At the June 9, 2009, City Council Meeting, the Council unanimously approved Administration Bill No. 9, “requiring prompt notification to authorities of lost or stolen firearms, and imposing penalties.” The new ordinance would require gun owners to report the loss or theft of any registered firearms within 72 hours of their discovery.

One city woman addressed the Council to express her concern about the ordinance, citing that, according to her understanding, the bill would violate a state ban on gun registration, compromise a state-sanctioned right to bear arms, and create legal costs for both taxpayers and gun owners.

Several city children also addressed the Council to state their support for the ordinance, reading prepared statements to describe the benefits of such controls. This presentation was followed by a public statement from Joe Grace, Executive Director of Ceasefire PA, a Philadelpha-based group that fights to reduce gun violence through public policies like the one being enacted in Lancaster.

Grace stressed that the new ordinance is not an infringement on anyone’s gun rights: “This is a civil responsibility. With rights comes responsibilities. If your handgun or firearm is lost or stolen, you report it to the police. It is truly that simple.”

Mayor Gray also took a moment to clarify the purpose and parameters of this new ordinance: “Law abiding people, if their gun is stolen, they’re going to report it. The reason that this is passed is not to have it reported; it’s to eliminate the excuse of the person who buys the gun legally and then sells it illegally….So, when [people] say, ‘only criminals wouldn’t follow this,’ they’re exactly right.”

Regarding an alleged violation of Second Amendment rights, Gray took a hard line: “[Recently,] the Seventh Circuit, which is a court right below the Supreme Court, in Chicago, with two judges that I know of—who are both very conservative—found that, specifically, the Second Amendment does not apply to states and municipalities. It only applies to the Federal Government.” Taking off the proverbial “Mayor hat,” and donning a lawyer’s precision, Gray explained that “the Bill of Rights, initially, did not apply to the states at all. And the courts, over the years, have done what we call ‘selective incorporation’ of certain portions of the Bill of Rights against the states and municipalities.”

Finally, addressing concerns that the cost of related litigation could fall on taxpayers, Gray noted that the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has already committed to providing free legal counsel of event of future lawsuits.

After the Bill was unanimously passed, the audience burst into loud applause—not a common occurrence at meetings of the City Council.