NRA for the day

Amy Worden has an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer about a new gub law:

In the final minutes of the legislative session, the House approved a bill clearing the way for the National Rifle Association and other groups to sue local municipalities, among them Philadelphia, that enact ordinances stricter than state firearms laws. The bill, approved by a 138-56 vote, will grant legal standing to "membership organizations" to sue over local gun laws, and collect legal fees and other costs if they win.
Mayor Nutter said before the vote that he was "profoundly opposed" to the bill, which he said increases the vulnerability of municipalities trying to combat gun violence to lawsuits by pro-gun advocates.
Governor Corbett will sign the bill, said spokesman Jay Pagni. The Senate had already approved it. "The Supreme Court has been clear in previous case law that local ordinances cannot supersede state law," Pagni said.
Some gun-related ordinances in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, including those aimed at curbing "straw" purchases, which require residents to report lost and stolen firearms, have stood up to legal challenge. In several cases, courts found that plaintiffs, including individuals and the NRA, did not have standing to sue.
"Gun violence represents a particularly tragic epidemic in poorer communities in cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh," said Nutter, in a joint statement with Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto. "Parents, family members, and community leaders are naturally compelled by concern for their loved ones to do everything in their power to combat the shootings that destroy lives. It is squarely at some of these responses by the community that H.B. 80 is now aimed."
Almost thirty other municipalities, including ten in the Philadelphia suburbs, have their own ordinances on lost and stolen firearms. An additional nineteen have resolutions supporting mandatory reporting. "This is a dangerous provision that threatens municipalities' financial stability," said Representative Madeleine Dean (a Democrat from Montgomery County), who represents Abington, which passed a lost and stolen resolution.
Boroughs, townships, and cities across the state, including at least nine in Southeastern Pennsylvania, began enacting local ordinances aimed at cracking down on illegal gun trafficking in 2008 after the General Assembly did not act on a statewide measure to crack down on straw purchases. The bill, which will take effect sixty days after it is signed, would also require that if a lawsuit is filed against a municipality and succeeds, the municipality must pay all legal fees and costs for the plaintiffs.
Opponents say the bill blows up the definition of "standing", which stipulates that there must be a victim identified, and creates a dangerous precedent.
"If you are a resident of Forest County and you don't like the Norristown gun law," said Senator Daylin Leach (a Democrat from Montgomery County), "you could hire Johnnie Cochran and bill a township whatever he charges to win the case."
Bill supporters said the state constitution already establishes that firearms laws must be uniform, that changes are to be made by the General Assembly, and that existing local laws are unconstitutional.
"We can't have a crazy quilt of laws," said Representative Jeff Pyle (a Republican from Armstrong County).
Former Governor Ed Rendell, a gun control advocate who has worked with the advocacy group CeasefirePA, has vowed to target in the 4 November 2014 election Southeastern Pennsylvania lawmakers who voted for the measure. "This bill is outrageous," Rendell said last week. "People all over the Commonwealth support the basic notion that someone who loses their firearm should report it."

Rico says if you lose your gub, you should report it, unless you didn't legally own it to start with...