Pa. Supreme Court: Gun shops not 'life-sustaining' during coronavirus shutdown

HARRISBURG, Pa. - The Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by a gun shop that challenged Gov. Tom Wolf’s authority to shutter businesses deemed "non-life-sustaining" in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Without comment, a narrow majority of the state’s high court late Sunday denied the petition by a gun shop, a gun purchaser and a law firm to have Wolf’s shutdown order thrown out.

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The lawsuit had claimed Wolf’s edict violated the Second Amendment right to bear arms and other constitutional rights.

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In a dissenting statement joined by two other justices, Justice David Wecht said Wolf’s order amounts to “an absolute and indefinite prohibition upon the acquisition of firearms by the citizens of this commonwealth — a result in clear tension with the Second Amendment” and the state constitution.

He called on Wolf to make some allowance for the in-person sale of firearms.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.