PA Bill Number: HB335
Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.
Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...
Last Action: Re-committed to APPROPRIATIONS
Last Action Date: May 6, 2024
PA - Franconia won't reverse firearms law [Preemption] repeal :: 07/22/2015
FRANCONIA >> In February, the Franconia Township Board of Supervisors approved doing away with rules that previously had banned firearms from township parks.
That move came after the state last year approved Act 192, which allowed residents and organizations to sue municipalities and receive legal fees and monetary damages if the municipality’s gun laws exceeded state law.
A state court has recently overturned Act 192 on procedural grounds, though, ruling that it was passed unconstitutionally because it was attached to another unrelated matter and was not part of the original purpose of the bill.
At the July 20 Franconia Township Board of Supervisors meeting, resident Doug Killough, a candidate in this year’s election for a board seat, asked if that means the township will reverse its action taken in February.
“I would hope not,” Frank Bartle, township solicitor, said.
“The underlying issue is still the same,” Bartle said. “You still have a right to carry the firearms.”
With the overturn of Act 192, the threat of a lawsuit is now gone, he said.
“That does not invalidate the fact that under the second amendment of the Constitution, you have the right to carry a firearm,” Bartle said. “There’s no reason to go back and put on the book an ordinance that was improper anyway.”
Other local towns that have recently rescinded firearms ordinances include Lower Salford, which repealed its firearms ordinance in June, and West Rockhill, which earlier this month removed a ban on firearms in the township park.
