-
Mar 7, 2006 6:33 am US/Eastern
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
Gun Control May Return To Municipalities
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ―
A proposed state law would give municipalities authority to enact their own local gun laws, a state legislator accompanied by Philadelphia officials told a news conference.
"We need to do all we can to reduce the violence in Philadelphia," state Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, said Monday. "We have a public epidemic on our hands."
City voters approved a referendum in November calling on the state legislature to allow the city to enact gun-control ordinances, and Evans was joined at the news conference by City Council members Donna Reed Miller and Darrell Clarke and District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham.
The legislature took away municipalities' power to enact local gun laws in 1995 as Philadelphia moved toward stricter gun control. The proposed bill would allow the city to enact stricter waiting periods and background checks than the state requires and limit gun purchases to one a month.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)