Two of Philadelphia’s unconstitutional gun laws were struck down by Judge Jane Cutler Greenspan of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
The court ruled that the ban on so called “assault weapons” (which criminals don’t use anyway) and the limit on one handgun per month (which wouldn’t affect criminals and is unreasonable) violated the state of Pennsylvania’s constitution. Legal issues aside, these gun control measures would have only served to disarm Philadelphia’s law abiding citizens, rather than addressing the true cause of crime.
The court did not, however, strike down the Philadelphia ordinances that would allow guns to be seized from citizens who were declared a danger to themselves or others, those under an order of protection, or the ordinance that would require the reporting of lost/stolen guns.
Bravo to the NRA for bringing this successful lawsuit to protect our gun rights. The city of Philadelphia was advised before these ordinances were enacted that they violated the Pennsylvania constitution, but Philadelphia chose to enact them anyway. Luckily, justice prevailed in this case, at it will hopefully prevail in the D.C. v. Heller case, which the United States Supreme Court will announce in the coming month.
The judge's decision is reasonable.