How county courts are grappling with Pa.’s new firearms law

• Ed Mahon
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Ed Mahon comes to Spotlight PA from PA Post, where he covered state politics and policy, produced radio stories that were broadcast on public media stations throughout the state and on NPR’s national newscasts, and co-wrote a weekday newsletter. Prior to joining PA Post, Ed worked for six years as an investigative and political reporter for the York Daily Record, part of the USA Today Network. His reporting on failures in Pennsylvania’s system for protecting domestic abuse victims was a finalist in the national 2018 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists in the local reporting category. He was also part of a team whose coverage of the criminal justice system, including the aggressive use of civil asset forfeiture by York County prosecutors, received the 2018 G. Richard Dew Award for Journalistic Service from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. Before joining the York Daily Record, Ed covered K-12 education at the Centre Daily Times in State College and worked as a stringer for suburban sections of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He grew up in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

 Ed Mahon / PA Post

The Delaware County courthouse in Media, Pennsylvania, is seen on April 11, 2019. In the county in 2017, there were 206 protection-from-abuse cases that ended with a stipulation or agreement between the parties, 187 final orders granted after a hearing before a judge, and 147 final orders denied after a hearing before a judge.

From The Context, PA Post’s weekday email newsletter:

‘It does get very confusing’

Ed Mahon / PA Post

The Delaware County courthouse in Media, Pennsylvania, is seen on April 11, 2019.

• In a story about the state’s new protection from abuse law, Emily Previti described in a PA Post story how firearms were a sticking point and an admitted bargaining chip in one Lycoming County case.

• Emily found it seemed there wasn’t consensus or consistency among counties or even judges in the same courthouses about how they’ll apply certain changes in the law. “There’s a learning curve here,” an attorney who represents PFA plaintiffs said.

• Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration has called the new domestic abuse law the first law to address gun violence in more than a decade. Jennifer Lugar, who lives in Pennsylvania, wrote an op-ed in The Boston Globe advocating for another gun law to allow extreme-risk protection orders. She believes such an order could have saved her husband.

Best of the rest

Patrick Semansky / Associated Press

Attorney General William Barr speaks alongside Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, right, and Deputy Attorney General Ed O’Callaghan, left, about the release of a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report during a news conference, Thursday, April 18, 2019, at the Department of Justice in Washington.

• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette breaks down Pennsylvania references in the redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, namely an attempt by Russians to organize “Miners for Trump” rallies in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The story also includes reactions to the report from members of Pa.’s Congressional delegation.

• If you’re interested in a friendly game of football or baseball this Easter Sunday, WITF’s Katie Meyer has details on how some long-gone group of lawmakers decided to partially ban those activities on Sundays. In 1978, the state Supreme Court decided most of the old blue laws were unenforceable.

• Why did six state House members vote against naming the Eastern hellbender the state amphibian? Stephen Caruso of the Pennsylvania Capital-Star went in search of answers. One lawmaker declined to comment when approached — which seemed a little odd.