Pittsburgh gun safety measures would include assault weapons ban

Legislation to be introduced next week in Pittsburgh City Council would ban assault weapons in the city and allow courts to temporarily bar people from having guns if police or family members can show they pose a threat.

Another proposal would ban certain gun accessories, ammunition and modifications, including bump stocks, armor-penetrating bullets, large-capacity magazines and sawed-off rifles.

“No one in America wants a country where guns make our schools unsafe for children, families afraid in places of worship, and where our streets are stained every day with innocent blood,” Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said Friday in a statement announcing the legislation.

Peduto held a morning news conference to detail the proposals, expected to be formally introduced in City Council on Tuesday. Those joining the mayor at the news conference included Gov. Tom Wolf and City Council members Corey O’Connor and Erika Strassburger.

Peduto has asked cities across the country to adopt similar measures in an effort to prevent deadly mass shootings such as the Oct. 27 massacre at Squirrel Hill’s Tree of Life synagogue that left 11 people dead.