The recent shooting of Philadelphia police Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski has spurred city residents and legislators alike to take another look at gun control in Philadelphia and across the state.
Last week, Mayor Michael Nutter and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell urged members of Congress to vote for the reenactment of the federal assault-weapons ban that expired in 2004. Liczbinski was killed by a semiautomatic military-style rifle.
"It's clear that there is no reason whatsoever that these types of weapons should be on the street," said Nutter press secretary Doug Oliver. "They have one purpose and one purpose only - and that is to kill and maim people."
"Doing nothing is no longer an option," he added.
Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo agreed, saying the assault-weapons ban is "an effort to provide some sanity in an otherwise lunatic system."
This call for a federal assault-weapons ban comes a month after the Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed, and Nutter signed into law, five measures to control the use and possession of guns in the city.
The laws would ban the possession of automatic weapons within Philadelphia, limit an individual's gun purchases to one per month, require that the loss or theft of a gun must be reported within 24 hours and ban those with orders of protection against them from owning guns.
Similar measures were defeated in the Pennsylvania state legislature only days before Philadelphia signed its measures into law.
According to a 1996 decision by Pennsylvania's Supreme Court, the state legislature is the only body in the state that can regulate the sale and possession of firearms.
The National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia, saying the city's measures went against Pennsylvania law.
"We felt compelled to step in to prevent Mayor Nutter and the City Council from throwing out the rules and making up their own," said NRA spokeswoman Ashley Varner.
Common Pleas Judge Jane Cutler Greenspan ruled against the city in the suit, saying the laws could not be enforced.
But the tragedy of a Philadelphia police officer shot in the line of duty could serve as a "wake-up call" to legislators, Oliver said.
"Unfortunately, the recent assassination of Sergeant Liczbinski is not the first example of this challenge that Philadelphia continues to grapple with," he said. "But it is one of the most high-profile examples."
Ardo, however, wasn't optimistic that the shooting would help pass stricter gun laws in the state.
"It is a sad fact that the legislature gives lip service to respecting law enforcement and continually refuses to take concrete action to help protect them," he said.
