Farnese proposes stricter gun regulations for Pa.

A Pennsylvania lawmaker is planning to introduce what he calls common-sense gun legislation in the state Senate.

State Sen. Larry Farnese, D-Philadelphia, says his bill would ban “assault rifles” and high-capacity ammunition magazines in Pennsylvania.

“It defines an assault weapon as a semi-automatic center-fire rifle, that’s less than 30 inches and is capable of accepting detachable magazines,” he said Wednesday. “We’ve also defined a high-capacity ammunition mag as one that can hold more than 10 bullets.”

Farnese says he understands passing a stricter gun regulations won’t be easy in Pennsylvania.

“When you look at what’s being done on a federal level, as well as across the states, the time is right to address this,” he said. “At least have this debate, have hearings on it and give stakeholders a chance to come in and testify.”

Farnese says he expects to introduce the measure after the first of the year.

“At some point, people in Pennsylvania, the lawmakers, have to take a step back and begin to realize  that the laws on the books right now are not working,” he said. “God forbid that we have a tragedy like we had somewhere else around the country … that is not what we want to wake people up.”