Phila Pa Guns

 By PATRICK WALTERS Associated Press WriterPHILADELPHIA (AP) - June 18, 2009 -- A state appeals court ruled Wednesday that the city cannot enforce an assault weapons ban and a law prohibiting guns bought by one person and given to another, measures passed by City Council in an effort to combat persistent gun violence.
The 6-1 ruling marked the latest setback for Philadelphia officials, who have fought for years for the right to pass their own gun legislation. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has previously upheld the state's exclusive right to enact gun laws.
The National Rifle Association challenged a series of measures that were passed by City Council in April 2008 and signed by Mayor Michael Nutter. Both sides expect the case to end up before the state's highest court again.
"The bottom line is, we won," NRA attorney C. Scott Shields said of the ruling.
Story continues belowAdvertisementIn Thursday's ruling, the court said the city could not ban assault weapons or pass the law prohibiting straw purchases, in which one person fills out forms and buys a gun for someone else - often convicted felons who can't legally own guns.
In a dissenting opinion, Commonwealth Judge Doris A. Smith-Ribner asserted the city does have the right to pass its own gun laws, citing the hundreds of residents killed by gun violence every year.
The NRA has also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down strict gun control laws in the Chicago area. The NRA wants the court to rule that last year's decision invalidating a handgun ban in the District of Columbia also applies to local and state laws. The justices likely won't decide before late September whether to hear the NRA's case.
That appeal came after a federal appeals court in Chicago said this month that it is bound by earlier Supreme Court decisions that held the Second Amendment applies only to federal laws. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was part of an appeals court panel in New York that reached a similar conclusion in January.
Judges on both courts - Republican nominees in Chicago and Democratic nominees in New York - said only the Supreme Court could decide whether to extend last year's ruling throughout the country. Many, but not all, of the constitutional protections in the Bill of Rights have been applied to cities and states.
The framers of the Constitution intended "to protect the right to keep and bear arms and other rights from state infringement," the NRA said in a filing to the Supreme Court.
In Pennsylvania, the state appeals court also ruled Thursday that the NRA lacked standing in challenges to three other measures, saying the plaintiffs failed to show that they suffered "injury."
Those three laws require gun owners to report lost or stolen guns within 48 hours; allow police to confiscate guns from people who are considered a danger; and prohibit anyone subject to a protection-from-abuse order from possessing a gun. Only the lost-or-stolen gun ordinance is currently being enforced.
A 1974 state law says that only the General Assembly can regulate guns, but the Philadelphia case is being watched by other cities in the state, including several that have passed measures requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen guns.

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(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

PHILADELPHIA - August 9, 2008 (WPVI) -- A new gun law in Philadelphia took effect at one minute past midnight today.
It requires gun owners to report a lost or stolen firearm to police within 24 hours.
Mayor Nutter signed the law this past spring.
The NRA has sued, saying it violates the state constitution..
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If an owner fails to report a loss or theft of a gun, they will now face a $1,900 fine.
A second offense could result in 90 days in jail.
You can report a missing weapon by calling 911.
(Copyright ©2008 WPVI-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

By Holly Watt
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 7, 2008; A19

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 6 -- Dozens of mayors and police chiefs Wednesday called on the federal government to focus on fighting crime in cities, saying that the efforts that had driven down urban crime had dissipated since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and that they were seeing a consequent rise in crime levels.

The demand came as the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) met here to discuss a crime-fighting blueprint to present to the next president.

The group also published a survey of 124 cities that asserted that deteriorating economic conditions have contributed to a rise in crime in 42 percent of them.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), a possible running mate for Sen. Barack Obama, said he is determined to ensure that attention is concentrated on crime. "I've not been able to get any traction on this for eight years," Biden said, adding that the presumptive Democratic nominee is "100 percent behind this."

