Friday, December 18, 2009

The last time we took up lost-or-stolen gun laws, it was back in the summer when Pittsburgh won an unlikely legal victory against the National Rifle Association.

Frustrated by the scourge of gun violence, City Council had passed an ordinance that required gun owners to report a lost or stolen firearm within 24 hours of discovering it was missing, or face possible fines or jail.

The aim was to crack down on a practice identified by law enforcement agencies as a major problem -- so-called straw purchases in which guns are sold to criminals by irresponsible third parties. If the guns were subsequently traced back to the original owners, they could simply say without penalty that they were lost.

Although the rights of responsible gun owners were never threatened, the NRA sued anyway. Surprisingly, because state law reserves for itself the right to regulate guns, the city prevailed. While Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. didn't rule on the validity of the law, he dismissed the NRA suit on the grounds that the plaintiffs didn't have standing because they were not harmed.

With state law still casting its inhibiting shadow, this victory was largely symbolic. As we said at the time, the bigger point was that Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and a growing number of communities were standing up for the right to regulate guns according to their own often-dangerous circumstances. We urged the Legislature to take note and pass a law making further NRA suits hopeless.

Now, more reason exists for the General Assembly to act. That growing number of communities sending a message has become a boomlet. According to CeaseFirePA, a group supporting gun control, 19 communities in the state have passed lost-or-stolen gun ordinances. In Western Pennsylvania, that group includes Pittsburgh, West Mifflin (which passed a measure Tuesday), Aliquippa, Homestead, West Homestead, Clairton, Braddock, Castle Shannon, Heidelberg, Munhall, Wilkinsburg and Erie. Four more, including Duquesne, have passed resolutions that support such reporting.

When will the Legislature listen to these voices and change state law in the name of responsibility?