City suit to test Pa. high court

[WhiteFeather]

Notice how they don't like the existing state laws. The mayor will enage in breaking state laws to make up there own laws that everyone will have to obey and enforce, say what?.
Read the closing lines to this article sums it up pretty well

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local...igh_court.html

City suit to test Pa. high court

City suit to test Pa. high court
By Jeff Shields

Inquirer Staff Writer

The state's Supreme Court will have to reverse itself on a 12-year-old gun-control decision if Philadelphia is going to adopt and enforce its own gun laws, the chief judge of Commonwealth Court told the city yesterday.
President Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter made her statement during a preliminary hearing on a lawsuit filed by City Council members Darrell L. Clarke and Donna Reed Miller. They want the court to recognize Philadelphia's authority to enact stricter gun laws regarding gun purchases and ownership.

Leadbetter, however, suggested that Commonwealth Court was just a stop on the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1996 upheld a state law forbidding municipalities from regulating firearms.

Until then, Leadbetter asked, "Aren't we just a way station?"

Afterward, Clarke and Miller marked the court session as a historic event, and held a lunchtime rally in front of about 250 people to drive home their argument: that the city's crime problem demands stricter local measures than the state provides to stop the proliferation of guns.

Lawyers for the state House and Senate argued yesterday that the 1996 ruling - in which the court prohibited City Council from regulating assault weapons because a state law forbade them to do so - still holds. Even City Council recognized this when it approved seven gun-control ordinances in 2007 that required companion state legislation for the laws to take effect, said Jonathan F. Bloom, a lawyer for for the House, and John P. Krill Jr., the Senate's lawyer.

The National Rifle Association has also joined the case in defense of state gun laws.

But Council's attorney, George Bochetto, says the Supreme Court sent a signal - in a case he recently lost - that it may rule differently this time around.

In that case, electricians union chief John J. Dougherty argued that the city could not enact its own campaign finance laws. The Supreme Court said the city could enact any laws not specifically prohibited by the state.

State law prevents cities from regulating firearms or ammunition only "when carried or transported," Bochetto argued. The seven laws passed in 2007, he said, involve the purchase of guns and reporting stolen guns, and do not override state authority.

Those laws were aimed at stemming the problem of straw purchases - in which people legally buy unlimited numbers of handguns, and then sell them illegally - by requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen guns and by limiting purchases to one a month.

"It is not in conflict with any existing laws," Bochetto said.

The panel of six judges appeared skeptical. Judge Dante R. Pellegrini said that Council was asking judges to regulate an area in place of the Legislature.

After the hearing, Clarke and Miller said they were optimistic, and that the judges' questions indicated that they clearly understood the issue.

"As long as we have the level of proliferation of handguns in Philadelphia, we'll continue to fight," Clarke said.

That may include extreme measures, Miller said at the lunchtime rally in the City Hall courtyard.

"We may have to do some really drastic things," Miller said.

If Miller and Clarke fail in court, Mayor Nutter volunteered to take things into his own hands. At the rally, Nutter said he would sign into law gun-control measures being considered by City Council, then enforce them - even though the state Legislature says it can't be done.

"We're not messing around any more," Nutter said.

Such action by Nutter would also likely wind up in court, leaving city leaders to count on a new Supreme Court - led by former Philadelphia District Attorney Ronald Castille - to give the cities greater leeway to fight crime.

And gun-rights advocates remain unconvinced.

Kim Stolfer, vice chairman of the Pennsylvania Sportsmen Association's legislative committee, said state leaders have failed to persuade him during 20 years that specific laws will prevent crime. He recommends more vigorous prosecution and sentencing.

"Nothing they're proposing is going to work - and they haven't proven it to me in any way shape or form," Stolfer said.

And should the Supreme Court justices overturn their 1996 decision, Stolfer said, they will be targeted at election time.



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Contact staff writer Jeff Shields at 215-854-4565 or jshields@phillynews.com.

As long as Philly continues allowing the levels of proliferation of criminal not being prosecuted to the FULLEST extend of the law in Philadelphia, they are not addressing the real problem of the revolving doors of "in"justice by plea bargain cases away to make the DA and judges job easier.

[XD45]

what laws is the mayor going to sign into "law" when he gets voted down? I can't wait to go to philly and break them so I can sue the f8ck outta him. Minus well