Quote:
Originally Posted by Sebastian
In any case, either civil or criminal, they have to enforce the law before there's grounds for a lawsuit and/or criminal charges. It's only a violation of preemption to pass gun control laws, but there's no penalty for doing so.
I wrote a brief explanation here. |
Thanks for your explanation. I understand that there must be an actual violation of one's rights (i.e., enforcement of the Philly gun "laws") before one can file a civil lawsuit for damages. But I still wonder: even if they actually enforce their "laws" against someone, can the offending officials be sued under
42 U.S.C. 1983 (or under another Civil Rights statute)? My understanding was that
42 U.S.C. 1983 only applied to violations of the US Constitution or *federal* laws, not state laws.