Pittsburgh argues it has legal authority to regulate use of firearms

Pittsburgh contends an Allegheny County judge erred when he ruled three controversial gun ordinances were illegal.

In briefs filed with Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court, the city argued the ordinances sidestepped Pennsylvania’s superseding law prohibiting municipalities from regulating the ownership, possession, transfer and transportation of firearms.

“Public health research is on our side, Pittsburgh residents are on our side, and the law is on our side, too,” Mayor Bill Peduto said Monday. “It’s disappointing our efforts have had to come to this, but we’ll continue to show the court that our measures comply with every word of state law.”

In response to the 2018 killings of 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh City Council last year approved three gun bills that Peduto signed into law.