Gun Owners of America Applauds Superior Court Ruling Holding Philadelphia Open Carry Ban Unconstitutional

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 25, 2025

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Gun Owners of America (GOA) is celebrating a major legal victory for Second Amendment rights following a ruling by the Pennsylvania Superior Court that declared the state law creating the City of Philadelphia’s open carry licensing requirement unconstitutional, in at least some applications, under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In a decision issued on June 23, 2025, the court vacated the conviction of Riyadh Sumpter, who was arrested in Philadelphia for openly carrying a firearm without a license—an act that is otherwise legal for individuals over 18 years-of-age throughout the rest of the Commonwealth. The court found that Pennsylvania’s law (18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6108), which uniquely applies only in Philadelphia, creates a discriminatory standard that unfairly burdens the rights of citizens living in the state’s largest city.  Unfortunately, and confusingly, because the decision was an as-applied ruling, the Court’s decision only clearly extends to Mr. Sumpter.  However, because the ruling hinges on straight-forward facts, it provides extremely strong persuasive evidence that the law is unconstitutional in every other application as well.

“This ruling is a historic affirmation of what we’ve said all along—gun rights don’t end at the Philadelphia city line,” said Dr. Val Finnell, Pennsylvania Director for Gun Owners of America.

“The court rightly recognized that the state’s open carry ban in Philadelphia violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment by creating a two-tiered system where the fundamental right to bear arms depends on your zip code.”

In its opinion, the court held that because the Second Amendment right to bear arms outside the home is a fundamental right, any law that imposes restrictions on that right must be subject to strict scrutiny when viewed through an equal protection analysis. The court found that the Commonwealth failed to demonstrate a compelling governmental interest for the disparate treatment of Philadelphia residents, concluding that Section 6108 does not pass constitutional muster.

The opinion makes clear that although public safety is important, it cannot come at the expense of individual liberty. The court wrote:

“Section 6108 places persons within the City of Philadelphia at a special disadvantage in the exercise of their Second Amendment right… Section 6108 fails to pass strict scrutiny and is therefore unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution as applied to Appellant.”

Dr. Finnell continued: “This is a huge win for the people of Philadelphia, who have been unjustly stripped of their rights under an unconstitutional city-specific law. GOA will continue to stand with Pennsylvanians in all 67 counties to protect and restore the right to keep and bear arms.”

Gun Owners of America urges state lawmakers to repeal Section 6108 entirely, thus avoiding future legal challenges and confusion, and ensuring uniformity to firearm laws across Pennsylvania.

GOA spokesmen are available for interviews.

Gun Owners of America is a nonprofit grassroots lobbying organization dedicated to protecting the right to keep and bear arms without compromise. GOA represents over two million members and activists. For more information, visit GOA’s Press Center.

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