Gun rights advocates celebrated a victory this week after the highest court in Pennsylvania shot down Philadelphia’s push for stricter gun laws.
In a 6-0 decision, the state Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling against a lawsuit that Philadelphia filed along with gun control activists that charged the state’s firearms preemption laws, or FPLs, which bar local governments from passing their own gun restrictions, were unconstitutional.
The court made clear that the city of Philadelphia’s argument doesn’t fly.
Justice Kevin Brobson wrote that “a serious problem exists in this Commonwealth relative to gun violence.” Still, he said the city failed to prove the state General Assembly “intended to delegate to local entities any authority to regulate firearms.”
“While certain municipalities and residents thereof may believe, even justifiably, that our state government is not doing enough to remedy this problem and that particular local regulations are needed to do so but are preempted by the FPLs, we emphasize that ‘the adequacy of the legislation to cope with the problem and the wisdom or the lack thereof on the part of the legislature in framing [the] legislation is not for us to determine. Such questions are solely for the legislature to determine, and upon their province we must not encroach,’” the ruling said. “Stated another way, there is nothing for us to do in the absence of a constitutional violation or other infirmity in the FPLs.”
Gun rights activists celebrated the decision.
“The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania just unanimously upheld Pennsylvania’s firearms preemption law by throwing out this frivolous lawsuit,” said Val Finnell, the Pennsylvania director of Gun Owners of America. “Not only was Philadelphia’s challenge doomed from the start, but it was equally a gross violation of the constitutional separation of powers.”
The group said it’s also fighting Philadelphia’s push to ban homemade firearms in a case pending before the state Supreme Court.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker’s office said the decision will prevent the city from embracing “common-sense regulations of firearms that are proven to reduce gun violence and save lives.”
’’While we are disappointed with this result, the Parker administration will continue to seek remedies to Philadelphia’s deadly gun violence crisis through every legal tool in the toolbox at our disposal,’’ the mayor’s office said.
Philadelphia has repeatedly tried to put more restrictions on gun ownership and has grown frustrated with the lack of action from the Pennsylvania Legislature.
City officials have held that the state Legislature hasn’t done enough to address the gun violence that is wreaking havoc across its streets.
They have tried to address the issue by making the case that local governments should be able to adopt their ordinances targeting gun violence.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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