I'm sure that PA's version of CLEAT is up in arms about how this will make the jobs of law enforcement officers much more difficult, make it harder to determine the good guys from the bad, decrease officer safety and take another tool out of their tool chest.SA-TX wrote: ↑Mon Jun 03, 2019 1:57 pm The case is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. Michael J. Hicks, decided on 5/31/19. The opinion can be downloaded from here https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvan ... -2017.html.
I note a few things:
- It follows many other jurisdictions and the SCOTUS in that it declines to create a "firearms exception" to Terry vs. Ohio.
- PA has long been gun-friendly but I wondered if the composition of the PA Supreme Court or Legislature had changed that. Thankfully, at least for PA SC, the answer appears to be no.
- While there were concurrence opinions, I believe the outcome was unanimous.
- I believe that the lead opinion was a majority meaning this is binding precedent
- The analogy of car driver's licenses and the SCOTUS case of Prouse was prominently featured
I don't know if the Texas SC or CCA has decided this for us but I think this opinion is excellent.
SA-TX
We heard this exact tripe MANY times this session when the legislature was discussing the "Fine only class C misdemeanor = no arrest absent articulable present danger to the public" bill/amendments that were being sponsored by Rep. Moody. I don't agree with him on much, but on this issue we definitely have common ground.