There goes another $15,000+ of Harrisburg City taxpayer’s hard earned money
As readers of this blog will know, in January 2015, U.S. Law Shield filed suit against Harrisburg for its municipal gun laws which are in violation of state law. You can read all of the press coverage, and all of the pleadings here: City of Harrisburg Sued Over its Illegal Gun Laws
Since 1974, the State Legislature has laws in place which forbid local governments from enacting laws and ordinances regulating in any manner firearms and ammunition. Much like traffic laws, the regulation of firearms is reserved for the state. Therefore, various municipal laws, passed by the City of Harrisburg are illegal.
U.S. Law shield, an organization which educates gun owners about gun safety and regulations, has filed suit against the City over these laws.
The City has lost every attempt to have the lawsuit stalled, dismissed, stayed or otherwise delayed. Three out of the five illegal ordinances are off the books for now. The other 2 are clearly in trouble.
We here at The McShane Firm, LLC feel like saying the above to the Mayor, City Council and its legal team.
They just keep losing.
Repeatedly.
Badly.
We are actually starting to feel sorry for them.
But we have always felt bad about the taxpaying citizens who fund this quixotic quest of the Mayor. After all, attorneys cost money. There can be little doubt that the legal fees for the lawyers in the aggregate far exceed $100,000.00 at this point. That money is better spent on Head Start programs, expanding or establishing more after school programs for at-risk youth, or putting more people out on the street rather than a defiant political act of disobeying the law.
In their latest stalling tactic, the City had filed Preliminary Objections to have the entire lawsuit thrown out. The motion was prepared, answered, briefs were filed, preparations for oral arguments, and the oral argument were held. All of that costs money.
On May 27, 2015, at the end of oral argument (which was about 12 noon), Attorney Justin McShane, who argued for USLS of PA and Plaintiff John Bruno, asked Judge Andrew Dowling to swiftly and without any further delay enter an order to immediately deny the City’s Preliminary Objections (a motion to have the case dismissed) and to set a quick schedule to get to a final disposition of this case.
Ask and ye shall receive!
Judge Dowling hardly waited 2 hours to draft, sign and file an order in Dauphin County to deny their motion.
More money spent. More money wasted.
Here are the latest Court orders that we received over the weekend’s mail:
It just continues to show how this whole lawsuit is an incredible waste of money by a City that has found itself in a horrible financial situation.
This waste of time and effort perpetrated by the Mayor and his lawyers alone likely will cost the taxpayers yet another $15,000.00 in what any lawyer will tell you was a dead loser effort.
This is yet another major setback for the City leadership. They just keep hearing the words “denied.”
Honestly, it is time for them to finally give up and recognize that they are bound by the same laws as all of the citizens.
It’s time for them to tap out.