Gun Owners of America (GOA) today praised yesterday’s unanimous decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the case of Crawford v. Commonwealth, which upholds the preemption provisions of the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act (UFA). This landmark ruling reaffirms the authority of the state legislature to regulate firearms and prevents local governments from enacting their own, potentially conflicting, firearms regulations.
The City of Philadelphia has repeatedly violated the state firearms preemption law. Most recently, local officials attempted to ban firearms in city parks and outlaw the private manufacturing of firearms.
In this decisive ruling, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected the claims of Stanley Crawford (a local anti-gun activist in Philadelphia) and his co-appellants, instead emphasizing the importance of a uniform regulatory framework for firearms across the Commonwealth. The Court highlighted that the General Assembly’s preemption of local firearms regulations is a legitimate exercise of its legislative authority, aimed at ensuring consistency and protecting the constitutional rights of Pennsylvania’s citizens. GOA’s amicus briefs to the court, which were separately filed in May 2021 and December 2022, made these very same arguments.
Dr. Val Finnell, GOA’s Pennsylvania State Director, issued the following statement: “The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania just unanimously upheld Pennsylvania’s firearms preemption law by throwing out this frivolous lawsuit. Not only was Philadelphia’s challenge doomed from the start, but it was equally a gross violation of the constitutional separation of powers.”
In addition to this victory, GOA has a separate lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia over their attempt to ban homemade firearms, which was first filed in 2021. This case is now pending before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and GOA hopes it will prevail given yesterday’s unanimous ruling.
GOA spokesmen are available for interviews. Gun Owners of America is a nonprofit grassroots lobbying organization dedicated to protecting the right to keep and bear arms without compromise. GOA represents over two million members and activists. For more information, visit GOA’s Press Center.
