{"id":546,"date":"2026-07-07T15:40:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T15:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prorelocationteam.com\/?p=546"},"modified":"2026-07-07T15:40:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T15:40:18","slug":"why-the-doj-is-investigating-philadelphia-after-police-stripped-gun-permits-from-black-panthers-inspired-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prorelocationteam.com\/?p=546","title":{"rendered":"Why the DOJ is investigating Philadelphia after police stripped gun permits from Black Panthers\u2011inspired group"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Paul Birdsong leads the Black Lion Party for International Solidarity, an armed, Black Panthers-inspired mutual aid group in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Read more Democratic socialists aren\u2019t the only young, progressive Democrats dividing the\u00a0party<\/a><\/p>\n

Until February, the 39-year-old carried a firearm during the group\u2019s neighborhood patrols to increase neighborhood safety. Then the police revoked his carry license. Four other Black Lion members lost their licenses the same week. <\/p>\n

The city\u2019s revocation letters, by published accounts, explained little. They cited \u201cgood cause\u201d and Birdsong\u2019s \u201ccharacter and reputation.\u201d <\/p>\n

They also pointed to a tense January 2026 encounter between a group of Black Lion members carrying rifles and a group of officers. The argument at a snowy intersection at 23rd and Diamond streets in North Philadelphia ended in hard words \u2013 but no arrests, citations or violence.<\/p>\n

On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation into the Philadelphia Police Department\u2019s licensing practices. <\/p>\n

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker that her office would examine whether the Philadelphia police can use a \u201cvague \u2018good cause\u2019 standard\u201d to cancel permits. <\/p>\n

The Justice Department\u2019s press release stated the rule directly: \u201cIt is a violation of the Second Amendment for government officials to use vague, personal discretion when determining whether to issue or revoke permits to carry firearms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s unique gun laws<\/h2>\n

The prevalence of guns in Philadelphia has real public safety stakes. Gun violence in Philadelphia has fallen from its COVID-19 pandemic-era peak, when there were 562 gun homicides in 2021, but the problem remains serious. <\/p>\n

As of late June 2026, city data shows 330 people were shot in Philadelphia so far this year, 71 of them fatally. Parker has made violence reduction central to her agenda. That context helps explain why officials may seek aggressive tools, even as the U.S. Constitution limits their discretion.<\/p>\n

We are scholars of gun laws and the Second Amendment. One of us is a law professor at the University of Wyoming, co-author of \u201cFirearms Law and the Second Amendment: Regulation, Rights, and Policy\u201d and an unpaid trustee of the National Rifle Association\u2019s Civil Rights Defense Fund. The other is a law lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania who has taught firearms law across the state and country and is a board member of the National Rifle Association, and who has also represented the organization on a variety of matters prior to becoming a board member. <\/p>\n

Philadelphia has long been the outlier in Pennsylvania when it comes to public carry. Public carry refers to legally carrying a firearm in public places, whether openly, where the gun is visible, or concealed, where the gun is hidden from public view. Pennsylvania adults may lawfully carry firearms openly without a license everywhere but in the city of Philadelphia. Statewide, a license is always required to carry concealed. <\/p>\n

In Philadelphia, however, gun owners need a license to carry openly too. This exception is rooted in the Pennsylvania legislature\u2019s public policy choices made decades ago.<\/p>\n

But this Philadelphia-only firearms rule is under constitutional pressure. In 2025, in , the Superior Court of Pennsylvania held it unconstitutional as applied. The state Supreme Court is now weighing the question. <\/p>\n

Yet, for now, the statute remains on the books and still lets a license be revoked for \u201cgood cause\u201d or because an official deems the holder\u2019s \u201ccharacter and reputation\u201d dangerous. <\/p>\n

The Department of Justice says that\u2019s a problem.<\/p>\n