CeaseFirePA working against towns and cities fighting gun violence

[WhiteFeather]

Municipalities Violating Pennsylvania Firearms Preemption Law are committing criminal act when they pass local ordinances that violate existing state law

Currently Municipalities across the Commonwealth are routinely in violation of Preemption section §6120 Limitation on the regulation of firearms and ammunition or attempting to enact new ordinances that are violations of Preemption

Text of existing PA state law

PA Uniform Firearms Act
http://www.acslpa.org/Legal---Firear...-firearms.html
TITLE 18
PA CRIMES CODES


§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.

(a. l) No right of action.



(1) No political subdivision may bring or maintain an action at law or in equity against any firearms or ammunition manufacturer, trade association or dealer for damages, abatement, injunctive relief or any other relief or remedy resulting from or relating to either the lawful design or manufacture of firearms or ammunition or the lawful marketing or sale of firearms or ammunition to the public.

(2) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prohibit a political subdivision from bringing or maintaining an action against a firearms or ammunition manufacturer or dealer for breach of contract or warranty as to firearms or ammunition purchased by the political subdivision.

(b) Definitions.-As used in this section, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection:

"Dealer." The term shall include any person engaged in the business of selling at wholesale or retail a firearm or ammunition.

"Firearms." This term shall have the meaning given to it in section 5515 (relating to prohibiting of paramilitary training) but shall not include air rifles as that term is defined in section 6304 (relating to sale and use of air rifles).

"Political subdivision." The term shall include any home rule charter municipality, county, city, borough, incorporated town, township or school district.

(Chgd. by 1.1999, Act 59(7), eff.12/15/99.)

Here is CeaseFirePA April 17, 2017 article that mangle facts and the truth of preemption.

Why are they going to outright lies?

CeaseFirePA paid on staff lawyers were going all around PA lobbying people, promised the locals in twp, cities and municipality governments as far back as 2008 that they could violate preemption law, illegally violate section §6120 and IF they were sued they would pay there legal bills to defend them in court. Hence the reason why they are willing to go to any lengths to keep from paying up to defend criminal actions of elected people who they tricked into breaking the law for political goals on forcing the state legislator to pass new gun control laws, that ONLY effect those that obey the laws. Many of those that have enacted illegal ordinances, have failed to even find any criminals they could prosecute, since passage of local gun control laws, so REALLY how effecting is CeaseFirePA political concepts are they going after repeat violent criminal? or just trying to make us all into criminals, if they can just pass enough gun control laws!


http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion..._violence.html


Pa. working against towns and cities fighting gun violence

by Shira Goodman

Pennsylvania suffers 1,400 gun deaths a year and continually ranks near the top on national lists of black homicide victimization rates. But we have our collective head in the sand when it comes to fighting gun violence.

Our state legislature wants to prevent Pennsylvania cities from taking any action to fight gun violence, including dealing with the problem of illegal guns and access to guns by people who should not have them. Lawmakers have tried to reserve that area of regulation for the state alone.

The legislature has rejected all efforts to:

Ensure that our background check system is fully functional and applies to all gun sales;

Fight trafficking and straw purchases by requiring the reporting of lost and stolen guns;

Impose minimum standards of safety or proficiency training for gun buyers, or enact child-access prevention laws.

It seems that our legislators believe that gun violence is a problem that doesn't really involve guns.

Pennsylvania cities and towns, frustrated by the state's inaction, have adopted commonsense policies to keep their communities safer. These include restricting guns on municipal property, such as libraries and parks; mandatory reporting of lost or stolen guns; and regulating the carrying of firearms during states of emergency.

There is a myth circulating in the halls of Harrisburg that, because of these community safety measures, law-abiding gun owners who drive through multiple municipalities would run afoul of a "confusing labyrinth of local laws." This just isn't the case. State law governs how one can transport a firearm by car, so any violation that could occur would depend upon whether or not you possess a concealed-carry license, not the ordinances of whichever county or city you are driving through.

Instead of working with towns and cities to determine if there is a problem and how to solve it, legislators are instead granting special power to the gun lobby. For yet another legislative session, lawmakers are working to punish cities that try to make their communities safer. They are creating a special right to sue for anyone who can legally own a gun and any organization that counts such a person as a member.

Under Senate Bill 5, which could come up for a vote this week, it is no longer necessary to satisfy the fundamental rule of legal standing if someone wants to challenge a city's gun ordinances. Unlike plaintiffs in every other type of lawsuit, a gun owner or group of gun owners would be able to sue any city in the commonwealth, regardless of whether the regulation in question impacted them at all. In fact, the person or group filing suit wouldn't even have to have set foot in the city they're suing.

There's more. Under the proposal, if a city loses such a lawsuit, it has to pay the other side's costs. But if the city wins, it's costs are not picked up by the other side. Of course, the real loser in both cases is the taxpayer who pays the city's bills.

If this all sounds crazy, it should. Senate Bill 5 would undermine our legal system, and is a backward way to solve a problem that likely doesn't even exist.

