Reaction to the US Supreme Court's decision on gun ownership has been varied across the Delaware Valley.
KYW's Steve Tawa reports from Philadelphia City Hall that Mayor Nutter says the decision shows that the "law continues to evolve."
He quoted a noted jurist who served on the US Supreme Court from 1902 to 1932:
"Oliver Wendell Holmes once said that the law should be stable but never stand still."
The mayor (in file photo at right) points to Thursday's high court ruling that Americans can keep guns at home for self-defense. But he says that's not what is happening in Philadelphia:
"What we're seeing on the streets of Philadelphia is not self-defense. It is sensless violence and slaughter."
Nutter says it's not lawful ownership but illegal activity that is the source of the gun violence in the city.
Although the Nutter administration recently lost a court fight with the National Rifle Association over banning assault weapons in the city and limiting purchases to one gun a month, it is able to enforce another gun-control measure it had sought: requiring gun owners to report a lost or stolen weapon to police within 24 hours. City lawyers are working on the details of that now.
Meantime, the legal fight over local gun control laws is expected to go to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
KYW's Andrew Colton reports that one Pennsylvania gun safety organization says that the US Supreme Court's decision was rational but not all they had hoped for.
The group, "Ceasefire Pa.," says its mission is to protect the community from gun violence. Spokesman Joe Grace says the Supreme Court's decision is a sensible step in that direction.
Grace says his group supports the idea that with freedom comes responsibility, and that the right to bear arms isn't absolute:
"Another good example is the First Amendment, guaranteeing free speech and freedom of the press. It's not absolute. You can't shout 'fire' in a crowded theatre."
Grace says Ceasefire Pa. is for gun regulation but isn't against guns.
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