(photo credit: Josh Lopez)
From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
HARRISBURG -- The Commonwealth Court today blocked Pennsylvania from enforcing a law that allows gun enthusiasts, such as the National Rifle Association, to sue municipalities over local gun ordinances that go beyond state law.
Pittsburgh had joined the cities of Philadelphia and Lancaster, as well as several Democratic legislators, in challenging the law -- Act 192 of 2014. The law allowed any resident eligible to own a gun, or a group with such a person as a member, to challenge a local gun ordinance. If the suit were successful, the municipality would have to pay the challenger's legal fees.
But the court found that the law, which had began as a bill establishing penalties for the theft of secondary metals, such as copper and aluminum, "clearly, palpably and plainly violates the single subject requirement" of the state Constitution.
...
Days after the law took effect, the NRA filed suit against Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Lancaster. An Allegheny County judge ordered a stay of the Pittsburgh lawsuit while the Commonwealth Court considered the constitutionality of the new law.
http://www.post-gazette.com/...
Can you believe the chutzpah of the NRA - suing the city of Pittsburgh? What abhorrent assholes. The law has already cowed as many as 50 Pennsylvania municipalities, including Allentown, Reading and Bethlehem, into drastically modifying or removing altogether their local gun ordinances. Now this law has now been deemed unconstitutional.
The case will likely be appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Nevertheless, it's looking like a great day all around for the judicial branch.
h/t an email from Keystone Progress.