And don't think it will end here. If the gun lobby is successful, this bill would set a dangerous precedent. Think about how many Pennsylvanians would like to sue a city or the state when they don't like a law, regardless of whether the legislation has actually impacted them. Wouldn't every big organization like the right to sue without having a litigant who was actually injured? If this law passes and is somehow upheld, many people will get in line to file lawsuits, the result of a special gift from the legislature.

Lawmakers in Harrisburg should be working to protect cities, towns, and taxpayers of the commonwealth. The best way to do that is to vote no on S.B. 5.

Shira Goodman is the executive director of CeaseFirePA (www.ceasefirepa.org). shira.goodman@CeaseFirePa.org

[WhiteFeather]

Latest email alert from Firearm Owners Against Crime sent out on April 18

Tomorrow, the PA House of Representatives Judiciary Committee will be considering HB 671, strengthening PA Firearms Preemption Law. As was done in 2014, the legislature acted to provide legal recourse to citizens who face prosecution for local firearms laws that are outside the legal PA Firearms Laws. Citizens with no criminal intent should not be faced with being prosecuted for running afoul of local gun laws they didn’t even know existed.* Gun owners (you and I) should not be denied justice in the courts until we are prosecuted for violating illegal local ordinances which violate the current state firearm preemption law.

The genesis of this legislation goes back more than four decades (1974) in response to, at that time, wildly varying calls for a plethora of different kinds of (politically motivated) gun control at the local level. The state legislature realized that it was necessary to have one set standard throughout the Commonwealth for any law that involved constitutional issues. Further, violations of the newly passed preemption law would carry a significant penalty (misdemeanor one) under the Pennsylvania Crimes code (Title 18). Unfortunately the logic associated with this did not take into account the resistance of government to police itself and so local governments continue to act defiantly, and illegally, for the next four decades.

Fighting City Hall
In 1993 both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia heightened their violations of the law when each City passed their own version of an Assault Weapon ban. In each case the district attorneys in those municipalities refused to enforce the preemption law requiring statewide all volunteer groups to step up and challenge each in court. The City of Pittsburgh effort cost the Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League over $20,000 and even though this action stopped the City of Pittsburgh Assault Weapon ban, this all-volunteer organization was out that money. The City of Philadelphia effort was spearheaded by the National Rifle Association and ended up costing over $250,000. The resulting court case, known as the Ortiz decision, set the benchmark for local firearms laws but still relied upon the district attorney of each county to enforce the law. Fast forwarding another two decades and it is clear that district attorneys cannot be trusted to keep local municipalities in check.

There have been numerous legal actions in the last two decades that have overturned many local laws but some remain on the books because the courts have refused to address the issues due to the “standing” issue. The most recent legal action saw the arrest of eight individuals in the City of Erie who sought to hold a legally approved gathering in the City parks. They were cited and forced into court by an illegal law that the Erie district attorney refused to quash through his powers of enforcing Commonwealth law. The mere enactment of this law was a crime punishable by a misdemeanor one and yet local officials were not held accountable. The eight City of Erie individuals who challenged the illegal parks ban on firearms were eventually victorious in Commonwealth Court and yet the City of Erie citations for violating the firearms ban in their City parks remain on their records and they still face remaining legal fees of over $8000 of the $47,000 total cost of the litigation.

The cornerstone of the American judicial system is the concept known as “the rule of law” and that everyone, government and citizens alike, is accountable to it. The highest law we have is the Constitution and if local municipalities can be allowed to toy, willy-nilly, with the Constitution by enacting laws that clearly impact the exercise of a constitutional freedom then our Republic is in jeopardy.

There must be some mechanism to hold government accountable- and HB 671 (Senate companion bill-SB 5) is that mechanism. It is a sad day when government has to pass a law requiring government to obey the law!

Pennsylvania Preemption Law, Title 18 Section 6120, as amended by HB 671, would empower citizens (who could be affected by these laws) to take independent legal action against them. This standard still requires that the legal action must be upheld in a court of law prior to the payment of any legal fees. Considering the significant number of municipalities which are not compliant with state preemption law, it is apparent that many of these municipalities were aware of these laws and continued to maintain them in defiance of the law because of their awareness of the costs of litigation and the unwillingness of prosecutors to hold them accountable.

Please take a moment to contact members of the House Judiciary Committee and respectfully ask them to support HB 671.
Yours in Freedom,
Kim Stolfer,

[WhiteFeather]

PLEASE EMAIL Reps below as HB 671 is scheduled to vote on April 19th (Patriots Day)

email address of House JUDICIARY Reps that usually vote pro gun ask them to vote for passage of HB 671

tnesbit@pahousegop.com; rsaccone@pahousegop.com; geverett@pahousegop.com; jpetrarc@pahouse.net; pschemel@pahousegop.com; bneuman@pahouse.net; jknowles@pahousegop.com; henglish@pahousegop.com; jpyle@pahousegop.com; jtopper@pahousegop.com; gmullery@pahouse.net; ttoohil@pahousegop.com; bjozwiak@pahousegop.com; dcosta@pahouse.net; sdelozie@pahousegop.com; kklunk@pahousegop.com; rmarsico@pahousegop.com; bcorbin@pahousegop.com; mwhite@pahousegop.com; tstephen@pahousegop.com;