Biden said police have been caught in a bind with less funding available, the FBI deployed to work on counterterrorism rather than urban crime, and economic conditions deteriorating. He said the federal government can no longer say crime is a local issue and called for an additional 90,000 police officers on the streets.

USCM's president, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz (I), said that despite attention directed on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the presidential candidates need to address what is going on in "our back yard." He said he was concerned that the gradual rise in crime may accelerate. The USCM emphasized that according to crime statistics, many cities saw dramatic increases in murder, assaults and robberies in 2006.

"We've gone through seven years of really, really tough times. I'm part of the 2001 class, and it's been difficult," Diaz said. "If you look at where we were in the late '80s and early '90s, crime was out of control. There is an uptick at the moment. You can't just say, 'Job done.' "

Diaz added that Biden had asked the group's task force to go through his crime bill line by line, as the group did before the 1994 crime bill, the legislation that was widely credited with reducing crime levels. "That's how we got '94 passed, and that's how we're going to get '08 through."

Doug Palmer (D), the mayor of Trenton, N.J., called criminals on the streets "domestic terrorists." He added: "If al-Qaeda came into the country and was murdering 50 kids a day, we would have more money than we know what to do with."

According to the mayors, properties left empty after mortgage foreclosure are vulnerable to vandalism and burglary, with 29 percent of cities reporting increases in these crimes. The steep rise in value of precious metals and scrap means that vacant properties are being stripped. Empty homes "blight" nearby residences, with incidents of arson and drug users moving in.

Rising fuel prices are affecting police departments, with 46 percent of cities responding to a USCM survey saying the effect was "very significant." In some cities, recruitment is being affected as the cost of fueling vehicles bites into budgets. Officers are now required to double up in cars or spend 15 minutes a shift without the car engine running.

Whereas at their staffing peaks, the 124 cities had 68,026 police officers, numbers have now fallen almost 9 percent, to 62,157, according to USCM research. Miami Police Chief John F. Timoney, who is also president of the Police Executive Research Forum, said the gradual rise in crime is attributable to reduced staffing. "As the feds withdraw, it is no surprise there has been a rise in crime, violent crime."

The Conference of Mayors is made up of the chief elected officials of the 1,139 cities with a population of more than 30,000. Though it asserts it is bipartisan, it has tended to be dominated by Democratic mayors.

The group is holding a series of events to develop a strategy for the first 100 days of the incoming president's administration.

Four more mayoral forums will be held over the coming months, in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami, to address infrastructure, poverty, arts and the environment.

PHILADELPHIA - May 19, 2008 (WPVI) -- Today lawyers start arguing whether Philadelphia's own gun laws are legal.

In April, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (D) signed five gun control bills into law. They include provisions that would limit gun purchases to one per person per month and require immediate reporting of any firearms that are lost or stolen.
Supporters, including Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey say the city needed to act because the state hasn't.
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They say without controls, weapons will continue to end up on the streets; weapons like the rifle used to kill Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski or the guns confiscated after a shootout at 26th and Dickinson over the weekend.
But the National Rifle Association is challenging the Constitutionality of the laws, saying only the state can pass laws governing guns.
In court, it's expected the NRA will argue that only the state can pass gun control laws. Judge Jane Greenspan will hear the case.

(Copyright ©2008 WPVI-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - April 10, 2008 -- Philadelphia City Council has passed five gun-control laws without state approval.
The vote Thursday was unanimous, and Mayor Michael Nutter has signed the measures and ordered their immediate enforcement.
One of the bills would require reporting lost or stolen guns. Another would impose a limit of one handgun purchase per month - an attempt to slow the proliferation of straw purchases in Philadelphia.
State lawmakers were given the sole power to regulate Pennsylvania gun sales in a 1974 law. But City Council members asked Commonwealth Court in March to let them adopt local gun control measures. They say loose state firearms laws are wreaking havoc on Philadelphia streets.
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The city's 400 annual homicides have gained it the nickname "Killadelphia."

(Copyright ©2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)