Clarke v. House of Representatives

In Clarke v. House of Representatives, 957 A.2d 361 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2008), notice of appeal filed (74 M.A.P. 2008, October 6, 2008), Philadelphia City Councilpersons, Darrell L. Clarke and Donna Reed Miller, filed an action seeking to have the court declare that seven gun ordinances passed by City Council and signed by then-Mayor John Street could take immediate effect and that Section 6120 was unconstitutional and did not apply to those ordinances because the ordinances did not regulate the "carrying or transporting" of firearms. The City argued that the General Assembly's inclusion of the qualifying phrase "when carried or transported," in Section 6120 indicated their intention to limit preemption of local firearms regulation accordingly, and would allow local regulation of any uses of firearms which does not involve carrying or transporting them. The City further argued that because our Supreme Court in Ortiz v. Commonwealth, 545 Pa. 279, 681 A.2d 152 (1996), did not address the qualifying phrase "when carried or transported," it was not controlling. However, in rejecting the City's arguments, the Court concluded that: Given Schneck and Ortiz, we cannot agree with this construction of the Firearms Act. The ordinances struck down in those cases were not qualitatively different in that respect from those at issue here. While Petitioners point out that the qualifying phrase 'when carried or transported' was not specifically discussed in Ortiz, in light of its broad and unqualified language, we cannot distinguish Ortiz on this basis. Clarke, 957 A.2d at 364.