Preemption Violation - Upper Dublin Twp

[ehidle]

I went walking over lunch at Mondauk Park in UD township the other day and the township had a sign up that prohibited the carrying of firearms (and weapons) on the park grounds.

What's with these people? Can they simply not read? Oh wait, no, they're just doing what they do best - trampling on the constitution and the Laws of the Commonwealth.

Anyway, they got my standard preemption letter via email. I will follow up with their response.

Greetings. I went walking at Mondauk Park over lunch the other day and noticed that the sign displaying the rules of the park included a prohibition on firearms on park grounds. I am sure this was just an oversight and an honest mistake, but I would just like to point out that the Commonwealth’s Uniform Firearms Act (1995) reads, in part, as follows:

18 Pa. C.S. §6120. Limitation on the Regulation of Firearms and Ammunition.

(a) General rule. No county, municipality or township may in any manner regulate the lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms, ammunition or ammunition components when carried or transported for purposes not prohibited by the laws of this commonwealth.
The law of the Commonwealth fully and completely preempts the township from enacting any rule or ordinance that prohibits the lawful carriage of firearms within the borders of the Commonwealth, and as such the "no firearms" policy of the park is unconstitutional and unlawful. Furthermore, it does a disservice to the public by violating their civil rights, and misinforming them about the true nature of their rights as guaranteed by both the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the Commonwealth.

Again, I am sure this was a simple oversight on the part of the township. I know that State Laws can be long and complex and that nobody can be expected to know all of them. I just wanted to bring this to your attention so that you can correct the policy and strike the unlawful prohibition from the park policy, and remove any signage from the parks to that effect.

I would appreciate a follow up from you when this has been completed.
Sincerely

[FNG19]

Originally Posted by ehidle

Anyway, they got my standard preemption letter via email. I will follow up with their response.

Two comments: First, great job with the letter. You were non-accusatory, calm, and laid out the facts. I'd love to see more first letters like this. Thank you.

Secondly, follow up with a printed version of that email done as a letter. Send it as a certified, return receipt. Most bureaucracies hate getting these, because it forces them to admit they received the letter and then requires a response of some kind. Email can always "get lost" or "never received", but that little green slip you'll get back can't be avoided.

[mjfletcher]

That letter should be a template, its about as perfect as it gets.

[s.bass73]

Would you mind sharing the email addy and allowing me to c+p portions of your letter? I live in UDT and wouldn't mind jumping on this bandwagon.

[ehidle]

Originally Posted by s.bass73

Would you mind sharing the email addy and allowing me to c+p portions of your letter? I live in UDT and wouldn't mind jumping on this bandwagon.

http://www.upperdublin.net/administr...lcontacts.aspx

Scroll down to Parks and Recreation - Susan Lohoefer.

You or anyone else can do whatever you like with the letter. C+P, modify, improve, expand, clarify, whatever

[ehidle]

In Word format... I had to convert it from .odt in OpenOffice.. so it may look funny..

vBulletin apparently doesn't allow .odt files... for shame..

[CerealKiller]

I would very much like to see the response (if any) you get from this.

Good job on the letter also. Very well written.

[jasonmorasco]

Very good letter.
Upper Dublin is notoriously known to be very political and they probably never thought that someone would challenge the sign.
Kudos to you my friend, will be interested in seeing the response of your letter.