The NRA And Criminals: Perfect Together

I'm not making this up.

Amy Worden of the Philadelphia Inquirer's Harrisburg bureau reports today (3/18/08) of an effort to attach amendment A6178, requiring handgun owners to report lost or stolen weapons, to crime-code bill S.B.1845. Handgun owners would have three days to report guns that are lost or stolen and would not be prosecuted if the weapon were not connected to a crime or if the owner did not know the gun had been lost or stolen.

Where is the NRA, you ask? The National Rifle Association's chief lobbyist in Pennsylvania, John Hohenwarter, charged "it's setting up a system that criminalizes victims of crime." Even if the amendment were to pass, and "it was unclear whether proponents had the 102 votes needed to pass" it, there is no problem if the gun owner chooses not to report a lost or stolen gun, facing a penalty only if he/she knew it was gone and it was used in a crime.

Isn't stealing a gun a criminal offense, and wouldn't a law-abiding citizen report it? The NRA apparently doesn't think so. The National Rifle Association: preserving the rights of criminals to own handguns.