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By Associated press
PITTSBURGH – Gun defense groups continued on Tuesday to stop Pittsburgh from enforcing the gun law passed after a mass shootings in a synagogue, accusing city officials of defying blatantly ban the municipal regulation of firearms.
Democrat Mayor Bill Peduto signed the bills at a ceremony at the county and city edifice, stating that the community had come together "to say enough, c & # 39; is enough". City officials said they had to act because the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania legislature – which plans to hold a memorial service for victims this week – will not do it.
"We will take action, we will do something positive and, yes, it will always last," said Peduto, surrounded by gun control advocates and members of three congregations who have been targeted. Tree of Life Synagogue. "Change only happens when you challenge the status quo."
Minutes later, a coalition of gun rights groups filed a lawsuit to overturn the new laws, calling them "patently unenforceable, unconstitutional and illegal." Shortly after, a second lawsuit, supported by the National Rifle Association, stated that "Pittsburgh has violated the rights of its citizens."
"Even worse, Pittsburgh committed this violation without any realistic prospect of reducing the incidence of terrible mass shots," said the lawsuit filed by four city residents. "All that will do is to let law-abiding citizens more vulnerable to better-armed and more ruthless attacks by attackers."
The new legislation restricts military-style assault weapons, as the AR-15 rifle authorities say, which were used during the October 27 massacre, which left 11 dead and seven wounded. It also prohibits most uses of armor-piercing ammunition and high capacity magazines and allows the temporary seizure of firearms from people who are determined to pose a danger to themselves or others. The first two laws must come into force in 60 days, the Imminent Danger Act in 180 days.
The question of whether the city will be able to apply them is an open question. State law has long banned municipalities from regulating the possession or possession of firearms or ammunition and the courts have dismissed other firearms measures, including a ban on firearms and ammunition. Assault weapons dating from the 1990s in Pittsburgh.
But city leaders said they were eager to take part in the fight, given the traditional reluctance of the legislature to pass a gun law.
"This fantasy that the state will help and help us just will not happen," said Council President Bruce Kraus.
The signing of the bill took place while state legislators were ready to meet for a memorial service for the victims of the Tree of Life. The unusual joint session to be held Wednesday at the Capitol Hill in Harrisburg will bring together the House and Senate for prayers and speeches about the attack. Peduto's spokesman said the timing was coincidental.
The Pittsburgh bills – proposed shortly after the deadliest attack in US history – were weakened before the arrival of the city council to make them more likely to survive a court challenge. While one of the bills originally provided for a total ban on assault weapons, the revised measure prohibits the "use" of assault weapons in the scene. public.
A total prohibition of possession would only be effective if state or supreme law gave municipalities the right to regulate firearms, which is considered unlikely in a state where the majority of legislators fiercely protect fire arms.
The city will be sued by lawyers for Everytown for Gun Safety, a group supported by billionaire Michael Bloomberg.
In another legal deposit Tuesday, the Allegheny County Athletes' League asked a judge to hold the city, Peduto, and six council members who had voted for contempt of court under the legislation on gun control, claiming that they were violating a legal regulation in 1995 of previous efforts to ban assault weapons and agreed to "respect and respect the law of Pennsylvania".
"It is unfortunate that elected officials are weighing on taxpayers, believing that it is acceptable – and even enthusiastic – to violate Pennsylvania's Constitution and Crime Code," wrote Joshua Prince, a lawyer seeking to overturn the law. law. in a report.
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