PA High Court Upholds Philadelphia Gun Law

On June 7, 2010 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a ruling that allows Philadelphia's lost or stolen handgun reporting ordinance to stand. By a one-line order, the high court denied the petitions for appeal filed by both the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the City of Philadelphia from an earlier decision in the Commonwealth Court, which had upheld the city's lost or stolen ordinance and two other local laws dealing with firearms.

The three city ordinances left standing and in force deal with lost or stolen handgun reporting; restricting access to guns where a protection from abuse order is involved; and restricting access to firearms where an individual is in imminent danger to him or herself or others. By its order denying the city and NRA appeals, the Supreme Court effectively upheld these three local ordinances, but also affirmed the part of the Commonwealth Court case that struck down two other Philadelphia gun ordinances, one dealing with straw purchases and one dealing with assault weapons, ruling those laws were preempted by state laws regulating firearms.

The Supreme Court's ruling gives new energy to a growing, statewide coalition of 43 cities and towns across the Commonwealth - including Pennsylvania's four largest cities, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie and Allentown - that have taken action in support of lost or stolen firearm reporting. They have all passed some type of ordinance, which requires that handgun owners report firearms which are lost or stolen to local police, usually within 48 to 72 hours of discovering their absence. Police and law enforcement officials say that such reporting will help them crack down on illegal straw gun trafficking - which fuels gun violence in the state.

CeaseFirePA, a statewide gun violence prevention organization, is spearheading the effort across the Commonwealth to demand that the General Assembly pass legislation on lost or stolen handgun reporting "as a common sense reform to protect every Pennsylvanian," according to the organization's executive director, Joe Grace. JSPAN is an active member of the coalition that includes "cites, towns, mayors, city council members, police chiefs, faith leaders and citizens."