Note: The following is a press release issued Wednesday by the National Rifle Association.
Today the National Rifle Association, on behalf of its 5 million members across the country, filed lawsuits against the cities of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Lancaster for refusing to comply with a state law that prohibits local governments from enacting gun control ordinances.
“The cities of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Lancaster have openly defied state law for decades. They continue to willfully violate the law and insist on politically grandstanding at taxpayers’ expense,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “The reality is the illegal ordinances in question do not make people safer. They are simply tools to further the gun control agenda and infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
House Bill 80, signed into law last year, allows citizen groups, such as the NRA, to challenge municipalities in court. The new law does not change or expand the state’s powers, nor does it diminish the powers of local governments.
A patchwork of local gun control ordinances creates confusion for law-abiding citizens as they travel throughout the Commonwealth, as well as for law enforcement officers as to what laws can be enforced.
“Pennsylvania municipalities need to follow state law and stop infringing on the rights of law-abiding gun owners”, concluded Cox.
