Philadelphia City Council passed and amended a series of bills Thursday. Notable were new guidelines to provide Gun Violence Protection Orders and the establishment of city-funded defendant lawyers for those facing eviction.
 
With the vote, Philadelphia becomes the fifth major city to subsidize defense for low-income renters facing legal proceedings towards eviction. The bill was sponsored by Councilmember Helen Gym (D-At Large) and co-sponsored by six other councilmembers.

Philadelphia City Council’s Committee on Public Safety offered favorable recommendations Wednesday for three ordinances and a resolution to matters under consideration or recently passed by Harrisburg. 
 
Philadelphia has long sought to expand gun safety regulations in the city, only to see previous measures pre-empted by the General Assembly. Some of the bills that earned recommendation in the hearing have been proposed in previous sessions.

Flanked by state legislators and spiritual leaders, City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart (D) announced Wednesday a novel investigation into the financial cost of gun violence in Philadelphia.
 
Rhynhart’s office spent over a year investigating the effects homicides have on housing values throughout the city. The report came days after a two-year-old was killed and an 11-month-old was shot in separate incidents of gun violence.

Although Pittsburgh City Council’s controversial legislation has stalled for the time being, Rep Ed Gainey (D-Allegheny) hasn’t given up hope on banning assault weapons in the city. To better understand to impact of gun violence on communities and discuss his legislation seeking to reduce gun violence through banning the possession, transfer, and use or manufacture of assault weapons, Gainey hosted a hearing on the subject Thursday.

“We cannot remain complacent at a time when our communities are demanding we take the needed steps to answer the call of urgency by banning the use of assault weapons, which have no place on our streets, because people are dying,” Gainey said. “We can’t wait, and I will not back down or stop fighting my fellow lawmakers to act.”

Lost during gun control conversations, advocates say, is consideration for the role of firearms in suicides.

While the gun violence debate frequently centers around mass shootings and illegal gun crimes, roughly 200 activists who filled the Capitol rotunda steps on Tuesday said that more attention should be paid to the hundreds lost each year to firearm-involved suicides.