The Gun Range, LLC v. City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, et al.

Since 2012, the City of Philadelphia’s Zoning Code has prohibited a “Gun Shop”1—a business that provides Second Amendment-protected commercial goods and services—in over 96% of the city’s land area including every commercial district. Instead, “Gun Shops” are relegated to remote limited industrial areas of the City with additional highly subjective zoning and distance regulations. In Heller, this Court held the “right of the people to keep and bear Arms” protects “the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation.” District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 592 (2008). Heller acknowledged these rights imply a need for “proper discipline and training” and the corresponding right to engage in the commercial sale of firearms when it described it, with “conditions and qualifications”. In Bruen, this Court held that the Second Amendment protects all conduct within its ambit, and places the burden on the government to prove that efforts to regulate such conduct are consistent with our Nation’s historical traditions. N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen 597 U.S. 1 (2022), and in McDonald, this Court held that the protections of the Second Amendment are extended to the states. McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010). The question presented is: Whether prohibiting a business that provides Second Amendment-protected goods and services from operating in substantially all of a city’s land areas—and all of its commercial areas—violates the Second Amendment. 1. “Gun Shop” is defined as “any retail sales business engaged in selling, leasing, purchasing, or lending of guns, firearms, or ammunition.” Phila. Code §14-100, etc.