City Moves Ahead With Gun Laws, Despite Harrisburg

by KYW's Mike Dunn

Philadelphia's effort to get its own gun laws stepped up a notch on Thursday as a City Council committee okayed nine such laws without approval from Harrisburg. 

City Council is already suing the Pennsylvania state legislature for the right to enact its own gun laws.  But even before that case is settled, a Council committee went ahead and approved nine new guns laws, with final passage by Council expected next week.  

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in the 1990s that such laws would require okay from state lawmakers,  but councilman Darrell Clarke, a sponsor of this package, doesn't agree:

"We believe that we are within our rights to implement every single bill that we have passed."

Among the nine bills approved by the committee are ones requiring the reporting of lost or stolen guns, and the reporting of all sales of ammunition.  Another would limit handgun sales to one per person per month within Philadelphia.

Testifying in support of the measures was deputy police commissioner Richard Ross (in file photo at right), who was thrilled with the committee passage:

"We believe that in order to have a long-term impact on gun violence in the city, that these are some of the bills that absolutely need to be passed.  We're not saying that that they are a panacea, but we believe it will go a long way toward helping us."

Mayor Nutter has indicated that he will likely sign the bills and begin enforcing the gun laws even if, as some believe, the lack of Harrisburg approval makes them illegal.  
 
And Clarke expects the state to fight the city's efforts:
 
"We anticipate that the state, along with the National Rifle Association, will very quickly challenge our ability to implement those bills."