Why some 2nd Amendment-loving attorneys don’t want to store guns for clients

• Ed Mahon
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  Ed Mahon comes to Spotlight PA from PA Post, where he covered state politics and policy, produced radio stories that were broadcast on public media stations throughout the state and on NPR’s national newscasts, and co-wrote a weekday newsletter. Prior to joining PA Post, Ed worked for six years as an investigative and political reporter for the York Daily Record, part of the USA Today Network. His reporting on failures in Pennsylvania’s system for protecting domestic abuse victims was a finalist in the national 2018 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists in the local reporting category. He was also part of a team whose coverage of the criminal justice system, including the aggressive use of civil asset forfeiture by York County prosecutors, received the 2018 G. Richard Dew Award for Journalistic Service from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. Before joining the York Daily Record, Ed covered K-12 education at the Centre Daily Times in State College and worked as a stringer for suburban sections of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He grew up in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

 Ed Mahon / PA Post

Attorney Marc Scaringi points to photos of him with Republican President Donald Trump during an interview on April 25, 2019, in his Dauphin County office.

From The Context, PA Post’s weekday email newsletter:

‘We’re not in the business of storing firearms’

Ed Mahon / PA Post

Attorney Marc Scaringi points to photos of him with President Donald Trump in his Dauphin County office during an interview on April 25, 2019.

• Under the state’s new Protection from Abuse Act, when alleged abusers have to give up their guns, they can no longer hand them over to a friend or family member for safekeeping.

• They can, however, hand them over to an attorney. I was curious whether attorneys are willing to take those guns, so I talked to several for this PA Post story.

• Some attorneys who focus on gun rights, such as Marc Scaringi and Michael P. Gottlieb, said storing guns brings too much risk or hassle. But Joseph Lento, a Philadelphia attorney who once created a “Rocky”-inspired video to describe how he fights for clients, is one of the attorneys willing to store guns. He recently bought a $3,500 gun safe to prepare for the new law.

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