HARRISBURG - Dozens of state legislators flanked Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, Tuesday morning on the steps of the Capitol rotunda during his fourth annual Right to Bear Arms rally.

Metcalfe, along with about 10 other Second Amendment advocates, spoke to a vocal group of more than 100 people about protecting gun owners' constitutional right to bear arms.

He cautioned the crowd to be wary of "liberal gun-grabbers" and levied heavy criticism against Gov. Ed Rendell and his support of a bill that would allow local governments and municipalities statewide to enact their own gun control laws.

Metcalfe said he'll introduce a bill during the current legislative session to counter Rendell's proposal, a bill that would levy financial penalties against any elected local officials who enact stricter gun control laws statewide.

It's the only way, he said, to defend the rights of gun owners.

"My friends, we have local elected officials in cities and boroughs and townships across the state working to undermine our Constitution even though they've taken an oath to defend it," he told the crowd. "They do this by blatantly, arrogantly and knowingly imposing their own firearms restrictions."

Metcalfe also took aim at a previous plan supported by Rendell that would limit the sale of firearms to one per month, per gun owner. Even though Rendell has backed off that proposal, Metcalfe, said, he still supports the bill that would allow local governments to enforce their own gun restrictions or limitations.

John Sigler, president of the National Rifle Association, also heaved criticism toward the governor's plan to allow local governments to curb gun sales or ownership.

He spoke loudly against any law that would restrict purchases of firearms and said a one gun per month policy "never works and never can."

"What gives any government, especially a city or state government, the right to ration a constitutional right?" Sigler said. "Make no mistake, if they limit you to one they can limit you to none, and that's exactly the goal of gun registration laws and don't let them tell you any different."

Sigler, a former police captain in Delaware, said gun registration laws would do absolutely nothing to curb violent crimes because criminals don't register their guns.

He also urged the crowd to voice their discontent against a "big brother, big government" atmosphere that would come with more restrictions and regulations.

If they don't, he said, the consequences could be dire for gun owners because "gun registration leads to gun confiscation as surely as thunder follows lightning."

Kim Stolfer, chairman of Firearms Owners Against Crime, also said harmful consequences arise from strict gun laws because those laws take away peoples' right to defend themselves.

He said countless people have died because Pennsylvania has "124 pages of gun laws that take away your freedoms, and they need to be fixed."

Stolfer made no mention of the three Pittsburgh police officers killed earlier this month by a citizen with an AK-47, who was able to purchase the assault rifle after a federal law banning them expired in 2004.

He told the crowd gun owners aren't at fault when it comes to violent crimes.

"You're not the problem," he told the supportive crowd. "The problem can be traced back to an indifferent justice system that allows these people (criminals) to be on the street."

State Sen. Jane Orie, R-40th, also spoke at the event and claimed that Pennsylvanians' Second Amendment rights are "under assault."

"The right to bear arms is a political right guaranteed at the core of the American system and ensures American people have the right of self protection," Orie said. "And Washington, D.C., can't take away that right and Gov. Rendell cannot take away that right."

Metcalfe was joined by area legislators Rep. Dick Stevenson, R-8th, Rep. Jaret Gibbons, D-10th, Rep. Brian Ellis, R-11th, Rep. Scott Hutchinson, R-64th and Sen. Mary Jo White, R-21st.