Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Mayor Bill Peduto has already tried and failed once in his quest to get courts to strike down the state’s firearm preemption law that blocks localities from imposing their own local gun control ordinances, but he’s back at it again, this time teaming up with Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and anti-gun groups to support another attempt to undo the state law.
This time around it’s the state capitol of Harrisburg that’s at the center of a legal battle over local gun laws, but Peduto and Kenney have signed on to an amicus brief filed with the state Supreme Court arguing that, as the mayors of Pennsylvania’s two biggest cities, they too would like the ability to impose their own draconian gun laws. From the Pittsburgh Tribune:
Firearm Owners Against Crime, a Second Amendment rights organization, and several of its members sued Harrisburg in 2015, contending the city’s ordinances were preempted by a state law that prohibits municipalities from regulating firearms. Dauphin County Court ruled the plaintiffs had no standing to sue because they had not been cited under the ordinances.
Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court overturned the county court ruling and Harrisburg is appealing to the state Supreme Court.
Pittsburgh on Wednesday joined Philadelphia and a slew of anti-gun groups in support of Harrisburg, saying the Commonwealth Court decision would trigger a “flood of baseless lawsuits.”
“Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are the Commonwealth’s biggest municipalities,” the legal brief says. “Together, they provide city services, administer justice, and ensure public safety for over 1.8 million Pennsylvanians. Respondents’ lawsuit imperils all three of these basic municipal functions.”
Cam Edwards has covered the 2nd Amendment for more than 15 years as a broadcast and online journalist, as well as the co-author of "Heavy Lifting: Grow Up, Get a Job, Start a Family, and Other Manly Advice" with Jim Geraghty. He lives outside of Farmville, Virginia with his family. https://bearingarms.com/author/camedwards/