PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The city of Philadelphia Wednesday filed suit against the state for the right to regulate guns locally. This is a yearslong battle the city has been fighting, but it’s taken on a new urgency in light of alarming increases in shootings and homicides
Tamika Morales is one of the named plaintiffs in the suit. Her son was shot to death, with no apparent motive, in July.
“He was my life, he was just walking to the store,” she said.
The suit argues that Pennsylvania is essentially at fault for his death, because it has not only failed to regulate guns but, through the firearm preemption law, has prevented Philadelphia from protecting its citizens.
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City solicitor Marcel Pratt said this is known as a state-created danger.
“The general assembly has maintained and expanded these preemption statutes even in the face of clear evidence that preemption poses a danger, specifically to communities of color and low-income communities in Pennsylvania,” Pratt said.
Pratt said it’s the first time the city has used this argument in its effort to win the right to enforce laws, such as requiring gun owners to report lost and stolen weapons.