National Gun Group Sues Pennsylvania Township, Official Over Gun Range Dispute

Bellevue, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of the owner of a local gun club in western Pennsylvania against Robinson Township and its zoning officer, alleging violations of Second and Fourteenth Amendment rights “by subverting the club’s operation.”

SAF is joined by William Drummond, owner of the property on which the Greater Pittsburgh Gun Club is located, and has been since 1967. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The case is Drummond v. Robinson Township.

Legal troubles between the range operation and Robinson Township date back to 1993, when the township brought a nuisance action against the range, then known as the Greater Pittsburgh Trap and Skeet Club. The club prevailed. A second action mounted two years ago also failed.

But now the operation, under Drummond’s management since December 2017 via a lease, is having trouble again. New zoning restrictions have been adopted and the lawsuit says that the defendants, under color of law, have deprived the plaintiffs, their members, and their customers, of their right to keep and bear arms in violation of the Second and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

“This amounts to a local government attempting to drive a legal operation out of business through the use of zoning restrictions,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “There have been meetings about which Mr. Drummond was not informed, and we believe this has been done in order to close down the historic range operation.

“We’re seeking a permanent injunction against the defendants,” he added, “and a court order for the Township to issue all the necessary permits for operation. We expect the federal court to bring an end to what appears to be a long-running effort to shut down this range facility, and hold the township responsible for this nonsense.”

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

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