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If McKeesport follows 47 other municipalities and requires firearm owners to report their guns lost or stolen, it can expect a legal challenge from handgun advocates.

That's the message of Kim Stolfer, chairman and co-founder of a political action committee called Firearm Owners Against Crime. If illegal handguns are flooding streets, then that's because police aren't enforcing the existing state and federal gun laws, he told city council at a public hearing this week.

But passing a bill to force gun owners to report their weapons missing would trample on the rights of law-abiding citizens, Stolfer said. "You cannot be coerced into reporting a crime against yourself," he said.

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But a spokeswoman for a group seeking tougher laws against the illegal sale of handguns, CeaseFirePA, said that Stolfer and other handgun advocates threaten litigation simply to intimidate local officials.

"I'm used to him following me around and trying to scare communities into not taking any action against illegal handguns," said Jana Finder, the group's Western Pennsylvania coordinator. "This is how they operate --- fear and intimidation."

CeaseFirePA was invited to address city council at the request of Councilwoman V. Fawn Walker. Since being elected to city council in 2009, Walker has been a vocal advocate of anti-violence and crime prevention measures.

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At issue is a possible city ordinance that would require gun owners to report the loss or theft of a weapon within 72 hours after the handgun is discovered missing. The law is designed to prosecute people --- so-called "straw purchasers" --- who legally buy a gun, resell it to a criminal, and then claim the gun was "lost" or "stolen" after it's been used in commission of a crime.

McKeesport is not currently considering such an law. But according to CeaseFirePA, 47 municipalities, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and several Mon Valley municipalities such as Clairton, Duquesne, Glassport, Homestead and West Mifflin have passed similar laws.

Such ordinances give police an additional charge to use as leverage against people who try to circumvent state laws banning straw purchases, Finder said. The "model ordinance" distributed by CeaseFirePA doesn't require a gun theft to be reported until after it's discovered by the gun owner, she said.

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"We have nothing to do with any kind of a 'gun ban,'" Finder said. "We have gun owners in our ranks of supporters. We are really focused on restricting access to illegal handguns ... If you're a responsible gun owner, you don't see a benefit to a criminal getting access to an illegal handgun."

But Stolfer, a firearms safety instructor certified by the National Rifle Association and a member of the Allegheny County Sportsmen's League, said the reporting requirement is unenforceable because it's impossible for the police to prove when the gun owner discovered their gun missing, unless they inform on themselves.

"And you still have the condition of determining when the firearm was stolen, and that's something the police officer can't do," he said. Stolfer called the ordinances passed in other communities "ineffective."

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If the laws don't work, asked Councilman Darryl Segina, who's running for mayor in the Democratic primary, "then why would you be against it?"

"Should enough municipalities start enforcing it," law-abiding citizens might be charged, Stolfer said.

He said cities, boroughs and townships should let the state government handle gun regulations and not attempt to enact their own ordinances.

But Walker and others pointed out that an attempt by former state Rep. David Levdansky of Elizabeth to get a similar bill through the state's General Assembly died. Their complaints echo those of former Gov. Ed Rendell, who said last year that any kinds of gun control legislation are a "lost cause" in Pennsylvania.

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"The legislature proved consistently in my eight years that they are scared to death to buck the NRA," Rendell told reporters in November. "It's incredibly frustrating, the hold the NRA has over the legislature. It's embarrassing."

Both of the state legislators representing McKeesport --- Democratic state Reps. Marc Gergely of White Oak and Bill Kortz of Dravosburg --- voted against the so-called Levdansky amendment in 2008.

And Levdansky lost his bid for re-election in 2010 to Rick Saccone, an NRA life member who had the support of firearm advocacy groups, including Firearm Owners Against Crime.

Stolen-gun ordinances passed by Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have been challenged in court by the NRA, but so far, the state Supreme Court has allowed the laws to stand.

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At least one member of city council expressed his own doubts about the effectiveness of a stolen gun reporting ordinance. "I believe it's a hollow measure, a feel-good measure, but I don't see how there's any teeth in it," said Councilman A.J. Tedesco Jr., who's also running for mayor in the Democratic primary.

Council President Mike Cherepko, another candidate for mayor, said he was "trying to keep an open mind."

"It's definitely a controversial issue, and it's a sensitive topic," Cherepko said. "There are arguments on both sides."

Before any draft ordinance is introduced, he said, the city will have to consider its own potential liability.

To Finder, that proves that the mere threat of litigation can be effective. "There's no one thing that's going to end all gun violence across the state," she said. "I just think it's so off-base to tell communities they can't do anything about illegal guns."

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