Guns.com: Pennsylvania Court Finds Town’s Gun Ban Unlawful
Another win for the Second Amendment.
Via Guns.com:
A Commonwealth Court panel ruled 2-1 on Friday to grant a gun rights group an injunction against a Pennsylvania town’s ban on carrying firearms in area parks.
The court held the group’s case against Lower Merion Township, a 60,000 resident suburb of Philadelphia, has merit and issued a preliminary injunction against the city enforcing its local ban, overturning a lower court’s decision.
To the panel’s majority, it came down to a question of if the town violated state preemption laws regarding the lawful possession or transportation of firearms. With the answer being in the affirmative in their opinion, the injunction was the next logical step.
“Thus, we conclude that greater injury would result from refusing an injunction than granting it because refusing an injunction would sanction the Township’s continued statutory violations,” wrote Judge Patricia A. McCullough for the majority that included Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer.
Senior Judge Dan Pellegrini dissented in the ruling, arguing the city has legal authority to bar guns on property under its control.
“The net result of the majority not following our case law is something that the General Assembly never intended,” wrote Pellegrini, “that a local government must permit guns in and on property that it owns, including its recreation centers, ball fields, daycare centers and libraries, not to mention county offices in the courthouse, in its police department, at its jail, in its council chambers, in its mayor’s office and so on.”
Read more here.
