Court again blocks Phila.'s try for gun-control law

A Commonwealth Court ruled yesterday against the city's right to pass its own gun-control ordinances, prompting an angry Mayor Nutter to demand state lawmakers take action with the funeral of another slain police officer looming Tuesday.

"You're either on the side of the criminals or you're on the side of law-abiding public. That's it," Nutter said.

The Commonwealth Court, in its ruling, concurred with a long line of opinions that said only the state has the power to regulate guns.

Yesterday's ruling is but a step in a legal-political grappling match that pits Nutter and City Council against the state legislature and the National Rifle Association.

City Council passed seven gun-control laws last year, which, among other things, sought to limit handgun purchases to one per month and require the reporting of lost or stolen firearms. In deference to the state, those laws required approval by the state legislature before they could take effect.

The legislature refused to approve the laws, and in October 2007 Council members Darrell L. Clarke and Donna Reed Miller went to Commonwealth Court to seek validation of the local gun laws.

It was that suit that the court rejected yesterday.

Clarke and Miller said they would appeal to the state Supreme Court.

"It's frustrating to quibble over language while the gun violence . . . calls for much more direct action," said Miller. She said Tuesday's funeral for McDonald, "should really help us keep our focus on this."

McDonald was shot to death by a wanted felon on Tuesday. He was the fourth city police officer killed in 11 months.

In April, City Council passed a new set of five ordinances without asking for state approval. The NRA challenged those laws in Common Pleas Court. Two - one banning assault weapons and a one handgun-a-month law - were thrown out.

Three others survived: a requirement to report lost and stolen firearms within 24 hours, one to restrict guns from those under a protection from abuse order and another to ban gun ownership from those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.

Nutter has promised to begin enforcing those laws, particularly the lost-and-stolen requirement aimed at preventing "straw purchasers" from buying guns for felons, then pleading that their guns were stolen when a crime weapon is traced to them.

Those laws would appear to be threatened by the Commonwealth Court ruling yesterday.

NRA attorney C. Scott Shields said he would file an appeal with Commonwealth Court on Monday to stay the city's enforcement efforts, citing, yesterday's opinion.

"Local gun control in Philadelphia is going to die a very quick death," Shields said, "as well it should."

State Sen. Michael Stack, (D., Phila.) said he would introduce a bill next week to require the reporting of lost and stolen handguns statewide.