PRINTER'S NO. 637
No. 605 Session of 1997
INTRODUCED BY MURPHY, HART, ULIANA, HELFRICK, COSTA, SALVATORE
AND WOZNIAK, MARCH 3, 1997
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, MARCH 3, 1997
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, prohibiting firearms in school zones;
3 and imposing a penalty.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
7 Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:
8 § 6163. Firearm-free school zone.
9 (a) Offense defined.--
10 (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2):
11 (i) An individual commits a misdemeanor of the
12 second degree if the individual knowingly possesses a
13 firearm on the real property on which:
14 (A) a public, private or parochial school is
15 located; or
16 (B) a public, private or parochial school is
17 sponsoring an event.
18 (ii) An individual commits a misdemeanor of the
1 first degree if the individual, after being sentenced for
2 a violation under subparagraph (i), knowingly possesses a
3 firearm on the real property on which:
4 (A) a public, private or parochial school is
5 located; or
6 (B) a public, private or parochial school is
7 sponsoring an event.
8 (2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to any of the
9 following:
10 (i) A police officer.
11 (ii) An individual participating in a school-
12 sanctioned event involving the use of firearms.
13 (b) Minimum penalty.--
14 (1) In addition to any other penalty imposed under this
15 title or any other statute:
16 (i) An individual who is convicted of violating
17 subsection (a)(1)(i) shall be sentenced to imprisonment
18 for not less than six months nor more than one year.
19 (ii) An individual who is convicted of violating
20 subsection (a)(1)(ii) shall be sentenced to imprisonment
21 for not less than one year.
22 (2) There shall be no authority in any court to impose
23 on an offender any lesser sentence than the minimum sentence
24 mandated by this subsection. No court shall have the
25 authority to suspend any sentence as defined in this
26 subsection. Nothing in this section shall prevent the
27 sentencing court from imposing a sentence greater than the
28 minimum sentence mandated in this subsection. In no case
29 shall the sentence exceed the maximum sentence prescribed by
30 law.
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1 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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