Second Amendment Blog
They Did It: Philadelphia Passes Gun Bills
Posted by:Sebastian on 
Apr 10th, 2008 | 
Filed under: Gun Rights, Philadelphia
City Council has passed the gun control measures:
City Council passed five gun control measures today that are expected to still face a legal challenges.
Mayor Nutter has said he will sign the bills into law. The five bills limit handgun purchases to one a month; require lost or stolen firearms to be reported to police within 24 hours; forbid individuals under protection from abuse orders from possessing guns if ordered by the court; allow removal of firearms from “persons posing a risk of imminent personal injury” to themselves or others, as determined by a judge; and outlaw the possession and sale certain assault weapons.
I have absolutely no intention of obeying any of these city ordinances, and I can promise a lawsuit if they attempt to enforce them in violation of the laws of this commonwealth. Get ready folks, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
UPDATE: Nutter signed the five pieces of shit, and ordered his partner in crime, Police Chief Charles Ramsey, to enforce them. I feel for the police officers who will end up following orders, and possibly open themselves up to lawsuits. Because of preemption, and the Ortiz precident upholding preemption, these laws passed by city council are essentially not law, so anyone enforcing them will be acting under color of law, and could possibly lose their qualified immunity.
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April 10th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Which five of the original nine ordinances are now “law”? Do you have the text of the bills available?
April 10th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Mayor Nutter wasted no time–he signed them already, and has ordered their immediate enforcement.
I guess that makes the entire Philly government a criminal organization.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
That article mentions only two of the five measures signed into “law” today, and doesn’t give even a hint about the other three, let alone any link to the actual text of the “laws”. Where can I find real, hard information, rather than just a news snippet?
April 10th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Travis, I haven’t found the actual text of the ordinances (in full legalese), but I have found “Cliff Notes version:
The Laws Signed Today:
• Temporarily Removes Guns From Individuals Declared to be a Risk to Themselves or Others –
Pursuant to a order by a judge, guns will now be able to be removed from individuals who are proven to
be a danger to themselves or others.
• Prohibits People with Protection from Abuse Orders Against them from Having Guns – Under this
legislation, individuals with protection from abuse orders against them can no longer purchase or
possess a gun.
• Mandates Reporting for Lost or Stolen Guns – The law fines owners if they fail to report a lost or
stolen firearm to a local law enforcement official within 24 hours of discovering the loss or theft.
• Prohibits Assault or Contraband Weapons in Philadelphia – This law prohibits the sale or
possession of contraband or assault weapons and ammunitions from the City of Philadelphia.
• Limits the Purchase of Weapons to One Gun a Month and Deters Straw Purchasers – Now gun
buyers are required to obtain a “30 day eligibility report” from the Philadelphia Police Department
certifying that the buyer has not purchased another gun within the past month. If the eligibility reports
indicate that a purchaser has obtained more than one handgun in any 30 day period, then that person
will be considered a trafficker in handguns.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
By the way, are so-called “assault weapons” defined under either Pennsylvania or Philadelphia law?
April 10th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
There is no such thing as an “assault weapon” under PA law. I believe that the Philadelphia ordinance has a very broad definition.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
What a Nut Case.
I feel sorry for the police officers.
They are caught in the middle.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I do too. Qualified immunity gets murky in an area like this. What do you if you’re ordered to do something illegal by your superiors? It’s easy to say from the comfort of an armchair “You refuse to enforce it,” but a lot harder when you have to feed a family.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I’m with you.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:25 am
[...] Philadelphia has passed the gun control measures that were before the City Council, and Mayor Nutter has signed them. Remember, these laws are illegal, as Pennsylvania is a preemption state where localities such as Philadelphia cannot pass laws which would run contrary to established state laws. [...]
April 11th, 2008 at 7:38 am
[...] In Philly, they passed a bunch of gun laws that are illegal due to pre-emption. The mayor has said enforcement goes into effect now. This will get interesting. Sebastian has the skinny. [...]
April 11th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Aren’t the first two federal law already? If you are under a temp hold you can’t possess weapons and if you have a protective order against you you can have weapons either. Or am I missing something?
April 11th, 2008 at 8:26 am
“I feel for the police officers who will end up following orders, and possibly open themselves up to lawsuits.”
Hell with being open for lawsuits. I’m pretty sure that enforcing these laws could get those officers in jail themselves. The FBI doesn’t look too kindly on color of law violations.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:47 am
So does anyone think these laws will actually be enforced? I don’t.
