Willistown and Westtown Preemption Violations

[volanova]

I discovered the other day that two townships whose parks I regularly use (Willistown and Westtown) have preemption violations in their city ordinances regarding weapons in parks.

Westtown:
http://www.ecode360.com/12393840
Section 113-1 (N) - No person, other than an officer of the law, shall carry or discharge a weapon within the limits of the parks.

Willistown:
http://www.willistownparks.org/pdfs/Code.pdf
Section 96-1 (J) - No person, other than Township active duty police officers employed in the execution of their duties, shall carry or
possess or use firearms in a Township park. Deer management practices at Okehocking Preserve are permitted only
with written Township approval and Willistown Township Police Department notification. [Amended 2-27-2006 by
Ord. No. 1-2006]

I imagine the Westtown one may just be a holdover from when there was no preemption law, however the Willistown code has been examined at least as late as 2006, which makes it a blatant violation.

I'm going to send off some emails to the parks managers and township managers to notify them of this violation. I'll be sure to post up the draft here for comments before I send it off though. Does anyone have any examples of emails they have sent that have been successful?

[volanova]

Rough draft of a letter....

Dear Mr/Ms __________,

I am writing to inform you that while perusing the regulations for utilizing the Township's parks I noticed that the rules were in violation of Pennsylvania's Uniform Firearms Code Section 6120(a). This code, which was enacted to prevent a patchwork of regulations that would make it difficult to travel from one place to another without inadvertently becoming a criminal, makes it so that only the state may regulate the lawful possession of firearms. (Willistown/Westtown) Township's Code (Section number) disallows the possession of firearms by anyone other than a law enforcement officer, which is a violation of the Code.

I greatly appreciate you taking the time to look in to this and any efforts to bring Township codes in line with state laws.

Regards,