The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court will soon decide whether Lower Merion Township has the authority to limit where guns are sold in the community — a ruling that could have statewide implications. Pennsylvania state law strictly prohibits local governments from regulating guns, but maintaining that prohibition does not extend to land use. Lower Merion officials imposed a set of zoning rules in 2023 limiting where retailers who hold a federal firearms license could be located in the township and enacted a series of requirements for shops to be approved in permitted areas. Grant Schmidt, the owner of Shot Tec, a gun training facility and seller in Lower Merion, disagreed and sued the township. Last year, a Montgomery County judge struck down some of the requirements in the zoning ordinance but allowed the overall zoning restrictions to stand alongside three conditions related to the firearms license, school zone rules and disclosure of information to the local government.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer; 2/3/2025