Court Opinion

ID: 9700169
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 21:14:55.884446+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:05.259957
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority holds that minor differences in the language of Sections 6106 and 6108 of the Crimes Code compel its conclusion that the Legislature intended that the allocation of the burden of proof under Section 6108 be different from that under Section 6106. I dissent.
Nothing in the language of Section 6108 compels this result. Section 6106 makes it an offense to carry a firearm without a license. Section 6108 makes it an offense to carry a firearm unless one is licensed. Both these sections create criminal liability for unlicensed possession of a firearm; they differ only in the circumstances under which such liability attaches. Under Section 6108, there is liability only for unlicensed possession on the public streets and public property in Philadelphia. Under Section 6106 unlicensed possession of a firearm creates liability everywhere except one’s home or place of business.
*486In Commonwealth v. McNeil, 461 Pa. 709, 337 A.2d 840 (1975), this Court held that the Commonwealth has the burden of establishing the defendant is without a license in a Section 6106 prosecution. Common sense mandates that the Commonwealth bear the same burden under Section 6108. The majority’s construction of Section 6108 attributes to the Legislature an hyper-technical objective which is unexpressed and unnecessary to effectuate the clear purpose of the statute. The majority’s holding will unnecessarily confuse the bench, bar and public, undermine the appearance of uniform justice, and permit firearms violation convictions in Philadelphia and elsewhere in the Commonwealth on different standards.
MANDERINO, J., joins in this dissenting opinion.