HARRISBURG -- Conservative Republican legislators introduced two bills today aimed at protecting the rights of "law-abiding Pennsylvania handgun owners and buyers.''

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, is pushing a measure that would force state police to stop their years-long practice of keeping computerized "databases'' or "registries'' of personal information about handgun buyers.

At the time of purchase, a buyer must fill out a form listing his or her name, address, Social Security number, physical description as well as the make, model and serial number of the handgun.

The gun dealer forwards the data to the state police, who have 72 hours to do a criminal background check to make sure the buyer isn't a known criminal. But after 72 hours, Mr. Metcalfe said, the form is supposed to be destroyed. Instead, he complained, state police are keeping the personal information about Pennsylvania hunters, sportsmen and target shooters.

Mr. Metcalfe and Sen. John Pippy, R-Moon, said this practice is a waste of state police time and money and an unjustified intrusion into law-abiding people's lives.

But state police spokesman Jack Lewis said today that the issue of a sales database was an old one. In January 2002, he said, Commonwealth Court ruled that the database was not an illegal registry as defined by the state's Uniform Firearms Act.

According to Mr. Lewis, Judge James R. Kelley, writing for the majority, wrote: "As suggested by the commonwealth, the purpose [of the database] is to enable the state police to maintain a record of sales for law enforcement purposes in the event handguns are utilized in the commission of crimes. Such purpose is consistent with the long history of the commonwealth's maintenance of a handgun sales database."

Another bill, by Rep. Steven Cappelli, R-Lycoming County, would further spell out what is called the "castle doctrine,'' meaning a homeowner has the right to use a firearm to defend his home if an intruder breaks in.

Currently, Mr. Cappelli said, there is a chance the homeowner could be charged with murder if he shoots and kills a thief, and homeowners need to have their self-defense rights fully spelled out.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.