Pennsylvania Affirms That State Law is Supreme Over Local Laws

The Pennsylvania State Supreme Court ruled on Nov 20, 2024 in a case that we have been monitoring since 2022.

To make a long story short, The City of Philadelphia along with some local gun control group and “concerned citizens” filed suit against the state in an effort to repeal the existing Firearm Preemption Laws.

What Is A Firearm Preemption Law?

Firearm Preemption Law is the term generally used for legal provisions at the state level that effectively prevent local jurisdictions from enacting or enforcing ordinances that regulate the ownership, transportation, possession, or transfer of firearms.

These laws help gun owners by ensuring uniform laws throughout the state. Without a preemption law, gun owners have to be concerned that while crossing city lines within their state the laws that regulate guns could change.

As part of our Firearm Law Resource Library we track these laws for each state and refer to it as “Firearm Law Uniformity” on our website and in our mobile app.

The Story in Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Overlooking Benjamin Franklin Parkway

So rewind to 2022 and the city of Philidelphia sues the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania claiming that the Firearms Preemption law was unconstitutional and that they should be able to pass their own regulations. Nevermind that they already had passed their own regulations and were ignoring the preemption law already.

There was little chance of the city winning this fight but perhaps it was their way of putting pressure on change at the state legislature in order to change the state gun laws in the future. Regardless, for now we have been reaffirmed that state law is supreme and at least in Pennsylvania, continues to protect gun owners from local regulation of firearms.

What isn't clear to me at this time is if this ruling will change Philidelphia's existing gun laws that are in violation of the state law their supreme court just held up.