In Re: Appeal of the Gun Range, LLC ~ Appeal of: The Gun Range, LLC, 311 A.3d 1242

The Gun Range, LLC sought to open a gun shop at its existing shooting range property in Philadelphia, located in a CMX-2 commercial district.
Philadelphia’s Zoning Code only permits gun shops by right in I-3 districts and by special exception in ICMX and I-2 districts, and not within 500 feet of a residential district; the Gun Range property was ineligible on both grounds.
The Licenses and Inspections Department denied the application; the Zoning Board, then the trial court, affirmed the denial.
On initial appeal, the Commonwealth Court remanded for consideration of Second Amendment arguments, but the trial court dismissed for lack of standing.
The Gun Range appealed again; during the appeal, the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen changed the legal analysis for Second Amendment challenges.
The Commonwealth Court reviewed both the Second Amendment and de facto exclusion claims, affirming in part and remanding for review of the exclusionary zoning issue.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Standing to raise 2A claim	Gun Range has standing, including derivative standing for its customers	Standing was not challenged; trial court sua sponte found lack of standing	Gun Range has derivative standing; trial court erred raising standing sua sponte
2A right to sell in commercial district	Second Amendment covers commercial sale and thus the zoning restriction is unconstitutional	Zoning restrictions on location of gun shops are outside core 2A rights and are presumptively lawful	2A does not explicitly protect commercial sale; such regulations are presumptively lawful
Applicability of Bruen standard	City must justify regulation under historical tradition as required by Bruen	Regulation fits under longstanding exceptions noted by Bruen and Heller	Bruen standard is inapplicable for commercial sales; no need for historical tradition analysis
De facto exclusionary zoning	Restricts gun shops to only 3% of city area, making it unconstitutional	City serves firearms needs; fair share test is not violated	Remanded for trial court to address whether zoning is de facto exclusionary

District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008) (establishes individual right to possess firearms, but recognizes longstanding prohibitions and regulatory exceptions)
McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010) (incorporates Second Amendment rights to the states, reaffirms presumptively lawful regulations)
New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n, Inc. v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022) (clarifies standard for Second Amendment challenges; focuses on text and historical tradition)
Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925) (corporations may sue on behalf of their patrons)