CHICAGO (CBS) – Mayor Rahm Emanuel said his administration is working to preserve Chicago’s gun ordinance, despite a federal judge’s ruling that part of it is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan struck down the section of the Chicago Firearm Ordinance that denies city gun permits to anyone with a prior conviction for unlawful use of a weapon, ruling that section was too vague.

The mayor said on Wednesday he hopes to keep the rest of the ordinance in place, even if that means a rewrite. He noted the judge’s ruling did not affect any other section of the city’s gun law.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports

“Overall, they left the city ordinance on guns intact, as a provision. I’ve asked Steve Patton [the city’s corporation counsel] to look at that, and what changes we have to make,” Emanuel said. “While getting guns off the street is up for our Police Department by about 7 percent this year, you cannot have … just more cops.”

The mayor said the city needs to keep guns and drugs off the streets, too.

“The reason we have gun laws, the reason I’m trying to also pass tougher down in Springfield, is because it’s an essential complement to your overall crime strategy,” the mayor said.

The city sought to regulate gun ownership in Chicago after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down its outright ban on handgun possession within city limits in 2010.