NRA attorney calls for arrest of Philidelphia Mayor

[ericire12]

Philadelphia: NRA successfully blocks gun ordinances in court.  Attorney calls for arrest of mayor

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20080418_NRA__fighting_gun_laws__calls_for_Nutter_s_arrest.html

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writer

Philadelphia's latest effort to curb violence through gun control was temporarily blocked by a city judge yesterday in a ruling that both sides welcomed, and that left a National Rifle Association lawyer calling for Mayor Nutter's arrest for "official oppression."

Common Pleas Court Judge Jane Cutler Greenspan granted the NRA a temporary restraining order that blocks enforcement of a package of five gun-control laws passed last week by City Council and signed by Nutter.

Greenspan stressed that she was "just trying to preserve the status quo" until an April 28 hearing on whether to issue a preliminary injunction freezing the laws longer.

After yesterday's 45-minute hearing, C. Scott Shields, the Media lawyer who filed the lawsuit for the NRA, fulminated for several minutes, telling reporters that Mayor Nutter and City Council were a "rogue government" for enacting laws invalidated in 1996 by the state Supreme Court.

"I'd advise every resident of Philadelphia to go out and buy their guns now," Shields said, adding that Nutter had made uncertain the future of gun ownership in the city.

Shields praised District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham's announcement Tuesday that she would not enforce the new gun laws because such prosecutions would violate Supreme Court precedent. He called on Abraham to prosecute Nutter and Council members for "official oppression," a charge usually made against police in brutality cases.

"I am not going to arrest the mayor and members of City Council," Abraham said in a statement yesterday.

In 1996 in Ortiz v. Commonwealth, the state's highest court invalidated a city ordinance to regulate assault weapons, ruling that the state legislature in 1994 passed a law that specifically barred municipalities from regulating guns.

The five measures, introduced by Council members Darrell L. Clarke and Donna Reed Miller, passed unanimously April 10 and were signed by Nutter the same day.

The laws:
-Permit authorities to seek a judge's order to take guns from people shown to be a risk to themselves or others.
-Ban from gun ownership people who are subject to a protection-from-abuse order.
-Require gun owners to report to police the loss or theft of a gun within 24 hours of discovering it.
-Ban possession or sale of assault weapons or contraband firearms within city limits.
-Limit firearm purchases to one a month and require buyers to obtain a police certification they have not bought another gun within the past month.

[Kid Shelleen]

The people of Philly actually elected a mayor named Nutter? He appears to be living up to his name.

Thank God for the NRA and the NRA/ILA.