Something is in the water in Pittsburgh. I don’t know what it is, but it’s affecting the minds of some of its city leaders, that’s for sure.

After all, the city continues to persist in pushing this whole idea of local gun laws despite repeatedly being warned that it can’t do that. Pennsylvania has a preemption law, which means all gun laws have to come from the state legislature. But Mayor Bill Peduto and company don’t care.

We know they don’t care about any of that because they’ve basically said so.

Friction between the mayor and district attorney, as well as among Pittsburgh City Council members, over proposed gun legislation lit up Grant Street on Tuesday as the city prepares for what could be a marathon public hearing later this week.

A disagreement between Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., which started with a Jan. 9 letter from Mr. Zappala to Councilman Corey O’Connor, continued Tuesday. Mr. Zappala wrote that the city’s gun bills were illegal and warned of the possibility of individual city lawmakers facing a criminal complaint.

“Why he wants to threaten council members with the potential of arrest if they would vote for gun reform is beyond me. It doesn’t even make sense politically what he’s doing,” Mr. Peduto said Tuesday, accusing Mr. Zappala of trying to appease the “gun lobby” for his re-election. Mr. Zappala’s term expires this year.

Mr. Zappala’s letter made no mention of arrests — though it did say state law would “permit a criminal complaint to be filed against” council members who voted for gun rules — and his office fired back.

“The statements from the city do not accurately reflect the content of the letter that the District Attorney communicated to council,” Mike Manko, spokesman for the DA’s office, countered Tuesday. “The letter has no relation to politics or policy. It is about process and legality.”

City council is scheduled to hear from the public at a hearing on the legislation at 6 p.m. Thursday.

The Allegheny County District Attorney merely warned the city council that what they were trying was illegal. They couldn’t do it, and they shouldn’t try.

They’re going to do it anyway.

Has no one pointed out to them the irony here? These are people who are prepared to break the law to do what they want, to pass laws controlling guns, which won’t stop people who are prepared to break the law to do what they want to do. It’s ridiculous.

Further, let’s say they pass the law. Then what?

Oh, it gets challenged in court and gets slapped down. Hard.

Congratulations, Mayor Peduto. You’ve accomplished nothing except for wasting taxpayer money. Yes, you’re a Democrat, so that’s kind of what you do, but still.

Frankly, Peduto and his bunch need to be arrested. They need to be arrested, tried, convicted, and imprisoned for ignoring the law. Unfortunately, I don’t think Zappala is all that interested in doing so.

Yet we see precisely what happens in the gun debate anywhere. Anti-gunners make a proposal, then label anyone who disagrees with it as being bought and paid for by the gun lobby, facts be damned. Zappala isn’t necessarily a pro-gun guy. He just pointed out what the law states, and he’s right.

But Peduto and his friends aren’t going to let the law stand in the way of a bit of grandstanding, now are they?