City Council members Darrell Clarke and Donna Miller are suing state lawmakers for failing to give Philadelphia new gun restrictions like one-gun-a-month, or at least giving the city right the right to do so itself.
Mayor Nutter is hoping for the best of what promises to be a long legal process:
"The fact that virtually no reasonable gun-related legislation can ever get through the General Assembly, in some cases even through a (committee) hearing, is very disappointing."
Lawyers for the legislature will argue that only the state can enact gun laws.
Wendesday's hearing was expected to be a preliminary battle: a panel of Commonwealth court judges were determining whether City Council has the right to file this suit at all. With their okay, a hearing on the full issue would come later.