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Today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a 55 page, unanimous decision in Crawford, et al. v. Commonwealth, et al., 19 EAP 2022, affirming the Commonwealth Court’s decision throwing out the City of Philadelphia’s lawsuit contending that Pennsylvania’s firearm and ammunition preemption statute – 18 Pa.C.S. 6120 – was unconstitutional on numerous grounds. In fact, the City’s argument was that our state firearm preemption statute violates “the Pennsylvania Constitution’s guarantee of all Pennsylvanians’ right to ‘enjoy[] and defend[] life and liberty’ in Article I, Section 1 by prohibiting the enactment of local firearm ordinances?” (Yes, that is the exact language, including the right to defend one’s self, from their question presented… you simply cannot make this stuff up!)
As many of you likely remember, I wrote an Amicus Brief on behalf of Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League (“ACSL”) and Firearms Owners Against Crime – Institute for Legal, Legislative, and Educational Action (“FOAC-ILLEA”), and portions of the decision seems to parrot many of my arguments. While the Court didn’t explicitly address my argument that the Uniform Firearms Act (“UFA”) provides for field preemption (beyond the express preemption of 18 Pa.C.S. 6120), it seems to have T’ed that issue up for a ruling consistent with my arguments, given that the decision spends over 8 pages (10-11, 14- 19) addressing the breadth of the UFA and explicitly declares that “it is important to be mindful that [Section 6120] is just one of many in the UFA’s relatively longstanding and comprehensive statutory scheme of firearms regulation;” which is required for field preemption. And, as the Court notes in footnote 15, the Court has held three cases – FOAC-ILLEA v. Pittsburgh, Armstrong, and Anderson – the first two being my cases, pending its decision in this case. As such, I suspect in the very near future, we will likely receive an Order in either FOAC-ILLEA v. Pittsburgh or Armstrong (with Pittsburgh being the most likely), or both, lifting the stay and directing briefing, so that the Court can finally, explicitly hold that the breadth of the UFA provides field preemption; whereby, only the General Assembly may, in any manner, regulate firearms and ammunition.
Please join us in thanking FOAC-ILLEA and ACSL for always remaining steadfast in their dedication to defending Article 1, Section 21, 18 Pa.C.S. 6120 and the Second Amendment. We would highly encourage anyone in a financial position to do so, to donate to FOAC-ILLEA so it can continue to support important litigation defending our Rights.
If your state or federal constitutional rights have been violated, or the federal, state or local government ever violate your statutory rights, contact FICG today to discuss your options.
Firearms Industry Consulting Group® (FICG®) is a registered trademark and division of Civil Rights Defense Firm, P.C., with rights and permissions granted to Prince Law Offices, P.C. to use in this article.
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