Has the Philly police dept set up a system to do the 30 day eligibility check? How? Do they have a register of all firearm purchases (not just handguns, as the rule is any firearms) in PA by city residents and nonresidents? I don’t think so….
How will they EVER know that a firearm is stolen and NOT reported, unless they recover one in a criminal investigation and trace it to an owner, who will then say, “Hey, that gun must have been stolen, and I never noticed. Now that I know, I am reporting to you, the police, within 24 hours of my finding out, that it was stolen.” So this will NEVER be enforced.
So this BS is just to show the local yokels (yes, that is what they are, despite being from the big city) doing something, instead of them going to the effort to do something that works….
April 11th, 2008 at 9:55 am
The issue at this point should be what can be done about it other than waiting for a case to wind its way through the courts.
I would suggest that it is time for gun owners across the rest of this state to start boycotting Philadelphia to the extent possible. I live in the suburbs and work in the City. From this day forward not one dime of my money will go into the hands of any business in this city if I can possibly make the same purchase elsewhere. I see no reason to give the City a penny out of every dollar I spend so that they can use the money to pass and enforce ordinances that are really little more than a thinly veiled attempt to make the city safe for the thugs that are beating up honest citizens on subway platforms. Maybe if enough of us withhold our spending, and let those who run businesses in the city know what we are doing and why, the business owners will start to bring pressure on the City. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but worth the try.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Mikee, it fascinates me that the City apparently has enough police officers sitting around with nothing to do that they can set up a system to do an eligibility check, but complains that it doesn’t have the manpower to follow up on multiple purchases to track down straw sales.
What a crock!
April 11th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Mikee,
It is a dog and pony show, but people have gone to jail when the powers that be decide you’re going to be a dog or a pony.
April 11th, 2008 at 10:54 am
[...] Don’t Even Know How They Can Do It Sebastian has details on Philadelphia passing a handful of gun control laws that are in conflict with state law. According to what I have read, [...]
April 11th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
What the frak is an “assault … ammunition”?
Regardless, it is good to see that Philadelphia politicians have absolutely no understanding of effective laws… nothing they passed has had any affect upon crime in the past, what makes them think it is going to work in this case? In fact, the first two could rapidly turn into a method by which just about anyone could disarm firearm owners simply because they do not like those people owning firearms… Protective orders are not exactly the hardest things to come by any more, and, hell, given how anti-rights folks can twist suicide and accident statistics, anyone owning a firearm could potentially be judged a “risk to themselves”.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Put up signs that have a quote of the statutes that contain the PA pe-emption law.
Post in bold type that this sign is constructive notification that this city law is unlawful, and that anyone enforcing it can get sued without being able to claim in good faith that they were obeying statute.
( get help from an attorney … you want to make damned well sure every cop who sees this can get sued for breaking the statute )
Post copies near the police stations.
Hand them to cops.
Picket city hall with a big sign up also saying this.
If you can get the money together:
Run one in a newspaper ad.
Put one on a bill board within sight of city hall.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Put up signs that have a quote of the statutes that contain the PA pe-emption law.
Post in bold type that this sign is constructive notification that this city law is unlawful, and that anyone enforcing it can get sued without being able to claim in good faith that they were obeying statute.
( get help from an attorney … you want to make damned well sure every cop who sees this can get sued for breaking the statute )
Post copies near the police stations.
Hand them to cops.
Picket city hall with a big sign up also saying this.
If you can get the money together:
Run one in a newspaper ad.
Put one on a bill board within sight of city hall.
x
April 11th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
God, I’m glad I live in TX.
April 12th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
If the City passed a law that they have no authority to do so why does not someone contact the AG and either ask for the AG to prosecute the Mayor? Not a PA resident so do not know the process. If a representative breaks the law, then a request can be made that that person be arrested. Or have a State Rep conatct the AG to arrest the MAyor.
April 12th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Because there’s no penalty for violating the UFA. Until they enforce it on someone, there’s nothing the AG can do.
April 13th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Why can’t a group of Philadelphia citizens walk into city hall and arrest the Mayor?
April 15th, 2008 at 8:00 am
It seems to me that the easiest of these get tested is the “Assault Weapons” ban. If someone were so inclined, all they would have to do is say “excuse me officer, I have an AR-15 unloaded and locked in my trunk.”
April 16th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
OK, so does “individuals under protection from abuse orders” mean the hitter, or the hittee?