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Court: Philly Can't Enact Tougher Its Own Gun Laws
Friday, September 26, 2008 6:30 PM
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Philadelphia officials cannot enact gun laws tougher than Pennsylvania's law, a state appeals court ruled Friday in throwing out city ordinances that included limiting gun purchases to one a month and banning assault weapons.
Commonwealth Court dismissed a lawsuit against the Legislature filed by two members of Philadelphia's City Council, Darrell L. Clarke and Donna Reed Miller.
The court cited language in several gun ordinances the council passed last year that the measures cannot take effect unless the Legislature were to let municipalities enact stricter laws. That has not happened.
"While we understand the terrible problems gun violence poses for the city and sympathize with its efforts to use its police powers to create a safe environment for its citizens, these practical considerations do not alter the clear pre-emption imposed by the Legislature," President Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter wrote in the court's ruling.
Leadbetter noted that the state Supreme Court previously upheld the state's exclusive right to enact gun laws in a 1996 ruling that overturned Philadelphia's effort to ban assault weapons. A 1974 state law says that only the General Assembly can regulate guns.
George Bochetto, a lawyer for Clarke and Miller, said he expected to appeal. Bochetto said he was encouraged that the city would prevail because the Commonwealth Court decision relied on the 1996 case, rather than on the court's own reasoning.
In a separate opinion, Judge Doris A. Smith-Ribner said she agreed with dismissing the lawsuit, but disagreed with the court's finding that previous court rulings could be interpreted as a "clear ban" against the city's ordinances.
City officials have been pushing for a tougher local ordinance in response to Philadelphia's high murder rate and its reputation for being a weapons source for criminals in New York and other states with stricter gun laws. Four Philadelphia police officers have died in the line of duty in the last year.
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Now we have to keep the legislatures from enacting firearms laws, which do permit tougher firearms laws than those in the State. Anyway one looks at this decision, it is a win for firearms owners everywhere for the precedent it sets.
