Ortiz v. Commonwealth

In Ortiz v. Commonwealth, 545 Pa. 279, 681 A.2d 152 (1996), aff'g Ortiz v. Commonwealth, 655 A.2d 194 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1995) members of City Council, citizens and other petitioners sought a declaration that a Philadelphia ordinance banning certain types of assault weapons was valid and was enacted properly in 1993 pursuant to the City's home rule powers. City Council's intent was to supplement prohibitions of Pennsylvania law relating to offensive weapons by making possession, manufacture, transfer, delivery, sale and use of such weapons a violation of the Philadelphia Code, with certain exceptions. The ordinance added paramilitary assault weapons and the ammunition and accessories for such weapons to the list of offensive weapons under state law. This Court reasoned in Ortiz that the City's ordinance conflicted with the Section 6120 provision stating that no county, municipality or township may regulate "lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms...." The Court did not apply or discuss the applicability of the remaining provision, i.e., "when carried or transported for purposes not prohibited by the laws of this Commonwealth," as it was not at issue. In any event, the ordinance was declared unenforceable because the legislature had amended the Uniform Firearms Act to broaden the definition of firearms to prohibit the type of firearms ban found in the ordinance. The Court sustained preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer because the suit failed to state a cause of action. In affirming this Court's order sustaining the demurrer, the Supreme Court relied on Article 9, Section 2 of the Pennsylvania Constitution (dealing with the powers of home rule municipalities) and on Section 6120, and it held that the local effort to ban possession of assault weapons was constitutionally infirm. The court also considered the constitutional right of citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the state and, as such, concluded that because the ownership of firearms is constitutionally protected its regulation is a matter of statewide concern. In Ortiz, the cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia passed ordinances banning certain types of assault weapons. Our Supreme Court characterized the matter before the courts as follows: The sum of the case is that the Constitution of Pennsylvania requires that home rule municipalities may not perform any power denied by the General Assembly; the General Assembly has denied all municipalities the power to regulate the ownership, possession, transfer or possession of firearms; and the municipalities seek to regulate that which the General Assembly has said they may not regulate. The inescapable conclusion, unless there is more, is that the municipalities' attempt to ban the possession of certain types of firearms is constitutionally infirm. Ortiz, 545 Pa. at 283-84, 681 A.2d at 155. The court went on to conclude: Because the ownership of firearms is constitutionally protected, its regulation is a matter of statewide concern. The constitution does not provide that the right to bear arms shall not be questioned in any part of the commonwealth except Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, where it may be abridged at will, but that it shall not be questioned in any part of the commonwealth. Thus, regulation of firearms is a matter of concern in all of Pennsylvania, not merely in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the General Assembly, not city councils, is the proper forum for the imposition of such regulation. Ortiz, 545 Pa. at 287, 681 A.2d at 156.