Pennsylvania Gun Charge Lawyer

A Pennsylvania gun charge lawyer defends people accused of carrying a firearm without a license, illegal possession, and related offenses under the Uniform Firearms Act. Pennsylvania grades these charges from first-degree misdemeanor up to first-degree felony, and the grade drives the sentencing exposure. We represent clients from the preliminary arraignment and bail through suppression motions, pretrial litigation, negotiation, and trial in state and federal court.

How Pennsylvania Grades Firearm Charges

Pennsylvania prosecutes most firearm offenses under the Uniform Firearms Act, and lawyers and prosecutors often refer to these charges by their statute numbers. Unlike New Jersey, Pennsylvania uses the familiar felony and misdemeanor labels, and the grade of the charge sets the maximum sentence. The three charges seen most often are carrying without a license, carrying in public in Philadelphia, and possession by a prohibited person.

• Carrying a firearm without a license is a third-degree felony, or a first-degree misdemeanor in a narrow set of cases.
• Carrying a firearm on the public streets of Philadelphia without a license is a first-degree misdemeanor.
• Possession of a firearm by a person with a disqualifying record is a second-degree felony, and a first-degree felony in certain circumstances.

Governing law: 18 Pa.C.S. 6106, 6108, and 6105 (Uniform Firearms Act).

Carrying a Firearm Without a License

Section 6106 makes it a crime to carry a firearm concealed on the person, or in a vehicle, without a valid license to carry firearms. Pennsylvania is not a permitless carry state for concealed firearms. A license to carry is issued through the county sheriff, and through the chief of police for a Philadelphia resident. Open carry is treated differently in most of the Commonwealth, but concealed carry and vehicle carry without a license fall under Section 6106.

The grade turns on eligibility. If the person could not lawfully obtain a license, for example because of a disqualifying record, the offense is a third-degree felony. If the person was otherwise eligible to hold a license and committed no other criminal violation, the offense drops to a first-degree misdemeanor. That distinction is often the central issue in a Section 6106 case, and it is one we develop early.

Governing law: 18 Pa.C.S. 6106 (firearms not to be carried without a license); 18 Pa.C.S. 6109 (licenses).

Carrying a Firearm in Philadelphia

Section 6108 is a separate offense that applies only within Philadelphia. It prohibits carrying a firearm on the public streets or public property in the city without a license, and it reaches open carry as well as concealed carry, which is why open carry that would be lawful elsewhere in the Commonwealth is not lawful on Philadelphia streets. A Section 6108 charge is graded as a first-degree misdemeanor and is frequently filed alongside a Section 6106 count arising from the same stop. Because the two statutes overlap, the way the charges are stacked has a direct effect on the exposure and on the negotiation.

Governing law: 18 Pa.C.S. 6108 (carrying firearms on public streets or public property in Philadelphia).

Possession by a Prohibited Person

Section 6105 is the most serious of the common firearm charges. It bars possession of a firearm by people with a disqualifying record, including certain prior convictions, and by people subject to specific court orders or commitments. A disqualifying conviction counts whether it occurred in Pennsylvania or in another state, because the statute reaches equivalent out-of-state offenses. For a person convicted of an enumerated felony, a Section 6105 violation is a second-degree felony, and the grade can rise to a first-degree felony in certain circumstances.

Governing law: 18 Pa.C.S. 6105 (persons not to possess, use, manufacture, control, sell or transfer firearms).

Sentencing and the Status of Firearm Mandatory Minimums

Pennsylvania sets a maximum sentence for each grade, and the court sentences within the guidelines below that ceiling. The maximums that apply to the common firearm charges are:

• First-degree felony: up to 20 years.
• Second-degree felony: up to 10 years.
• Third-degree felony: up to 7 years.
• First-degree misdemeanor: up to 5 years.

Pennsylvania once imposed a five-year mandatory minimum for visibly possessing a firearm during a crime of violence, under 42 Pa.C.S. 9712. That statute was held unconstitutional after the Supreme Court's decision in Alleyne v. United States, and Pennsylvania courts have treated it as unenforceable absent new legislation. In current practice, a firearm case is sentenced under the Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines within the statutory maximum for the grade, not under that former mandatory minimum. Any page or advertisement that still promises to fight a five-year firearm mandatory minimum is describing a sentencing scheme that no longer operates as written.

Governing law: 18 Pa.C.S. 1103 and 1104 (maximum terms); 42 Pa.C.S. 9712 (former firearm mandatory minimum, held unconstitutional in Commonwealth v. Valentine, 101 A.3d 801 (Pa. Super. 2014)).

Self-Defense in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania recognizes a right to use force in self-protection, and unlike New Jersey it includes a Stand Your Ground provision. Outside the home, a person has no duty to retreat before using force, including deadly force, when several conditions are all met: the person is not engaged in criminal activity, is not in illegal possession of a firearm, has a right to be where the confrontation occurs, and faces an attacker who displays or uses a firearm or another weapon capable of lethal force. The Castle Doctrine separately removes the duty to retreat inside the home, workplace, or an occupied vehicle.

The illegal-possession condition matters in a firearm case. A person accused of carrying without a license may be disqualified from the Stand Your Ground exception precisely because of the possession allegation. That interaction between the gun charge and the self-defense claim has to be worked through carefully, because resolving the possession issue can determine whether the justification defense is available at all.

Governing law: 18 Pa.C.S. 505 (use of force in self-protection).

Defenses We Raise in Firearm Cases

A firearm charge often rises or falls on how the firearm was found and what the Commonwealth can prove about knowledge and control. Depending on the facts, we develop defenses that include:

• Suppression of the firearm where a stop, frisk, vehicle search, or detention exceeded constitutional limits.
• Challenges to constructive possession where the firearm was not on the defendant and more than one person had access to the location.
• Eligibility and licensing evidence that can reduce a Section 6106 charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.
• Justification under Section 505 where the facts support it.
• Attacks on the sufficiency and reliability of the Commonwealth's evidence at the preliminary hearing and beyond.

When a Firearm Case Becomes a Federal Matter

Some firearm cases are charged federally rather than in state court, and the federal exposure is significant. Possession of a firearm by a prohibited person carries a federal maximum of 15 years. A defendant with three qualifying prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses committed on separate occasions faces a 15-year mandatory minimum under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Trafficking and interstate transfer allegations can also bring a case into federal court. We defend firearm matters in both state and federal court.

Governing law: 18 U.S.C. 922(g) (prohibited persons); 18 U.S.C. 924(a)(8) and 924(e) (penalties, including the Armed Career Criminal Act).

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