by KYW's Mike Dunn

Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter and Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell are asking the Pennsylvania delegation on Capitol Hill to join in the drive for a new assault weapons ban in light of Sgt. Liczbinski's murder.

Nutter (right) said assault weapons have no legitimate purpose:
 
"Those weapons have one goal, and one means of use in mind. They are to maim, and destroy, human beings, and to do it as quickly and as dangerously in a devastating fashion as possible."

Gov. Rendell (in photo above):

"Get these weapons off the street.  Get those large-capacity magazines off the street.  As the mayor said, the only people who should have weapons like this is the police and the military.  We should outgun the criminals, not vice versa."

Police commissioner Charles Ramsey became incensed at the news conference when a reporter asked if, in fact, the weapon that killed Sgt. Liczbinski might not be covered by an assault weapon ban:

"Let me just say this -- if it's not an assault weapon by definition, then add it to the frickin' list.  Add it to the frickin' list!  We don't need it."

In their letter to the delegation, Nutter and Rendell said that "the real test of how much we care about protecting our officers is whether we can... pass laws that actually protect our police officers."

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) recently announced that he was becoming a co-sponsor of the measure that would renew the federal ban on assault weapons (see related story).