KYW Newsradio Team Coverage

The Nutter administration and the National Rifle Association took their battle over Philadelphia's gun laws to a Common Pleas court on Monday.

KYW's Mike Dunn reports that in one corner are the Nutter administration and the five gun restrictions for the city of Philadelphia signed by the mayor last month.  In the other corner: the NRA.

NRA attorneys were asking a judge to overturn the laws, contending that power rests in Harrisburg. NRA president John Sigler:

"It's unconstitutional.  Your own district attorney said it's unconstitutional."

Mayor Nutter, for his part, says the city has the right to restrict guns because of the severity of gun violence:

"I do not understand any organization, including the NRA, that would somehow aid and abet criminals and protect them."

The Philadelphia-only gun laws include a limit on the purchase of guns to one a month per person, and a ban on assault weapons. The judge has already placed the laws on hold pending Monday's hearing.

KYW's Mike DeNardo asked people on the streets of Philadelphia if they support the city's attempt for tougher gun laws. Some in center city shared their thoughts.

People we talked with said that even though the city's efforts to enact its own gun controls seem to go against state law, something has to be done. One man says that at least the controversy is focusing attention on how to curb gun violence in the city:

"It's forcing the NRA and the state to take a closer look at the rules that we have, because there are just too many deaths being caused by folks who have stolen guns and these are people who shouldn't even have a gun."

This man blames Harrisburg:

"The state laws aren't working because our government isn't working. And the reason why the government isn't working is because groups like the NRA are giving them money not to pass laws. Although they'll say, 'We're not doing that,' that's what they're doing."

One woman said Philadelphia should have its own gun laws because the city is so much different from the rest of Pennsylvania.