The state of Pennsylvania not only forbids local governments from regulating guns but went beyond that with a new NRA-supported law allowing the allowing the NRA and other organizations members with living in Pennsylvania or actual residents of the Commonwealth to sue the municipality for not only injunction to stop the law but for any actual or punitive financial damages they feel are warranted.
For example, Philadelphia and many other communities require the reporting of lost and stolen firearms. Since our state government will not act against making of “straw” purchases, many municipalities have. Both are important tools to fight gun trafficking without interfering with the possession of guns by ordinary citizens.
It is hard to imagine anything but absurd examples of someone facing actual financial damages as a result of a gun being reported stolen but I suppose if you had a good enough lawyer, he or she could convince a jury that the plaintiff deserved a large amount of damages. And the plaintiff might as well hire the best since the local government sued will have to pay lawyer fees and court cost if the plaintiff wins.
When I looked into this law (House Bill 80) I was wondering what was the big deal. It just appeared to be a way to prevent municipalities from acting illegally and paying the price if they did. But then I saw within the law a reference to Title 53 which says in part:
Regulation of firearms.–A municipality shall not enact any ordinance or take any other action dealing with the regulation of the transfer, ownership, transportation or possession of firearms.
I hope these laws restricting local government rights meet the same fate as Corbett’s earlier attempt to prevent local governments from limiting or regulating fracking. That is this attempt to usurp local government zoning laws when it came to fracking was found to violate the state’s constitution.
If you do vote next week you might want to consider the stand of the people you are voting for or against on both local control vs state control and regulating guns. CeaseFirePA has a page on how our state representatives and senators voted on common sense gun policies