Last November, Governor Corbett signed into law Act 192, which allows Pennsylvania gun enthusiasts and groups to sue communities that have "lost and stolen" ordinances -- local laws requiring gun owners to notify police when a firearm goes missing. The law has supporters and critics. Post-Gazette reporter Chris Potter joins us to look at both sides of the issue.
According to Potter, “lost and stolen” laws emerged a few years ago. At that time, gun-control advocates were able to successfully convince municipalities to adopt them in order to promote better oversight of gun trading and ownership. But to date, nobody has been charged under the ordinances.
Gun owners in the Commonwealth have challenged the laws as an unnecessary infringement upon their rights. Judges, however, have refused to hear any cases until gun owners are able to demonstrate harm as a result of “lost and stolen” laws. Therefore, Potter explains, these ordinances have existed in a sort of legal limbo -- a stalemate between advocates for gun ownership and gun control.
