In a 2-1 split opinion, a majority state appellate panel has reversed a lower-court dismissal and allowed to proceed a Second Amendment-based lawsuit lodged by a Stroud Township landowner who argued that a town ordinance stopping him from operating a shooting range was unconstitutional.

The ordinance “imposes a burden on the Second Amendment right to maintain proficiency in firearm use by essentially imposing an outright ban on target shooting everywhere in the township except two specific zoning districts,” the Commonwealth Court majority, made up of Judges Mary Hannah Leavitt and Kevin Brobson, said in a 26-page opinion penned by Brobson.