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发帖数: 29846 | 1 January 11, 2015 - 12:05 PM
MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press
Barely a week after taking effect, a novel state law that makes it easier
for gun-rights groups to challenge local firearms measures in court is
already sparking change: Nearly two dozen Pennsylvania municipalities have
agreed to get rid of their potentially problematic ordinances rather than
face litigation.
Joshua Prince, an attorney for four pro-gun groups and several residents,
cited the new law in putting nearly 100 Pennsylvania municipalities on
notice that they would face legal action unless they rescinded their
firearms laws.
At least 22 of those municipalities have already repealed them, or indicated
they planned to do so, according to Prince, who specializes in firearms law
and is based in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania, which has a strong tradition of hunting and gun ownership, has
long prohibited its municipalities from enforcing firearms ordinances that
regulate the ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of guns or
ammunition.
Gun-rights groups complained that scores of municipalities have ignored the
40-year-old prohibition by passing their own, mainly unchallenged gun
measures.
Under the new state law, gun owners no longer have to prove they have been
harmed by the local measure to successfully challenge it, and "membership
organizations" like the National Rifle Association can stand in to sue on
behalf of any Pennsylvania member. The challenger can also seek damages.
Neither the NRA nor gun-control advocacy group CeaseFirePA was aware of any
state with a similar law.
The cities of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Lancaster have sued to overturn
the law, saying the legislation was passed improperly. That lawsuit is
pending in Commonwealth Court.
Shira Goodman, executive director of CeaseFirePA, is encouraging
municipalities with gun laws to stand pat, at least until the legal
challenge is resolved.
"We certainly understand that they feel threatened and concerned. We feel
like they have been put in a terrible position by their representatives in
Harrisburg," she said.
Reading City Council signaled last week it intended to repeal laws that ban
firing weapons within city limits and require owners to report lost or
stolen weapons. Officials said the city could ill afford a legal battle.
"We get ourselves in trouble in terms of trying to circumvent a state law,"
said Councilman Jeff Waltman. "We're not going to solve this with a local
gun law anyway."
The city of Harrisburg plans to defend its ordinances, asserting they comply
with state law. The measures ban gunfire anywhere in the city and weapons
possession in city parks. There's also a reporting requirement for lost or
stolen weapons.
Harrisburg's laws are intended to combat gun violence and have the support
of the police chief, said Mayor Eric Papenfuse.
"I don't think it's the be-all and end-all of public safety, but I think it'
s an important tool to have, and it absolutely sends the wrong message to
try to rescind those ordinances, especially given the epidemic of gun
violence we have in cities like Harrisburg," he said.
Papenfuse denounced the new state law as representing "a fringe ideological
view."
But gun activist Dave Dalton said no municipality has a right to flout
Pennsylvania law. He said the law gives gun owners a tool to hold
municipalities accountable.
"What gives a town or a city the authority to say, 'We're in Pennsylvania,
but we don't care about Pennsylvania law?' It's laughable," said Dalton,
founder of American Gun Owners Alliance in the Pocono Mountains, one of the
groups represented by Prince.
The local laws have violated gun owners' rights without making anyone safer,
said another of Prince's clients, Kim Stolfer, founder of Firearms Owners
Against Crime.
"I think all of us are pleased it's a good start, that communities are
starting to look at this," Stolfer said. Before gun groups were given
standing to sue, he said, municipal officials "were just going to thumb
their nose at a system that wasn't going to hold them responsible."
The NRA has not yet contacted any municipality, but said it's reviewing
local ordinances to ensure they comply with Pennsylvania law. |
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