As Buckeye Firearms Association Executive Director Dean Rieck rightly observed, “Columbus has no legal authority to pass gun control laws. This is settled Ohio law that has already been litigated up to the Ohio Supreme Court.
The state high court, for the record, ruled that preemption “is valid law in all respects.”
The Columbus City Council decided to look the other way Monday night and proceed with a package of gun control legislation that is clearly in violation of state law. Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, City Attorney Zach Klein and City Council President Shannon G. Hardin declared their support for a round of “common sense” measures aimed at reducing violence in the city.
The package of measures was first passed by a 7-0 vote in December.
Opponents of the Second Amendment typically cloak their unconstitutional proposals as “common sense” when they are anything but.
The package bans magazines holding 30 or more rounds except for federal or state agents, armed forces members, or state or local law enforcement. It mandates firearm storage requirements in the home and prohibits “straw sales” of weapons.
Proponents of the actions included councilmember Emmanuel Remy, who reiterated the goal of reducing violence in Columbia. “We are all working very hard to try to end the violence in the city. These are just small steps that will help us get there. We have to work together.”
Another councilmember, Nick Bankston, said he is both a gun owner and a victim of violence. He also referred to the package as “common sense” and asserted that “we don’t have unfettered rights in this country.”
For something that supporters claim is “common sense,” there should be broad support and it should not fly in the face of state law. But, as Rieck said, the city of Columbus is “blatantly flouting both state law and a judge’s order.”
Besides the law being established and upheld in the Ohio Supreme Court, Rieck noted that the legislature has taken up the issue on multiple occasions. Their intention is crystal clear — firearms should be regulated only at the state level.
As he explained, “This is to assure that there is one consistent set of laws rather than a patchwork of laws to confuse and entrap law-abiding citizens.”
The association pointed out that it has already won a court battle against Columbus and other cities over the gun control issue and that it is simply a waste of taxpayer dollars to pursue the indefensible. Rieck said local officials are attempting to blame a spike in crime in their city on the Ohio House and Senate.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost noted, “The city of Columbus remains a part of the state of Ohio and subject to its laws.”
As critics correctly charge, Columbus and other municipalities expend ridiculous amounts of energy trying to pass unconstitutional laws that violent criminals will simply ignore. There will not be one bad guy who walks into a city office to turn in a weapon or magazine because council members decide that’s what he should do.
Instead, the ever-changing quilt of regulations put law-abiding citizens in the uncomfortable position of having to wade through conflicting measures and be sure that they are complying. This is not how constitutional rights are to be handled.
The freedom to keep and bear arms is enshrined in the Constitution for a purpose, and that purpose is not to see it be whittled down into a barely recognizable mess of rules.
