Key Takeaways
- The Pennsylvania Senate advanced two bills: SB 357 for constitutional carry and SB 822 for enforcing state firearm preemption laws.
- SB 357 would allow permitless concealed carry, making Pennsylvania the 30th state to recognize this right.
- SB 822 empowers gun owners to sue local governments for violating state laws, ensuring enforcement of firearm preemption.
- Both bills aim to strengthen Second Amendment rights and protect against local restrictions on gun ownership.
- Gun owners are urged to advocate for these bills as they move to the House and await the Governor’s decision.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
HARRISBURG, PA — The Pennsylvania State Senate took two significant steps on the same day to expand and protect the rights of Pennsylvania gun owners. On May 6, 2026, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported out SB 357, the Commonwealth’s constitutional carry bill, and the full Senate passed SB 822, a bill putting real teeth behind Pennsylvania’s existing state firearms preemption law.
Together, the two bills represent the most significant pro-Second Amendment legislative effort in Pennsylvania in years. SB 357 would make Pennsylvania the 30th state to recognize permitless concealed carry. SB 822 would give gun owners and pro-2A organizations the power to sue local governments that violate state preemption, recovering attorney fees and damages.
SB 357: Constitutional Carry
SB 357, sponsored by Sen. Cris Dush, would establish constitutional carry in Pennsylvania. The bill was reported favorably out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 9-5 vote on May 6, 2026, and received first consideration the same day. It now awaits a full Senate floor vote.
The heart of the bill is direct. A person in Pennsylvania who is not prohibited from possessing firearms under state or federal law would have an “affirmative, fundamental and constitutional right” to keep and bear firearms, including carrying openly or concealed, loaded or unloaded, without a Pennsylvania carry license.
The bill also makes the License to Carry Firearms optional rather than mandatory. Pennsylvania residents who want to keep their LTCF for reciprocity in other states or to streamline firearm purchases would still be able to obtain one. Those who simply want to exercise their constitutional right to carry would no longer need government permission to do so.
A particularly important provision of SB 357 is the repeal of Pennsylvania’s special Philadelphia carry restriction. Current law treats Philadelphia differently from the rest of the Commonwealth by restricting carry on public streets or public property in the city unless the person is licensed or otherwise exempt. SB 357 would remove that city-specific carve-out and apply the same carry standard statewide.
Pennsylvania currently lags behind 29 other states that have enacted some form of constitutional carry. SB 357 would bring the Commonwealth into alignment with the growing national consensus that law-abiding adults should not need a permit to exercise a constitutional right.
The Risk of Amendments
Pro-gun groups including Pennsylvania Gun Rights, the state affiliate of the National Association for Gun Rights, are urging supporters to contact senators and demand SB 357 pass the full Senate without anti-gun amendments.
That warning is not theoretical. Constitutional carry bills in other states have been weakened by amendments imposing training mandates, expanding lists of disqualifiers, expanding sensitive place restrictions, carving out specific localities, or adding other provisions designed to dilute the underlying protection. Pennsylvania gun owners who want real constitutional carry should be paying attention as the bill moves to the floor.
SB 822: Putting Teeth Behind Preemption
SB 822, sponsored by Sen. Wayne Langerholc, addresses a different but related problem. Pennsylvania already has a state firearms preemption law that prohibits municipalities from enacting their own gun control ordinances inconsistent with state law. The problem is enforcement.
Local governments, most notably Philadelphia, have for years passed and enforced ordinances that violate the state preemption statute. Gun owners and pro-2A organizations have been forced to spend significant resources challenging these ordinances in court, and even when they win, they often have no way to recover attorney fees or damages from the municipality.
SB 822 changes that. The bill creates a cause of action allowing gun owners and pro-2A organizations to sue local governments that violate state firearms preemption. It allows for the recovery of attorney fees, court costs, and damages. The result is that local politicians who enact unconstitutional firearms ordinances would no longer be doing so on the public’s dime while gun owners foot the legal bills.
The Pennsylvania Senate passed SB 822 by a 30-20 vote on May 6, 2026. The bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee on May 7. It now needs House passage and the governor’s signature to become law.
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Why Both Bills Matter Together
These two bills are different in their mechanics but complementary in their effect. SB 357 protects the individual right to bear arms by removing the permit requirement for lawful carry. SB 822 protects that same right from being chopped into pieces by local governments that ignore state preemption.
Without SB 357, Pennsylvania remains stuck behind the growing number of states that recognize permitless carry. Without SB 822, local governments such as Philadelphia can continue to enact and enforce ordinances that contradict state law, forcing law-abiding gun owners to either comply with unlawful ordinances or pay out of pocket to challenge them.
Together, the two bills would represent the most meaningful expansion of Pennsylvania gun rights since the 2011 amendment to the state’s Castle Doctrine.
Why This Matters for Pennsylvania Gun Owners
The Second Amendment is a fundamental civil right, and the right of law-abiding Pennsylvanians to keep and bear arms for self-defense should not depend on whether they can afford the time, fees, and bureaucratic process required to obtain a permit. Twenty-nine states have already determined that permitless carry is the proper recognition of that right. Pennsylvania has every reason to join them.
The Philadelphia carve-out in current law is also worth specific attention. There is no constitutional principle that allows a state to recognize a fundamental right in 67 of its 67 counties except for one city. The fact that Pennsylvania currently does so is a holdover from a different legal era and a different understanding of the Second Amendment. Heller, McDonald, and Bruen have made clear that the right to keep and bear arms is fully protected against state and local government infringement. SB 357 brings Pennsylvania law into alignment with that constitutional reality.
SB 822 is in many ways even more important for the long-term protection of gun rights. A constitutional right that local governments can violate without consequence is a right in name only. Allowing gun owners to sue and recover their costs is the structural fix that makes preemption real. It changes the cost-benefit analysis for local politicians considering an unlawful ordinance from “we might lose in court someday” to “we will pay the gun owners’ legal bills if we lose.”
What Comes Next
SB 357 needs a full Senate floor vote. If it passes, it moves to the House. SB 822 has already passed the Senate and is now in the House Judiciary Committee. Both bills will need House passage and either Governor Josh Shapiro’s signature or a veto override to become law. Governor Shapiro has previously expressed opposition to permitless carry, which means a successful veto override is the more likely path for SB 357.
Pennsylvania gun owners who want to weigh in have several avenues. Calls and personalized emails to state senators and representatives carry more weight than form messages. The National Association for Gun Rights, NRA-ILA, Firearms Owners Against Crime, and other Pennsylvania-focused pro-2A organizations have action alerts and contact information available online. Pennsylvania residents can find their state representative and state senator at palegis.us.
