It’s been almost two weeks since the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the state’s firearm preemption law prohibiting municipalities from adopting their own local gun control measures, but anti-gun activists in the Keystone State say they’re not giving up on their quest to undo or weaken the statute.
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The state’s highest court rejected the arguments from Philadelphia officials In its decision in mid-November, ruling that while violent crime is a serious concern, there’s nothing unlawful about the legislature’s decision to set a uniform body of gun laws that apply statewide instead of allowing localities to come up with their own misdemeanor ordinances.
Gun control activists may have been thwarted by the state Supreme Court, but now they’re looking to do an end run around the decision.
Despite the ruling, Adam Garber, executive director of CeaseFirePA, says he still sees legal avenues to challenge the preemption law more directly.
“In each of those cases, we are saying simply, this isn’t about firearms,” Garber said. “This is about parts that aren’t preempted, or this is about people who aren’t the possessor legally of the firearm, and that those statutes should be allowed to go ahead.”
He added that in Crawford, the state Supreme Court “did not in any way say … that every law was preempted. And so we really urge them to … consider that there are policies that are not preempted by state statute that they should allow for.”
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court didn’t need to weigh in on every possible ordinance in its decision in Crawford v. Commonwealth, but that doesn’t mean that “lost or stolen” laws or ordinances regulating the sale of gun parts (or incomplete frames and receivers) will fare any better now that Crawford has been decided.
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The state’s preemption law maintains that “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.” That would seem to cover the lawful ownership of firearms that are lost or stolen, as well as any gun parts that gun control activists want cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to treat as if they’re fully functional firearms.
With the state Supreme Court unlikely to give localities the power to set their own gun control laws, anti-gunners are also turning to Pennsylvania’s divided legislature to advance their agenda. Democrats have a slender majority in the House, while Republicans have maintained control of the state Senate. In theory, the GOP’s control of one chamber should stymie gun control efforts, but the anti-2A crowd still sees an opportunity to advance their agenda when the 2025 session kicks off in a few weeks.
State Sen. Lisa Baker (R., Luzerne) chairs the upper chamber’s Judiciary Committee and has said she is open to certain gun-related bills. In 2019, her committee held a series of hearings on guns and mental health, after which she said she called for “constitutional, enforceable, and practical” legislative proposals.
Last year, after Democrats advanced bills to expand background checks and allow for the temporary seizure of guns, Baker said in a statement that they did not meet her standard.
“I believe the issue of helping individuals in crisis would be more appropriately addressed through a modernization of the mental health procedures law as it relates to gun rights to ensure those in need of treatment receive it and that due process is maintained,” Baker said at the time.
A spokesperson for Baker did not respond to a request for comment on other bills she might support in the session that begins in 2025.
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Second Amendment advocates can’t just blithely assume the state Senate will turn back any and all gun control bills adopted by the state House. Preserving our right to keep and bear arms is going to take some effort, including lobbying lawmakers like Baker to go after violent offenders instead of lawful gun owners. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court made the right call in Crawford, but our work is far from over when it comes to keeping the anti-gunners at bay in the Keystone State.
