But gun foes say the bill's sponsors and supporters are puppets of the powerful National Rifle Association and other activists who would oppose gun control in any form. An amendment added to the bill Monday would enable the NRA or similar groups to challenge the ordinances, at the local municipalities' expense, regardless of whether an individual gun owner contests a specific citation.
"It is an intimidation tactic by the Legislature to coerce cities and towns that have taken action in favor of lost-or-stolen-handgun reporting to backtrack on their action," said Max Nacheman, director of CeaseFirePA.
And Monday's amendment "gives the NRA the ability to sue a city all on its own, even if no individual has had their rights violated," Nacheman added. "This could set an outrageous precedent of allowing an interest group to use the courts to pursue their own political agenda."
The bill, introduced in May by state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, would allow any gun owner challenging the local ordinances to collect attorneys' fees and damages from the city that passed the ordinance.
A full House vote on the bill, scheduled for Wednesday, was tabled and now is expected next week.
It all seems a moot point, at least in Philadelphia, where police say they have written exactly zero citations for an ordinance that has been on the books for almost four years.
And statistics suggest that plenty of guns are changing hands here without anyone notifying authorities. Although 68 guns were reported lost or stolen in Philadelphia in 2010, for example, authorities recovered 4,047 firearms that same year, according to statistics from the Philadelphia Police Department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
So why bother championing a law that no one enforces?
