HARRISBURG -- Philadelphia-area legislators are pushing a package of bills that they claim will reduce gun violence, which has escalated in the state's largest city this year.

House Democrats led by Rep. Dwight Evans have been shocked by the rising violence, with nearly 270 homicide victims and 1,200 gunshot victims in Philadelphia in 2006. The homicide rate is on a pace that would exceed the 380 deaths of 2005.

The Democrats want to limit handgun purchases to one per month; impose a statewide ban on the sale of assault weapons; require gun owners to report any lost or stolen weapon to police within 24 hours; and give local governments the ability to enact their own gun control measures, action that traditionally has been done by the Legislature.

The legislators will discuss their bills Sept. 26, when the House holds an all-day "committee of the whole," where all 203 members focus on just one subject -- gun violence.

Mr. Evans yesterday released a poll of 400 residents of four suburban counties around Philadelphia -- Bucks, Chester, Montgomery and Delaware -- where many suburbanites showed support for gun-limitation proposals.

More than 75 percent supported a ban on assault weapons, and more than 80 percent favored limiting handgun purchases to one per month.

Rep. Mike Gerber, D-Montgomery, said urban and suburban lawmakers have often failed to work together to limit gun violence, but added, "I am glad that we are changing that divisive culture to tackle this critical regional problem.''

Many Philadelphia politicians, including Gov. Ed Rendell, favor a limit on gun purchases to one per month. But opposition has often come from rural and less-populated areas, where many hunters, outdoorsmen, sportsmen and gun collectors live.

Gun violence is a problem in many towns besides Philadelphia, including Pittsburgh. Yet it may not be as severe in Pittsburgh, where police statistics show that aggravated assaults involving a gun dropped a bit in the first seven months of this year -- with 323 gun assaults in 2006 versus 376 in 2005.

The new poll was meant to show support for gun control measures in Philadelphia suburbs, which traditionally have voted Republican.

But one conservative Republican from Western Pennsylvania, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe of Cranberry, rejected the proposals as outdated ideas that won't work.

"Once again, Philadelphia legislators who advocate gun control -- instead of crime control -- are offering the same old rejected policies before we even get to the committee of the whole,'' he said. "They think they can infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens to bear arms, as guaranteed in U.S. and state constitutions.''

He said Democrats have been trying to limit gun purchases to one per month for a long time, and claimed it won't halt violence.

"Violent criminals have no respect for the law,'' Mr. Metcalfe said. "Laws restricting firearm ownership won't restrict their ability to illegally obtain a firearm or to use another weapon for a crime.''

He said the Legislature should focus on stopping "the breakdown of the family,'' where fathers leave "and without a male role model, you see escalation of crime among male youths.''

He also said judges should enforce mandatory sentencing laws already on the books.