Council President Darrell Clarke proposed a resolution to address the city's gun violence problem.
He called for City Council to authorize the hiring of legal counsel to file a lawsuit compelling the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to enact stronger gun laws or allow municipalities, such as Philadelphia, to pass their own gun laws.
The city has failed in previous attempts to gain the authority to regulate guns.
Philadelphia has been plagued with 32 homicides in the first 22 days of this year, an 82 percent increase compared with the same period last year.