Category: Politics

Looks like Unisys Corporation (who may or may not have once been my employer) is relocating to the City of Philadelphia from their current headquarters in Blue Bell.  I guess Unisys wants to demonstrate its leadership in the industry by doing the opposite of most technology companies, by selling the cushy campus-like HQ in the ‘burbs, and heading to the concrete jungle.  But the interesting story is that they want to plaster their name all over Liberty Two.  I have to agree this would be tacky, but you have to wonder about people who make arguments like this:

“It will ruin our city,” said Mary Tracy, who heads the nonprofit Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight

A Unisys sign is going to ruin your city?  Ummm.

Thanks again to reader ErnieD for doing the hard work finding the PDFs, but here are the passed ordinances (Sorry, all the links are now dead as of 5/2014):

1. 080018-A Prohibited Possession, Sale, Transfer of Firearms by Persons Subject to Protection from Abuse Orders

http://webapps.phila.gov/council/attachments/5080.pdf

2. 080032-A Reporting Lost or Stolen

http://webapps.phila.gov/council/attachments/5081.pdf

3. 080035-A One Gun A Month

http://webapps.phila.gov/council/attachments/5083.pdf

4. 080017 Removal of Firearms From Persons Posing Risk

http://webapps.phila.gov/council/attachments/4733.pdf

5. 080033 Assault Weapons Ban

http://webapps.phila.gov/council/attachments/4748.pdf

Several of these mirror existing federal and state laws.  Here’s my guess as to what they are planning, based on the laws they didn’t pass, and based on the ones that did.  Ortiz v. Commonwealth pretty clearly established that the city’s Home Rule Charter doesn’t allow it to override Pennsylvania Statute nor the Pennsylvania Constitution, and in this particular case, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld preemption.   But let’s look at the preemption law:

General rule. No county, municipality or township may in any manner regulate the lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms, ammunition or ammuni­tion components when carried or transported for purposes not prohibited by the laws of this commonwealth.

I’m guessing they are planning to argue that the laws which overlap are criminalizing firearms possession for purposes which are prohibited by “the laws of this commonwealth” and so they can regulate.  I’m also guessing they will argue the lost and stolen require doesn’t regulate any of the above, and that the one gun per month scheme also doesn’t regulate any of the above.  I think they fully expect to lose on the assault weapons deal, which was just thrown in there for media effect.

Yes, all these arguments are bogus, and I’m confident they’ll fail, but pretty clearly, I think they will have to argue something other than home rule.

At least one Philadelphia gun owner isn’t taking it lying down.  My hat is off to him.  Just a word of advice to any Philly readers who decide to defy the City’s non-law; be prepared with competent legal representation if you do get in trouble, and once you’re able to, let me know about what happened.  We can get the ball rolling on fighting this nonsense.

One tragedy this whole Philadelphia Gun Ordinance fiasco is it could be opening up the city’s police officers to lawsuits.  The real culprits are the city politicians, and the political appointees like Charles Ramsey, who carry out their edicts.  These are the people who deserve to be punished.  But our system isn’t set up to work that way, and the people most likely to end up punished are the police officers who are ordered to enforce this nonsense.

It’s easy to suggest “Well, they know it’s illegal, they should refuse to enforce it,” from the comfort of an office chair.  It’s much harder when you have mortgage payments to make and have to put the kids through school.  Qualified immunity is what it is, and preemption is clearly established law.  Ordering the enforcement of this law will likely make police officers pay for the actions of the real culprits, who will escape any punishment, which is a real tragedy in all of this.