The epidemic of gun violence in Philadelphia is relentless. As of today, eight children have died of gun violence this year, more than 90 children have been shot and 1,100 people were victims of gun violence. Like the COVID-19 epidemic, gun violence also falls more heavily on Black and Hispanic communities. In 2016, although firearm homicide was only the 11th leading cause of death in the city, it was the leading cause of death among young non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic males.

Many of us have been conditioned to believe the there is nothing we can do. But in fact public health officials, including Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health, have good, evidence-based solutions that have been shown to reduce gun violence in other places. The problem is the law: like 42 other states, the Pennsylvania legislature has adopted a preemption law restricting municipalities from regulating gun violence, see 18 Pa.C.S. Section 6120. While the plain language does not completely preempt regulations of firearms, Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court, over strong dissents, has repeatedly read the law as a complete ban. See, for example, Clarke v. House of Representatives, 957 A.2d 361 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2008) (en banc); NRA v. City of Philadelphia, 977 A.2d 78 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2009) (en banc); Dillon v. City of Erie, 83 A.3d 467 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2014). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has never addressed the question of the scope of the law, although in dicta it suggested a broad reading. See Ortiz v. Commonwealth, 545 Pa. 279 (1996).