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Standing outside a gun store targeted by thieves three years ago, lawmakers and law enforcement officials on Thursday announced new legislation aimed at slowing the growing trend of gun store burglaries.
State Sen. Frank Farry, a Republican, introduced Senate Bill 916 recently and spoke of it outside the LugerMan Gun Shop on Old East Lincoln Highway/Maple Avenue in Middletown Township.
The site was chosen to highlight a 2023 heist in which 21 firearms were stolen in a matter of minutes.
The proposed bill seeks to stiffen penalties for firearm thefts and would allow juveniles to be charged as adults in specific circumstances. It also includes a provision to hold burglars criminally liable for future crimes committed with the weapons they steal.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, a Republican, called the legislation a critical tool against “extremely troubling trending criminal behavior.”
“These gun store burglaries are unbelievably dangerous because these guns end up in the hands of people that are not using them for lawful purposes,” Sunday said. “They’re dangerous to society, to children, to our law enforcement as they’re doing their unbelievably difficult and dangerous job every day.”
Sunday’s office has investigated roughly 20 burglaries or attempted burglaries at firearms retailers in the last three years, involving approximately 230 stolen weapons. He noted that the vast majority of these crimes are committed by groups comprised mostly or entirely of juveniles.
Under the current laws, Sunday said, criminal organizations often recruit minors to execute the thefts, knowing they face lighter sentencing than adults.
“There is a perception, not wholly inaccurate, that juveniles will face minimal or at least lesser punishment than an adult if caught and prosecuted,” Sunday explained.
The legislation would allow for juveniles to be charged as adults for gun store burglaries, put in place harsher penalties on adult organizers who recruit minors, and enable the prosecution of burglars for crimes committed with the stolen firearms.
Farry compared the last provision to drug dealer liability laws, where dealers can be charged in connection with overdose deaths.
“If those guns fall into the wrong hands and tragedy occurs, those that stole those guns from these gun shops can literally face additional criminal penalties for those future offenses,” Farry said.
The need for the bill was underscored by a recent case cited by lawmakers involving the theft of 79 firearms in western Pennsylvania and Ohio. One of those stolen weapons was linked to the death of a 7-year-old boy in Pittsburgh.
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Middletown Township Police Chief Joseph Bartorilla recalled the May 2023 burglary at LugerMan.
Despite the gun shop having two alarm systems, the suspects broke in around 3 a.m. and fled as officers quickly arrived.
Officers from Middletown and Falls townships chased the suspects to Trenton.
In New Jersey’s capital city, the three suspects were apprehended and all 21 firearms were recovered, Bartorilla said.
“Those firearms, had they not been recovered that night, would very likely have been trafficked and used in additional crimes throughout the region,” Bartorilla said.
State Rep. Joe Hogan, a Republican who supports Farry’s bill, said gun store burglaries are rarely about personal collections.
“If anyone is planning to commit the act of robbing a gun store, they’re not doing it to add a new firearm for range day,” Hogan said. “You are doing it with the specific intent to further sell that firearm to someone you implicitly know cannot legally possess a firearm.”
Farry’s bill is before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
