In Pennsylvania, you need a permit to carry a concealed weapon subject to certain exceptions. The most applicable exception is probably this: if you have a concealed carry permit in your home state, you don't need to get another one in PA; but that's subject to reciprocity requirements and some determination by the Attorney General that the other state's laws are similar to PA's. So I guess the message is: look and see if your home state has a reciprocity agreement with PA, and if not, check to see if the Attorney General has issued an opinion regarding the concealed carry laws of your home state (and no, I don't know where you'd find either of these things out).I have no reference link to send you to for more information. It is from an "Only Ones" board and is in the "Members Only" section, and my source prefers to remains anonymous.
As a word of warning: have your permit and the reciprocity agreement or AG's opinion with you. We train all our police to err on the side of safety and arrest and confiscate if the issue of legality cannot be determined on the scene. The police officer is not going to do the legal research for you on this one.
But nice attitude: If we don't know it's illegal, we'll arrest you and confiscate your property just to be on the safe side. And we do that by training.
Thing is, why would PA LEOs presume that's safe, once people realize they might be illegally taken hostage and robbed (or killed)?
And why would we assume these self-admitted Ignorant of the Law Enforcement Officers would recognize a "legal" out-of-state permit/reciprocity agreement anyway?