. The legislation would provide similar self-defense protection to shootings outside homes, in businesses, vehicles or in state parks-anywhere the gunowner had a legal right to be when accosted. It would not cover someone engaged in criminal activity. Similar legislation has already been enacted in some 20 states in recent years.

"It's time," Perry said at the rally, to "tip rights back in favor of law-abiding citizens."

There was no official estimate of the crowd, which was moved from the Rotunda to the capitol steps because of the numbers expected. Observers put the number gathered at around 500, not counting a significant number of lawmakers.