just got a new machine, and looking to do some detecting, not sure what the law is here in milford pa, does anyone have any insights on the law?
thanks
ctx3030, your post is a testament to the "kernal" that gets this stuff going. No slam meant to you, since .... you're just on the receiving end, doing the understandable "human reaction" sort-of-thing.
Scroll back and see : Someone starts a post, about a specific geographic locale. No mention or question at all, via "laws" or "rules", right ? But then a few-posts-in, someone alludes to "laws and rules" that might affect the given-area.
Then ... sure enough, the
MERE MENTION of *possible* "law/rules" will catch the eye of any newbie. Because ... of course... he doesn't want to "be arrested" or "get confiscations", etc... So ... of course .... the topic of conversation/concern changes to "laws/rules" for subsequent readers (esp. newbies).
Did I get this evolution right ? (as evidenced right-here on-this-thread). If so, this is exactly the same evolution I saw, firsthand, back in the mid to late 1970s (when I started as a teen) to the early 1980s. Back then, no one ever gave thought to "laws/rules". Oh sure .... we had the "presence of mind" to not tromp on obvious historic sensitive monuments. But for normal parks, schools, beaches, forests, deserts .... it would never-have-occurred to us that there was ever any problem.
But *the moment* someone came into the club meeting , speculating about a "law" or "rule", is the moment that everyone else around them began to wonder "Gee, I wonder if such & such other area is allowed ?". Questions that, prior to that .... no one had ever even thought to question or wonder. In places that ... quite frankly ... had always/ever been detected and no one ever had a problem .
But now that the "question" is out-in-the-air, the "mere question" simply fuels the "more questions". After all, you wouldn't want to "get arrested", right ?
So what was/is the best way to resolve this ? Simple : Go to a pencil pusher's desk, and ask "Is it ok to metal detect at such & such park or beach?". Right ? Who better to ask, than the powers-that-be, after all, right ?
The "pressing question" would get pushed up the pipeline, till it lands on the desk of a purist archie. Or someone who envisions geeks with shovels leaving holes.
So the "no" answer gets passed out. Meanwhile, all the oldtimers are left scratching their heads saying "
since when ?" 
And back then, I asked myself : "What changed ? Why did people start swatting hornet's nests ?". And I traced back the evolution, to exactly what is apparent even on this singular thread: It only takes a single musing of "Can I?" or "Is it legal?". And then that fuels the skittish persons to go seeking clarifications. And then .... presto ... a self-fulfilling vicious circle
