The City of Philadelphia lost another gun lawsuit in Commonwealth Court yesterday. This was the lawsuit by the city against the Pennsylvania Legislature in Harrisburg for failing to pass sufficiently strict gun laws, and for disallowing the City fo pass its own gun laws:
The state Commonwealth Court struck down a lawsuit filed last year by City Council members Darrell Clarke and Donna Reed Miller against the state General Assembly for not passing enabling legislation to allow a package of gun-control laws to be enforced in the city.
The court rejected Council’s argument that the state’s Uniform Firearms Act does not preempt local control over guns.
“While we understand the terrible problems gun violence poses for the city and sympathize with its efforts to use police powers to create a safe environment for its citizens, these practical considerations do not alter the clear pre-emption imposed by the legislature, nor our Supreme Court’s validation of the legislature’s power to act,” the ruling said.
Nutter is not surrendering on this issue, however:
“People have to make a decision as to what side of this issue they’re going to be on. You’re either going to stand up for the citizens of Philadelphia or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or you’re going to stand up for criminals.”
How about standing up for the Constitution Mr. Mayor? You know, the one that you took an oath to uphold? No one is standing up for the criminals here, least of all me. But Let me tell you, Mayor Nutter has some stones here, to talk about supporting criminals when his City criminal justice system is letting people like this roam the streets. Until we can have an open honest conversation about how to deal with that problem, the City politicians are continuing to pretend to be addressing the problem.
UPDATE: Looks like Uncle beat me to it. Now he’ll start telling me I don’t read his blog again :)
I stand up for the Commonwealth and the Citizens which is why Philly needs to stop with these asinine gun laws that hurt no one except law abiding citizens. I care so much about the citizens that I send letters and make it known that we can not be pushed around to give up our gun rights.
Clearly Nutter is on the side of criminals, as gun laws make it harder for people to defend themselves.
Time to send some letters to Nutter.
The “home rule” whining is picking up here in Ohio, too. A Parma (blue-collar suburb of Cleveland) city councilman “from a family with a long tradition of NRA membership and gun ownership had a letter in the local daily fishwrap decrying the recent court decision in Clyde concerning city parks and concealed carry.
Also a letter full of PSH about castle doctrine, but that’s par for the course for the LDF.
III
If Darryl Clarke and Donna Reed-Miller pursue an appeal, they should have to pay for it out of their own pockets. If they use city funds for it, then, when they lose, they should be made to reimburse the city for the cost of their appeal. If they refuse to reimburse the city, they should be sued and or prosecuted for willful misuse of city property (the attorneys in the solicitor’s office).