Editorial | Localizing gun control

It's time to give this city some control over its own gun laws.

Mayor Nutter and the City Council recently passed tougher firearms restrictions designed to fight Philadelphia's homicide problem.

But thanks to a 1974 state law, Nutter's new gun law policies are probably unconstitutional, because only the state legislature has the right to regulate firearms.

That doesn't make much sense.

As long as state law remains supreme, there's no reason local governments shouldn't be able to pass gun regulations of their own. Pennsylvania has a wide variety of urban and rural areas. Philadelphia is very different from Lancaster - and gun regulations should reflect that.

Pro-gun advocates contend that the new regulations are ineffective and infringe on our constitutional rights.

But the question here isn't about the validity of Nutter's gun policies. Instead, the issue at stake is whether the City of Philadelphia has the right to pass local firearms regulations in response to local crime problems.

What's also troubling is that for years, city officials have asked Harrisburg to pass tougher gun laws in response to rising Philadelphia crime rates. And now that the City is taking action, state officials are crying foul.

If Harrisburg doesn't want to lead, the least it can do is get out of the way.

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