\/ email address below \/ are those Reps that OFTEN vote against their oath to support, uphold and OBEY the constitution of PA specifically article one section 21
still might want to ask them anyway, just don't be surprised if they don't support the "rule of law" as outlined in OP & FOAC

tdavis@pahouse.net; tbriggs@pahouse.net; jdawkins@pahouse.net; mdean@pahouse.net; jmcclinton@pahouse.net; repmiller@pahouse.net; rbizzarro@pahouse.net;




here is list of house JUDICIARY committee members

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/...=24&CteeBody=H



here is text of HB 671 to read for yourself
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/...&type=B&bn=671

[knight0334]

We need a PA AG with balls enough to prosecute municipalities, their elected officials who vote FOR these ordinances, and CeaseFire with violations of the UFA. At minimum they are guilty of conspiracy of said crimes, which the UFA does create a criminal offense UFA-wide of an M1. Conspiracy is punishable by same grade of the intended crime.

[WhiteFeather]

PLEASE EMAIL Reps below as HB 671 is scheduled to vote on April 19th (Patriots Day)

email address of House JUDICIARY Reps that usually vote pro gun ask them to vote for passage of HB 671

tnesbit@pahousegop.com; rsaccone@pahousegop.com; geverett@pahousegop.com; jpetrarc@pahouse.net; pschemel@pahousegop.com; bneuman@pahouse.net; jknowles@pahousegop.com; henglish@pahousegop.com; jpyle@pahousegop.com; jtopper@pahousegop.com; gmullery@pahouse.net; ttoohil@pahousegop.com; bjozwiak@pahousegop.com; dcosta@pahouse.net; sdelozie@pahousegop.com; kklunk@pahousegop.com; rmarsico@pahousegop.com; bcorbin@pahousegop.com; mwhite@pahousegop.com; tstephen@pahousegop.com;




\/ email address below \/ are those Reps that OFTEN vote against their oath to support, uphold and OBEY the constitution of PA specifically article one section 21
still might want to ask them anyway, just don't be surprised if they don't support the "rule of law" as outlined in OP & FOAC

tdavis@pahouse.net; tbriggs@pahouse.net; jdawkins@pahouse.net; mdean@pahouse.net; jmcclinton@pahouse.net; repmiller@pahouse.net; rbizzarro@pahouse.net;




here is list of house JUDICIARY committee members

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/...=24&CteeBody=H



here is text of HB 671 to read for yourself
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/...&type=B&bn=671

FYI update April 19th (Patriots Day)

HB 671 just passed the house Judiciary committee 19-6 with 2 on leave. *Thanks* to ALL that contacted the Reps

This is step one, next step up for a full house vote, expecting about 150+/- amendments to be filed on HB 671 to attempt to block passage as has occurred in the past sessions and since the Republicans hold a majority & don't want to rock the boat.

expecting HB 671 to stall in house despite having more than enough votes on both sides of the aisle for easy passage.

Maybe on May 22 annual 2nd amendment rally day we can stiffen some spines
http://pa2arally.org/pennsylvania-se...endment-issues

Pennsylvania Right to Keep and Bear Arms Rally
Gathering at 10:00 AM on May 22nd, 2017 in Harrisburg to Support Gun Rights in PA

[theshadow]

Came up with an analogy last night watching CBS 21's coverage of this. Ask the reporters, anchors, and InDUHviduals like Komrad Williams (D-Phil) "Would you ask a vegan who can eat meat, where it can be eaten, and who can sell it? So why do you ask those who want no one to carry or own a gun their nonsense opinion?"

[JenniferG]

Here is the bill HB 671.

[P89]

There have been numerous legal actions in the last two decades that have overturned many local laws but some remain on the books because the courts have refused to address the issues due to the “standing” issue. The most recent legal action saw the arrest of eight individuals in the City of Erie who sought to hold a legally approved gathering in the City parks. They were cited and forced into court by an illegal law that the Erie district attorney refused to quash through his powers of enforcing Commonwealth law. The mere enactment of this law was a crime punishable by a misdemeanor one and yet local officials were not held accountable. The eight City of Erie individuals who challenged the illegal parks ban on firearms were eventually victorious in Commonwealth Court and yet the City of Erie citations for violating the firearms ban in their City parks remain on their records and they still face remaining legal fees of over $8000 of the $47,000 total cost of the litigation.

And they won't be held accountable. They know damn well the money will eventually run out to fight this and when it's not being shoved down their throats by the local media the sheep heard moves on. They should have woke up when this county went RED...as in we're sick of the shit. The mayor race will be interesting.

[JenniferG]

Shrill Goodman

[mikelets456]

"Stop gun violence now"?

So Shira is not concerned about all other violence that dwarfs "gun violence"? Move to Sweden where you can be raped and not defend yourself. My goodness, these people will never stop----and neither will I!