Sen. Frank Ferry, R-Bucks, is pictured speaking to a gathering of police officers.

A proposal coming soon to the state Senate would increase the penalties for those convicted of stealing firearms from a gun shop.

Sen. Frank Farry, R-Bucks, is circulating a co-sponsorship memorandum for legislation he is drafting along with fellow Republicans Tracy Pennycuick and Joe Picozzi as part of a multi-bill package of crime-related bills. The lawmakers say the commonwealth needs to do more to modernize its crime code.

“Many communities in our Commonwealth have had to deal with gun store robberies,” Farry, Pennycuick and Picozzi wrote in their co-sponsorship memorandum. “These kinds of robberies typically spawn further crime as the stolen weapons are used to threaten, hurt, or murder others as well as to support other criminal operations.”

The lawmakers mentioned the use of juveniles to steal from gun stores on behalf of adults because juveniles face lesser penalties in court, which they say happened recently in Bucks and Montgomery counties. The lawmakers think juveniles should be tried as adults in such cases.

Warren County recently saw a gun store theft resulting in charges against two Jamestown men that are winding their way through the Court of Common Pleas.

Damion Dalton and Tyler Dalton allegedly stole several guns from the Tall Tales Sporting Goods on Market Street, Pine Grove. According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by the State Police at Warren, two men entered the property, approaching the north side of the building to damage or alter electrical wires to the building. They allegedly broke the front window of the store and stole five AR rifles. The men then ran north, eventually ending up in Jamestown where they were eventually caught.

“Current law imposes a heightened penalty for the crime of burglary when the intent of the actor is to commit a theft of a controlled substance,” the lawmakers said in their memorandum. “Our legislation would expand this heightened penalty to apply where the intent of the actor is to commit a theft of a firearm. The bill would also allow for trying juveniles as adults who commit this crime as well as increase penalties for those who organize and conspire to commit this crime. There will also be additional penalties if any of the stolen guns are used in further crimes.”

Other areas of the law the senators want to change include:

– Adding a sentencing enhancement to the offense of DUI Homicide by Vehicle. It would apply, at the discretion of the sentencing court, where the driver either had alcohol and a controlled substance, or multiple controlled substances in their system.

– Legislation creating penalties for individuals who control, finance, or organize a riot in Pennsylvania.

– A bill to impose a new mandatory minimum sentence for previously convicted offenders found to be illegally in possession of a firearm. For a first offense, the senators propose that the criminal receive mandatory jail time of a short, but meaningful, period of under two years. For a second or subsequent offense – for those criminals who resist rehabilitation and continue to defy the law – mandatory, lengthy state prison time would apply.

– Add to penalties created in 2023 addressing porch pirating by providing protections for delivery drivers who are often attacked or threatened when delivering packages.

– Sentencing enhancements for common crimes committed during riots if the crimes happen during a riot, including burglary, simple assault, harassment, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, criminal trespass, and recklessly endangering another person.

– Move the Scrap Metal Act to Title 18 to help combat people using scrap metal facilities to make money off their stolen property. Moving the act to Title 18, the senators said, will better ensure stolen metals are not being sold in our scrap yards. The proposal will also add in new requirements for people selling certain metals like catalytic converters at scrap yards to make it more difficult for criminal organizations to use Pennsylvania scrap yards.

– Expanding the collection of DNA samples, much like fingerprints have been used since the 1920s, to identify the perpetrators of crimes.