While government officials in Philadelphia are in court trying to claim they simply need to pass local gun control laws because their city is so violent, they’re also dragging their butts on enabling law-abiding citizens to carry a firearm. So, they know the city is violent, they just don’t want good, innocent people to be able to defend themselves.

So, while they’re dealing with a court case about passing their own gun laws, they now find themselves on the receiving end of a lawsuit about carry permits.

Philadelphia is facing a new lawsuit in a year-long battle over gun-carry licenses.

A gun-rights group filed a lawsuit against Pennsylvania’s largest city in state court on Monday for refusing to issue the licenses to residents. Gun Owners of America (GOA) claims the city is withholding the licenses in violation of state law. And it’s not the first time.

“Last October, Philadelphia wanted residents to wait months just to apply. Now they want residents to wait months to pick up their application,” Andrew Austin, who is representing GOA in the case, told The Reload. “Gun Owners of America sued them last year—forcing them to take applications—and now we have to sue them again so they’ll issue them.”

Despite applying for licenses to carry a gun and being approved for one by the Philadelphia Police Department, five residents claim in the suit the department has refused to actually issue their permits. Instead, they’ve been told they are not allowed to legally carry a gun until they pick up their license during an in-person appointment, and the appointments aren’t available for 100 days or more. They claim withholding the licenses violates a state law requiring the documents to be issued or denied within 45 days of an application being submitted.

“We are merely asking that the city follow the law exactly as written,” Austin said. “But it’s Philadelphia, so I am not at all surprised.”

Nor I.

While there might have been some degree of understanding during the worst of the pandemic, those days are over. Transmission rates are going down and immunizations are going up. There’s really no reason for a lot of this nonsense. Picking up a permit should be a two-minute process, thus negating the need for appointments. There should also be an option where the permit can be mailed.

But Philadelphia doesn’t work like that. They want people to have to walk in and sit there to pick up a permit they’ve already been approved for.

Frankly, the courts need to knock this down. The law is clear. Philadelphia has 45 days in which to either issue the permit or deny it. Since these folks are already approved, there’s absolutely no reason for this nonsense to continue.

The problem is that Philadelphia seems to believe gun rights are irrelevant. They’re not alone in that view, but it’s the wrong view.

Meanwhile, people are being killed by criminals with guns illegally obtained through various means and this city seems to believe that the answer to this is to keep screwing with law-abiding citizens.