HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) --
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is leaving it to the
governor's office to defend a lawsuit challenging a law backed by the
National Rifle Association that was designed to dismantle illegal
municipal firearms ordinances, officials said Friday.
A
spokesman for Gov. Tom Corbett said the governor's legal office will
defend the law against the challenge led by Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and
Lancaster. Kane's office sent word earlier in the week that she would
not take the case.
Corbett,
a Republican who opposes new forms of gun control, signed the law last
month. The law widens the ability of the NRA or gun owners to
successfully sue over municipal firearms ordinances.
over
"We can find no legitimate
reason for the attorney general to decline to defend the commonwealth in
this case," said Corbett's spokesman, Jay Pagni.
Kane's
office said only that it was more efficient and in the best interest of
Pennsylvania for the governor's lawyers to defend the law. Last year,
Kane, a Democrat, refused to defend Pennsylvania's law banning the
recognition of same-sex marriage against a federal lawsuit. Corbett's
office unsuccessfully defended the law, and it was struck down in May.
The
firearms law takes effect in early January, and opponents fear it will
unleash a wave of expensive lawsuits against dozens of cities and towns
that have sought to curb gun violence but bumped up against a
Legislature that has resisted new gun control measures.
Corbett
leaves office Jan. 20 after losing last month's election, and he will
be replaced by Democrat Tom Wolf, whose campaign said in October that
Wolf opposed the idea of allowing "outside organizations to sue towns
and cities that enact local ordinances."
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