Loophole

If Florida officials hadn't helped a Philadelphia man skirt the city's strict handgun-permit rules, a would-be thief might have gotten a chance to mend his ways. Now it's too late for Irving Santana, 18. He was shot to death early Sunday morning by a man police say caught Santana and two friends breaking into cars in the Hunting Park neighborhood. It's not too late, though, for Pennsylvania officials to close the absurd loophole in state gun laws that helped to arm the alleged shooter - Marqus Hill, now charged with murder.

When Marqus Hill was charged with attempted murder in 2005, Philadelphia police revoked his permit to carry a concealed weapon. So, Hill, 28, applied for and was granted a gun permit from Florida, which must be honored in Pennsylvania because of a concealed-carry agreement between the states, police said. On Sunday, Hill walked out of a house on Gale Street near B, in Olney, with a loaded gun - as he was licensed to do so with his Florida permit - after seeing some people break into his car, police said.

When police stripped Marqus Hill of his permit to carry a gun in Philadelphia after a 2005 confrontation with police, Hill didn't let that stop him: he simply applied for a firearms license from Florida. Though police said Hill lost a 2008 appeal to win back his Philadelphia permit, and reacted by assaulting a police officer in court, Florida mailed Hill a license to carry a firearm last year. Early Sunday morning, police said Hill, 28, used that weapon to gun down an 18-year-old who allegedly broke into Hill's car, shooting him 13 times.

AT LAST, a reasonably balanced article ( "The Florida Loophole" ) on the issue of Pennsylvania's license-to-carry gun reciprocity agreements with other states. Rather than the usual narrative, designed to leave the impression that dangerous criminals are lining up by the thousands to circumvent our laws, we get just a bit closer to the truth. Florida doesn't issue permits to any out-of-state residents who'd otherwise be denied permits according to their own state laws. The overwhelming majority of denials in Philadelphia wouldn't occur in any other county in our state.

WHAT IS the so-called "Florida loophole," and why is it such a bone of contention in Philadelphia? Under reciprocity agreements with Florida and some other states, Pennsylvanians can get nonresident permits from those states through the mail to carry concealed weapons, even without a Pennsylvania permit. Philly cops say it allows people who have been denied a gun permit in Philadelphia to circumvent local authorities. But gun-rights advocates say that it's necessary, because the Philadelphia Police Department is much stricter on applicants than other counties in the state.

State lawmakers should close a gun-law loophole that allows someone who was denied a Pennsylvania license to still carry a weapon if he has a permit from another state. State Rep. Bryan Lentz (D., Delaware) introduced a bill in May that would close a loophole that allows Pennsylvanians to circumvent state law. Denied a concealed-carry license in Pennsylvania, they are turning to Florida, Utah, and New Hampshire. Those states allow out-of-state residents to apply for a license by mail.

The audience was armed - literally - at a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Upper Darby yesterday to examine a loophole in the state's concealed-weapons laws. From short, pudgy, middle-aged men to young, slim ones, gun-rights advocates came packing heat to the hearing about what's become known as the "Florida loophole. " Under Pennsylvania's firearms-reciprocity agreements, the state must recognize "concealed-carry" licenses from certain other states, and vice versa. The "loophole" is that three of those states - Florida, Utah and New Hampshire - allow out-of state residents to get licenses in their state and through the mail, even if their state has denied them a license or revoked it. Of the three states, police say that Florida is the biggest problem - it has issued more than 3,100 out-of-state permits to Pennsylvania residents.

DAN ONORATO and Tom Corbett are still fighting about Florida - specifically the loophole that allows Pennsylvania residents to apply to the Sunshine State for permits to carry concealed weapons. Onorato, the Democratic nominee for governor, calls the Florida loophole an "out-of- control situation" that Corbett could fix in his current job as state attorney general. Corbett, the Republican nominee, won't touch the issue. His campaign dismisses the loophole as a "solution in search of a problem," claiming critics can't point to a "single incident of serious crime" with a Florida permit.

Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato lashed out at state Attorney General Tom Corbett yesterday for failing to close the "Florida loophole" that allows that state's Department of Agriculture to issue permits to carry concealed weapons by mail for Pennsylvanians who have been denied that privilege locally. Onorato, a Democrat who will face Corbett in the Nov. 2 general election for governor, said the Republican attorney general could close the loophole by citing the difference between the regulations for permits in the two states.

I'M GRATEFUL to letter-writer Joe "Jake" Dunphy of Philadelphia for his kind words of thanks to Aberdeen Asset Management for our contribution to retaining the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia. Mr. Dunphy's letter and the many other expressions of support have been a great source of inspiration to us. I would just like to say through these pages what an honor it is for us, as a global company, to have the opportunity to sponsor such a prestigious and world-class event here in our U.S. home city of Philadelphia.