Philly Man Beats City's 'Open-Carry' Ban, Ruled Unconstitutional
The Riyaadh Sumpter Story: 20 Year Old Beats Open-Carry Ban in Phila
After an overturn in the judicial system, a Philadelphia prisoner is now a free man.
According to sources, in 2022, Police saw a handgun visibly protruding from West Philadelphia resident Riyaadh Sumpter’s waistband. During questioning Sumpter said he was carrying it for self-defense due to the rapidly rising gun violence in Philadelphia. Police arrested him, and charged him with openly carrying a gun in a public space. Later that year, he accepted a deal, pleading guilty to the charge in exchange for 12 months of probation. But then Sumpter appealed, and the case wound up in front of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that Philadelphia’s ban on open carry of firearms without a permit is unconstitutional.
This decision, made in the case of Pennsylvania v. Sumpter, means that charges against a 20-year-old man, Riyaadh Sumpter, who was arrested for openly carrying a handgun in Philadelphia without a permit, have been vacated.
The court determined the law treating Philadelphia residents differently from those in the rest of the state violated both the federal and state constitutions.
“This ruling is a historic affirmation of what we’ve said all along — gun rights don’t end at the Philadelphia city line,” said Dr. Val Finnell, Pennsylvania director for Gun Owners of America, in a statement. “The court rightly recognized that the state’s open-carry ban in Philadelphia violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment by creating a two-tiered system where the fundamental right to bear arms depends on your zip code.”
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