The Black Lion Party for International Solidarity turned heads and gained international headlines earlier this year when members began patrolling the streets of Philadelphia dressed in black and clutching assault rifles. Their mission, as they told The Trace in February, was to protect the public from criminals, the police, and federal immigration agents.

But the group, which models itself after the Black Panther Party for Self Defense of the 1960s and 70s, is waging a new battle against the City of Philadelphia after its Police Department stripped a handful of Black Lions of the right to carry their firearms.

[This story was originally published by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here.]

Five group members, including Chairman Paul Birdsong, received letters in February informing them that their licenses to carry firearms were being revoked, according to an attorney representing some of the members. A copy of the letter obtained by The Trace is signed by Lieutenant Wanda Newsome, commanding officer of the Police Department’s Gun Permit Unit, and cites “good cause” and “character and reputation” as reasons for the decision.

The letter also references a January 31 encounter that the Black Lions had with a police officer at 23rd and Diamond streets in North Philadelphia. Newsome wrote that while “visibly armed,” the group engaged in conduct that “created an unreasonable danger to public safety.”

Corporal Jasmine Riley, a police spokesperson, declined to comment on the revocations.

Birdsong and his attorney say the Police Department’s decision violates the Black Lions’ constitutional rights and is based on vague language in a state gun law that could change under pending legislation. “They just got tired of us holding them accountable, so they revoked our gun permits,” Birdsong said. “They didn’t like us stepping to them — we didn’t break no laws or nothing. So, we’ve been fighting them in court.”

Two members had their gun licenses reinstated this month after evidence showed they were not present during the January 31 incident, said attorney Lyandra Retacco, who represents Birdsong and three of the other Black Lions members.

A hearing before the city is scheduled for this summer. Retacco said she will argue to have Birdsong’s and another member’s licenses returned. Retacco does not represent the fifth member who lost his license and said she does not know the status of his case.

“They just got tired of us holding them accountable, so they revoked our gun permits. They didn’t like us stepping to them — we didn’t break no laws or nothing. So, we’ve been fighting them in court.” — Paul Birdsong

The January 31 confrontation began after the Black Lions, while on patrol, noticed that a police officer had double parked his marked car facing in the wrong direction of traffic, Birdsong said. Someone in the group told the officer to move his car because motorists were having to swerve around it, creating a safety hazard. An argument ensued between that man and the officer.

Birdsong said he tried to defuse the situation, but the officer confronted him with his hand on his gun. More officers arrived and more heated words were exchanged before the standoff ended with no arrests, no citations, and no bullets fired.

Nine days later, the revocation letters arrived.

“My position is that this is an overreaction by the Police Department to the Lions’ exercising their First and Second Amendment rights,” Retacco said. “Maybe they weren’t speaking to those police officers in a tone of voice that those police officers appreciated, but that’s not a reason to revoke someone’s license.”

Retacco said the revocations are also problematic because the police relied on overly broad language in the state’s Uniform Firearms Act, which governs gun carrying. The law states that a license can be revoked if “an individual whose character and reputation are such that the individual would be likely to act in a ‘manner dangerous to public safety.’”

“There are no definitions anywhere in case law, or anywhere else, that talks about the definition of what this kind of character and reputation would look like,” she said. “We have this problem in our law in Pennsylvania where we have this section that gives too broad of discretion to the state.”

Retacco said Birdsong and the other Black Lions have demonstrated good character by conducting daily, high-profile safety patrols, regularly giving food and other resources to community members, and teaching self-defense classes.

Retacco’s concerns are shared by State Representative Eric Davanzo, a gun-rights Republican whose Westmoreland County district is part of the Appalachian region, some 270 miles west of Philadelphia. He is pushing a bill that would remove the law’s “character and reputation” provision.

“The current language provides no definitions, standards, policies, or limitations as to what constitutes a proper character and reputation,” Davanzo said when he introduced the measure in January of last year. The legislation would also allow applicants who are wrongly denied a gun license to recover attorney fees and other costs.

Birdsong said that, since the revocation of his gun license, he has continued leading the daily safety patrols, but he has been armed only with a non-lethal weapon. Members with gun licenses continue to carry firearms.

“I expect to get my license back, and after that I’m going to sue the hell out of them,” Birdsong said. “I’m going to sue the city and the Commonwealth because they should never have messed with me.”

Mensah M. Dean is a staff writer at The Trace. Previously he was a staff writer on the Justice & Injustice team at The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he focused on gun violence, corruption and wrongdoing in the public and private sectors for five years. Mensah also covered criminal courts, public schools and city government for the Philadelphia Daily News, The Inquirer’s sister publication.

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