Legal Research

Judge Strikes Down Two Philidelphia Gun Laws, Lets Three Laws Stand

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: Crime and Justice News, June 4, 2008.

"A Philadelphia judge has sided with the National Rifle Association and struck down city ordinances banning assault weapons and limiting handgun purchases to one a month, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. Judge Jane Cutler Greenspan ruled that Philadelphia should be permanently prevented from enforcing the laws that City Council passed unanimously in April. The judge declined to strike down three other laws on procedural grounds, indicating that the NRA and other plaintiffs did not have legal standing to challenge those laws. "

"C. Scott Shields, the NRA's lawyer, called Greenspan's ruling a "huge victory" for gun- rights advocates. 'The assault-weapons ban was just ridiculous,' he said. 'There's just no way this would be enforceable.' The decision will be appealed, likely all the way to the state Supreme Court. During hearings, Greenspan indicated that she agreed with the NRA's position that superseding state laws prevent the city from regulating guns in any way. The laws Greenspan allowed to stand permit judges to remove guns from people declared to be a risk to themselves or others, prevent people subject to protection-from-abuse orders from owning guns, and require gun owners to report the loss or theft of a gun to police within 24 hours."

Philadelphia Inquirer

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on June 04, 2008 (boomark / email).