Key Takeaways
- Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation filed a federal lawsuit against Pennsylvania’s law that bars individuals with minor drug convictions from obtaining a License to Carry Firearms.
- Plaintiff Craig Philips, a veteran with a 1994 misdemeanor conviction, seeks to challenge this lifetime ban despite being a lawful gun owner.
- The lawsuit argues that the recent Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Hemani undermines Pennsylvania’s justification for the ban, as it requires proof of dangerousness for disarming individuals.
- The case emphasizes that permanent restrictions on carrying firearms violate the rights of individuals who maintain otherwise clean records.
- The lawsuit, Philips v. Bivens, highlights the issue of treating law-abiding citizens unfairly due to outdated convictions.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
BUTLER, PA — Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a Pennsylvania law that permanently bars anyone with any drug conviction, no matter how minor or how old, from ever obtaining a License to Carry Firearms.
The lead plaintiff is Craig Philips, an Air Force veteran who served from 1989 until his honorable discharge in 1992 following the Gulf War. In 1994, Philips was convicted of possession of a small amount of marijuana, an ungraded misdemeanor carrying a maximum of 30 days in jail and a $500 fine. That is a lighter maximum penalty than a non-traffic summary offense in Pennsylvania.
Philips has not used marijuana since. He worked roughly twelve years as an air conditioning equipment mechanic for the Department of Veterans Affairs, recently retired, and has been married since 2006. He remains fully eligible to own firearms under both state and federal law and has passed background checks to purchase handguns.
None of that matters under 18 Pa.C.S. § 6109(e)(1)(ii). The statute permanently disqualifies anyone with any conviction under Pennsylvania’s Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act from getting an LTCF. When Philips applied in Butler County in 2024, he was denied through the Pennsylvania Instant Check System based solely on the 1994 conviction.
The complaint, filed July 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, names Acting Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Lt. Col. George L. Bivens and Butler County Sheriff Michael T. Slupe in their official capacities. Bivens oversees the PICS system, and Slupe’s office issued the denial.
An LTCF in Pennsylvania is not just a concealed carry permit. Without one, Philips is substantially restricted from carrying a firearm in his vehicle, cannot carry at all on public streets in Philadelphia, and faces heavy restrictions on carrying during any declared state of emergency. The lawsuit argues the denial effectively strips him of the right to bear arms in ordinary public life.
The timing here is significant. The complaint leans heavily on United States v. Hemani, decided by the Supreme Court just three weeks ago on June 18. In that unanimous ruling, the Court held the federal prosecution of a regular marijuana user for possessing a firearm was inconsistent with the Second Amendment, absent any showing he was dangerous. Writing for the Court, Justice Gorsuch warned that letting the government label entire groups dangerous “would quickly swallow the Second Amendment.”
The Hemani ruling was a narrow, as-applied decision, not a facial strike-down of the federal statute. But its reasoning cuts directly against Pennsylvania’s scheme. If the federal government cannot disarm a current, every-other-day marijuana user without proof of dangerousness, it is hard to see how Pennsylvania justifies a lifetime carry ban over a single possession misdemeanor from 1994.
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The plaintiffs are careful about what they are not challenging. Serious CSDDCA offenses that make someone a prohibited person under state or federal law remain untouched. This suit targets only the automatic, permanent denials imposed on people who remain fully legal gun owners.
Erich Pratt, GOA’s Senior Vice President, said Pennsylvania is “treating a peaceable veteran like a second-class citizen” over the decades-old misdemeanor. GOA’s Pennsylvania Director, Dr. Val Finnell, and GOF Executive Vice President John Velleco both argued the ban cannot survive the historical test required under Bruen and Hemani.
I think they are right. A man who served his country, held a federal job for over a decade, and has a spotless record for 32 years can walk into a gun store and legally buy a handgun today. But Pennsylvania says he can never carry it for self-defense outside his home. That is not a public safety measure. That is a permanent punishment with no off-ramp, and after Hemani, the Commonwealth bears a historical burden it almost certainly cannot meet.
The case is Philips v. Bivens. USA Carry will continue tracking this lawsuit as it moves through the Western District of Pennsylvania.
