Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said he’d like to get a Senate vote on the controversial “Disclose Act” before the Fourth of July congressional recess, according to Gun Week sources on Capitol Hill.

Over strong opposition from the grassroots firearms community because of the deal that many saw as a sell-out by the National Rifle Association over an exemption (See related earlier story on Page 2), the “Disclose Act” was passed by the House of Representatives in a squeaker vote and was sent to the US Senate on June 18, where its fate may not be so certain.

As this issue of Gun Week went to press, the Senate calendar did not list action on the measure. However, that means Reid could try to bring it directly to the floor without the usual legislative preliminaries within days of the House action.

Should he do so, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would announce plans for a filibuster, which he has previously threatened with respect to an attempt by the Democratic leadership to get around a Supreme Court decision restricting the McCain-Feingold bill.

If McConnell does push a filibuster, Reid undoubtedly would invoke cloture, the success of which takes 60 votes. Given stated GOP opposition and the uncertain status of some Democrats cloture is not certain.

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PA court blocks preemption suits

On June 25, a three-judge panel of Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court issued a ruling that makes it harder for gunowners to challenge local gun laws that were passed in violation of the state’s firearm preemption law, according to the National Rifle Association (NRA). This was the second such ruling in just over a year.

The June 25 decision involved a Pittsburgh ordinance that makes it a crime not to report the loss or theft of a firearm to law enforcement officials.

The court, however, ruled that the plaintiffs did not have “standing” to sue because they had not been prosecuted under the ordinances.

That was the same reasoning that was used to reject an earlier challenge to a similar law in Philadelphia, but in the Pittsburgh case it drew a strong dissent from Judge P. Kevin Brobson. The NRA plans to appeal the latest decision to the full Commonwealth Court.

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