Commonwealth v. Bavusa

Although I concur in the result, I would hold that the statutory criteria by which a perpetrator of the offense of carrying a firearm without a license is adjudged to have committed a felony or misdemeanor, see 18 Pa.C.S. § 6106, are substantive elements of the crimes, as opposed to sentencing factors (as the majority holds) or affirmative defenses (as the Superior Court determined). My reasoning follows.

First, it is significant, at least to me, that the relevant provision appears in the Crimes Code, as opposed to the Sentencing Code. See Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 528 U.S. 224, 234,…