Some say it's a "no brainer." When guns are lost or stolen, you have to report it to police.

That's the law in several local cities in our area, but a bill under consideration in Harrisburg would punish cities for passing gun control laws.

It's a dubious distinction. Pennsylvania ranks first in America in lost and stolen guns, according to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

"Guns that are stolen, guns that are lost, falling into the hands of criminals," said Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski.

Cities like Allentown and Reading, both wracked by violence, require gun owners to report thefts to police. The idea is to discourage people from buying guns for felons.

"If you have your car stolen, don't you report it?", said Easton Mayor Sal Panto. "These are common sense laws."

But a bill now under consideration in the Pennsylvania State House would target so-called "lost-and-stolen" laws, allowing gun owners and the NRA to sue cities over them. In the past, both groups have lost court challenges because judges ruled they lacked standing. Under the bill, if a plantiff wins a court challenge, city taxpayers would foot the bill for up to triple damages.

State Rep. Tom Caltagirone is an unlikely backer of this bill: a Democrat from Reading, a city plagued with gun crimes.

"You can't have a patchwork with laws, conflicting ordinances," he said.

Caltagirone supports a "lost and stolen" law, but said only the state has the authority to pass one.

"The state has preemption, period," said Caltagirone.

Pennsylvania's Uniform Firearms Act specifically bans local laws regulating "lawfully owned" guns, but some mayors believe lost and stolen weapons are no longer "lawfully owned" and are therefore not covered by the rule.

"It's illegal guns," said Panto. "It's no longer in the hands of the legal owner, therefore it's not covered anymore."

A statewide "lost-and-stolen" law failed four years ago.

"We just have a state legislature that is afraid of the NRA," said Panto.

Caltagirone conceded that hopes for a new one are dim.

"A lot of the western [Pennsylvania] Democrats and most of the Republicans are supported by the NRA, and they won't go up against them," he said.

House Bill 1523 passed the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month without a public hearing. It's now awaiting debate in the full State House. Its prospects in the Pennsylvania Senate are uncertain.