Pennsylvania Sheriff Hits Pause on Warrantless Searches at Gun Shops

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Just a week after the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) decided to challenge Pennsylvania’s firearms regulation, the Montgomery County Sheriff has agreed to halt his policy of inspecting gun shops without a warrant. This is a pretty significant turn of events.

The whole thing is part of a legal case known as Schmidt, et al. v. Paris, et al. A gun store called Shot Tec, LLC, a private citizen named Grant Schmidt, and the SAF all teamed up and are being represented by lawyers Joshua Prince and Dillon Harris. They’re up against the big guns, Col. Christopher Paris, who heads up the Pennsylvania State Police, and the aforementioned Sheriff, Sean Kilkenny.

Sheriff Kilkenny has agreed to press pause on his search policy, but he’s making it clear that this doesn’t mean he’s backing down. In fact, he’s planning on opposing the petition. Col. Paris seems okay with this.

Adam Kraut, the Executive Director at SAF, expressed satisfaction that Sheriff Kilkenny is stepping back from his warrantless search policy. He emphasized the importance of respecting constitutional rights and raised concerns about the Sheriff’s policy violating these.

SEE ALSO: Award-Winning Stevens 334 Rifles Now Available

“We’re delighted that Sheriff Kilkenny has agreed to pull back from enforcing his policy of conducting warrantless searches of licensees,” said Kraut in a press release obtained by GunsAmerica.

“Respect for constitutional rights is paramount. The Sheriff’s policy raised constitutional concerns that we had outlined in our petition. While this case may take a while to litigate, during the process, licensees won’t need to worry about the Sheriff’s department violating their constitutional rights through the enforcement of the Sheriff’s policy,” he continued.

SAF founder and Vice President, Alan M. Gottlieb, added that the challenge should move through the courts quickly, but no actions should suggest the warrantless search policy is okay.

“It is important that this challenge make its way through the court in a timely fashion,” said Gottlieb, “but in the process, no actions should be taken which remotely suggest this policy is okay and will ultimately prevail. A warrantless search violates the Fourth Amendment, and that is never okay.”

So, all in all, it’s a big win for SAF, but there’s more to come on this issue. Keep an eye out for further updates!

*** Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica! All Local Sales are FREE! ***

Available on GunsAmerica Now

MC MISS | http://10.20.60.240/SearchResults.ashx/?format=json&sold=0&sort=listingstartdate&og=1&keyword=Kimber&cid=&numberperpage=10&pagenum=1

  • Chris June 30, 2023, 8:46 am

    These two named law enforcement idiots are typical of others who think that they are superior and that no one should have guns except for THEM. They fail to acknowledge that civilians stop crime much more often than the police do.

  • paul I'll call you what I want/1st Amendment June 27, 2023, 9:36 am

    warrantless searches are totally legal….when executed on the right! Do that to a lefty criminal and watch how many good people are jailed. Should arrest the whole bunch that was involved in this so there will be one set of laws in this country!!!

  • Kane June 26, 2023, 10:41 pm

    Wow, so you get a combined joint task force of the Pennsylvania State Police and the Montgomery County Sheriff Office to conduct “inspections.” What are they inspecting? What authority do these specific agencies have to conduct “inspections”? Next time Paris and Kilkenny will probably coordinate with the AFT and the IRS will soon be involved.

    Meanwhile, the fake POTUS (genuine POS) and his son Hunter once again make a mockery of the common men and women of the US. Hunter should have been required to disclose under oath all the details of his buisness dealings as part of any deal. That way he could incriminate his father or perjure himself or refuse any deal.

    Remember, “nobody is above the law.”

    • RickCheetah June 30, 2023, 8:52 am

      There are no laws in PA anymore, look at our elections, we just keep finding “ballots” until we get the desired result.

      The sheriffs issue concealed carry permits, they have access to the voting records, and now they want a list of gun owners and what firearms they own and ammounts of ammo.

      Several people in law enforcement have told me that’s what they’re working toward.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Send this to a friend