Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
by: James Stoker
Wednesday, I had the pleasure of visiting the Dauphin County Court and appearing with life members Howard Bullock and Josh First, and our legal team of Joshua Prince, Dillon Harris, and Kevin Fenchak, before Judge Dowling. Our purpose was argument before the court on Firearms Owners Against Crime et al. v City of Harrisburg et al., 2015-cv-354-EQ. Yes, you read that right… 2015.
This case has been up and down the ladder of the courts for nearly ten years. Why? Because Harrisburg passed five illegal ordinances back then prohibiting the following:
Possession of Firearms by Minors, Discharging Weapons or Firearms, Lost and Stolen Firearms , Emergency Measures, and a Hunting, Firearms and Fishing Ordinance.
Wednesday would be a shining example of why this case has dragged on for so long. In fact, I almost must believe the attorney representing Harrisburg intentionally delays the proceedings to leech more money out of Harrisburg for their appearances. Why? Because our attorney, Joshua Prince, filed his brief two years ago, the court scheduled the hearing in May of this year, and still the city counsel showed up unprepared to argue two of the three points of this hearing.
And why is Harrisburg fighting this anyway? Since the initial filing in 2015, every topic here but one has been resolved by a higher court and deemed to violate preemption. Four out of five! The only one not already decided is the emergency measures ordinance, which surely will be defeated in the coming weeks.
Attorney Murray Weed argued statute of limitations, and that the ordinances have never been put into effect. He actually backtracked on the emergency ordinance section at one point, first denying it had been enacted but that emergencies had been declared, then acknowledging the section must have been enacted but that it really doesn’t matter unless there’s an “act of war” or “we're in DEFCON 1”, two scenarios not mentioned in the ordinance.
Attorney Prince then seized the opportunity to identify several instances where the mayor of Harrisburg had declared states of emergency, and further provided that the statute of limitations does not apply in this instance, while solidifying our status as having standing to be aggrieved by these violations.
Unfortunately, though the judge gave no quarter on the argument, and seemed in agreement with Mr. Prince on his argument, he did provide the opposing counsel ten days to prepare for the case two years apparently weren’t enough for. Attorney Prince did identify for the judge that three of us were there to testify in the matter, but the judge did not seem phased by that issue, merely affording me the opportunity to testify that day rather than come back due to distance. I felt inclined to return with Howard Bullock and Josh First, to provide a united front in the courtroom against the infringements and the ill prepared counsel opposing us.
Part of me wonders if the residents of Harrisburg would be so excited to see their tax money going to a private law firm who clearly doesn’t mind wasting time and money. Or if they’d even care enough to complain to the mayor about such frivolous spending during hard financial times. But seeing the anti-gun “progressive” mentality the crime filled city has become, I’m not so sure many are smart enough to see the waste for what it is. After all, if they’re voting for people who take their rights and enslave them to big government, they’re not wise enough to care that their tax money is being wasted away on a case that has already largely been decided against them.