Philly judge dismisses lawsuit against city ban on rapid-fire gun switches and bump stocks

Robert Moran, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jul 31, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed against the city for banning rapid-fire gun devices known as “bump stocks” and “switches,” and lawyers for the plaintiffs quickly filed an appeal.

Common Pleas Court Judge Caroline Turner’s one-sentence order, which provided no explanation, dismissed the complaint filed in July 2024 by city residents Vern Lei and Ross Gilson arguing that the ordinance signed by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker a month earlier was a violation of their right to bear arms under the Pennsylvania Constitution.

The ordinance, which passed through City Council unanimously, prohibits anyone in Philadelphia from manufacturing or buying devices that are designed to accelerate how fast a semiautomatic gun can fire. That includes bump stocks, which are meant for rifles, and switches, which can be attached to handguns.

Police believe gun switches were used in the shooting on July 7 that killed three men and wounded nine other people in Grays Ferry and the Memorial Day shooting in Lemon Hill that left two dead and nine others wounded.

Parker cheered the ruling in a statement issued on Thursday.

“Philadelphia deserves safe streets and safe summers, free from the threat of gun violence. Switch devices have caused mass destruction in our communities and we will continue the fight to get them off of our streets,” Parker said.

Andrew B. Austin and Daniel J. Auerbach, the lawyers for Lei and Gilson, on Thursday appealed the ruling to Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

“The Courts in Pennsylvania have clearly held that the City is not permitted to regulate in any manner, so we were obviously surprised by the result, and we are confident it will be overturned by the Commonwealth Court,” Austin said in an emailed statement.

Lei and Gilson had first filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city, but then withdrew that complaint to instead challenge the ordinance in a state court.

Philadelphia has repeatedly tried to pass its own gun legislation and overturn state law that prohibits the city from doing so. But multiple court decisions have struck down those regulations, including a ban on assault weapons and a prohibition on guns in parks and recreation centers.

The Pennsylvania Constitution protects the right to bear arms, and state “preemption” prohibits any county and municipality from passing laws that restrict gun ownership that is allowed under state law.

Just days before Parker signed the city ordinance, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on bump stocks implemented under President Donald Trump in 2018.

That bump-stock ban was in response to the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed 60 people and left hundreds of others wounded. The shooter used multiple bump stocks for rapid firing.

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