10/18/16
by News Department on 10/18/16Local Gun Laws...
State lawmakers, on Monday, moved closer to an election season showdown with Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf over a bill designed to make it easier for gun owners and organizations like the National Rifle Association to challenge cities' firearms ordinances in court.
The Republican-controlled state Senate approved the bill, 30-19, in an effort to revive a law thrown out by the state Supreme Court in June on technical grounds.
Approval from the Republican-controlled state House is still required, but Wolf has said he opposes the bill and the Senate did not muster a veto-proof two-thirds majority to pass it.
Then-Republican Gov. Tom Corbett signed the original law in 2014, and the NRA's lobbying arm at the time called it "the strongest firearms pre-emption statute in the country."
Wolf's press secretary Jeff Sheridan said in a statement, “Wolf does not believe the state should be taking away a municipality's right to pass its own gun ordinance."
Under the bill, the definition of who has standing to file legal challenges to local gun ordinances would expand to include any gun owner or membership organization, such as the NRA.
