Cincinnati's lawsuit against gun makers may come at a “staggering” cost to city taxpayers, the chief lawyer for the nation's firearm industry told Cincinnati City Council on Tuesday.

        But Lawrence G. Keane's appearance before the Law and Public Safety Committee was not enough to sway council members to vote to kill the 3-year-old lawsuit, which will continue — at least for now — to the evidence-gathering phase.

        At its last regular meeting before the summer recess, the committee put off until August a vote on Councilman Chris Monzel's motion to end the lawsuit.

        The lawsuit, given new life this month by a 4-3 Ohio Supreme Court opinion reversing lower court rulings dismissing the city's case, puts Cincinnati at the center of the national gun control debate.

        The Brady Campaign to Prevent Handgun Violence called the Ohio Supreme Court ruling “the most important legal victory ever achieved against the gun industry.”

        Mr. Monzel's motion revives age-old arguments about Second Amendment rights. “Guns don't kill people. People kill people,” he said.

        But he's also urging the city to drop the lawsuit for more practical reasons. With a $27 million budget deficit, the city simply doesn't have the money to wage a long, expensive lawsuit against an industry with almost unlimited legal resources, he said.

        Mr. Keane, general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, urged Cincinnati to follow the lead of Boston, which dismissed its lawsuit in March. Boston lawyers said the litigation achieved its goal of “raising the nation's consciousness” about gun safety.

        While the lawsuit would force the gun industry to release documents about its safety measures and marketing of firearms, the city would also bear the costs of proving its case. The city claims gun makers intentionally marketed guns that were prone to accidental shootings and that appealed to criminals.

        “Virtually every city agency and department will be disrupted by this litigation,” Mr. Keane said. “Thousands of police man-hours will be lost sifting through and copying police reports. And dozens of officers will end up giving day-long depositions instead of being on the street fighting crime.”

        The city's legal fees are relatively small. Class-action lawyer Stanley M. Chesley is taking the case on a contingency basis and will be paid 20 percent of any pretrial settlement or 30 percent if it goes to trial.

        The city has authorized the payment of up to $100,000 in expenses, including $25,000 to the Brady Center. But the city has yet to receive a bill for any expenses, said Jean A. Geoppinger, a lawyer for Waite, Schneider, Bayless & Chesley.

        The lawsuit has so far endured two court decisions dismissing it, several narrow votes at City Council, and a lawsuit by former Councilman Charlie Winburn, who tried to block the city from spending money to pursue the action against gun makers.

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