With the Second Amendment being an easy read for the literate and Pennsylvania state law prohibiting the regulating of firearms by local government, it should be hard to imagine a world in which a township can use zoning to prohibit a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) from doing business strictly because they deal in guns.
But that’s the case in Pennsylvania, where the township of Lower Merion officials argue that the law does not extend to zoning, which regulates land use. The move will not come as a shock to most as Democrats have always used any manner of mental gymnastics to circumvent the law when it suits them. I think we have a word for people like that. Criminals.
With a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court prepared to issue a ruling shortly as to whether Lower Merion has the authority to limit where guns are sold, the decision could have a sweeping impact across the state, as a win for the township could encourage additional leftist-run communities to implement similar zoning regulations, and protect those that already have in the state.
“It could open up the floodgates for every anti-gun municipality to zone out home-based FFLs (federal firearms licenses); it would put them out of business,” said Pennsylvania state director for the Gun Owners of America, Val Finnell.
Adam Garber, executive director of CeaseFire PA and either mentally inept or morally corrupt, argues that not being able to use zoning as a loophole to violate the Constitution and Pennsylvania law would allow the firearms industry to operate unfettered, saying it is barely regulated as it sits. No, I’m not kidding; he actually said that.
“At that point we are really talking about the Wild, Wild West of a world where this is the only industry that is barely regulated now in several ways and would be completely unregulated… The consequences we know are really clear, which would be more violence,” said Gerber, I mean Garber.
Let’s take a moment to look at the ridiculous claim of “more violence.” Surely Adam has a study to share that would correlate an FFL’s presence with that of violent crime, right? Don’t hold your breath on that one. These people make a career out of saying things and hoping they stick without a hint of foundation. But what if the claim was true? Is he saying there is a particular part of the township he would like to direct all the violent crime to?
The Lower Marion ordinance originally would have prohibited FFLs from operating in residential or walkable downtown areas, relegating them to strip malls and industrial use zones while requiring measures such as smash-resistant windows, an alarm system, and internal video surveillance. A Montgomery County judge struck down some requirements in 2024, including the window modifications, but allowed the overall zoning restrictions.
Josh Grimes, the Lower Merion Commissioner and obviously a graduate of the Democrat institute for criminals in government, walked himself into a proper admission of his contempt for the law, but he likely didn’t pick up on it because, well, he’s a moron.
“A substantial number of our residents are in favor of restricting the pervasiveness of guns and firearms… We can’t do that meaningfully because of federal and state laws but our solicitor advised us that we can, again, use zoning laws to regulate where they can be to the most appropriate parts of the township,” Grimes said.
Right, Josh, those inconvenient state and federal laws got in the way, so you want to use zoning to single out one specific retail subset to “regulate” the location of that which Pennsylvania state law says a local government may not regulate? Tell me you’re corrupt without telling me you’re corrupt.
Attorney Josh Prince is fighting for a broader interpretation of Pennsylvania’s preemption law, arguing that FFLs can be held to the same zoning regulations as other commercial businesses but that singling them out using policies that deal with firearms specifically is in violation of the law, and he is correct on the matter.
Let’s be honest: These are punitive measures designed to hurt firearms businesses, the industry, and their customers. They amount to nothing more than authoritarian behavior outside the bounds of the law and without foundation for the purposes of imposing leftist will on the community and law-abiding Americans.
While I would rather these people crawl in a 10×10 cell so we can move on to allocating money and resources to improve communities without petulant distractions, I’d also like to remind them that we can play that game too, perhaps taking a closer look at zoning as it pertains to Planned Parenthood and businesses that offer gender-affirming care.
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