By Josh First

Although it brings me no pleasure, in the interest of good government and the rule of law, I am a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Mayor Eric Papenfuse and other Harrisburg leaders, over the city's plainly, patently, illegal anti-gun ordinances.

Josh First (PennLive file)

This lawsuit is brought by Firearms Owners Against Crime, myself and other plaintiffs, with attorney Joshua Prince, and at its core is the essential American value that Harrisburg's city leaders must abide by the same laws the rest of us must follow.

Either the rule of law applies equally to everyone, or there is no rule of law at all and our government has failed.

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Every honest American elected official understands this principle, and is bound by their Constitutional oath to uphold the law, even if they dislike it.

Yet Papenfuse believes that he is above the law. He believes the long-established state law against local gun ordinances does not apply to him or to the city.

His actions tell us he believes he may do whatever he wants with the police powers entrusted to him, based on his personal beliefs.

This is the behavior of a petty tyrant, a king, not someone elected through and subject to a democratic process.

Papenfuse's unwillingness to comply with the law is costing us city taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.

Price has already won one default judgment, indicating the city's weak legal position and the quality of the legal representation Papenfuse uses to defend himself.

I understand that many Americans today are unfamiliar with firearms, and that lack of familiarity leads to fear.

But that feeling alone cannot justify this crusade against law-abiding gun owners.

None of the petty ordinances Papenfuse defends mean anything to actual criminals. Instead, these ordinances are used to bully and intimidate good people, who have much to risk by breaking any law, making them afraid to exercise their basic rights.

These "common sense gun control" ordinances are the Jim Crow laws of modern times; disconnected from actual crime control, they are all about controlling the law-abiding, free citizen. Gun control represents a crusading prohibitionist mindset, not critical thinking, solid analysis, or fealty to basic Constitutional rights.

In the 1950s and 1960s, civil rights activists hailed landmark lawsuits against arrogant local and state governments maintaining or enforcing patently illegal laws and ordinances, most of which dealt with racial, education, and equal government service issues.

Unaccountable government officials used those petty laws to bully local citizens and erode their basic Constitutional rights, to hold them in fear.

Today, if Harrisburg passed ordinances against gays or racial groups, few people would object to a lawsuit to eliminate the unjust acts.

So it is sad that neither local elected officials, specifically Sen. Rob Teplitz and Rep. Patty Kim, nor the newspaper of record for Harrisburg, PennLive/The Patriot News, have been willing to defend the citizenry against Papenfuse's official bully tactics, or to hold him accountable for his expensive, taxpayer-funded lawlessness.

At one time newspapers were bastions of advocacy for freedom and accountability, but apparently no longer; not here, not now.

That job is being left to common citizens like me, who must stick out our necks and confront City Hall, joined by citizen groups like FOAC, just to hold on to our basic rights.

When Papenfuse would not follow the law, we had no choice but to band together to legally compel him. What a shame.

Josh First is a businessman who lives in Harrisburg.