Toledo and Columbus no longer enforcing failed local gun control laws

On Wednesday, March 14, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson announced that he would defy the will of the Ohio General Assembly as expressed in HB347 - legislation which made all firearms laws uniform across the Buckeye State.

At a press conference staged at the Police Briefing Room, Jackson told reporters that he will ignore state law, ordering city police to continue to enforce the city's useless gun control laws while he wastes tax payer dollars pursuing yet another doomed 'Home Rule' lawsuit.

Not even Jackson's own police department is supportive of his decision. NBC Cleveland's WKYC.com is reporting the city's police union is not pleased with Jackson's order to ignore HB347, and that union president expressed support of the General Assembly's decision to remove the ridiculous 'plain sight' requirement for CHL-holders in motor vehicles.

By Chad D. Baus

The Columbus Dispatch reported this week that Col. Paul D. McClellan, the current Superintendent of the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP), has announced his retirement.

The retirement of McClellan, who made Buckeye Firearms' 2006 list of Ten People Who Are Threatening Your Ohio Gun Rights, comes at an ironic time for Ohio concealed handgun license-holders. Also being retired this week, thanks to passage of HB374, is the highly unpopular, unsafe requirement that CHL-holders carry their firearms in "plain sight" while in a motor vehicle - a provision which was lobbied for heavily by McClellan's OSHP before passage of Ohio's concealed carry law in 2003.

When lobbying against HB12 in 2003, McClellan said "New legislation normally addresses a problem, either existing or potential. Fortunately, in part due to the efforts of Ohio's law enforcement officers, Ohio has not experienced an epidemic which would dictate loading our vehicles with concealed guns."

Today the City of Cleveland filed a declaratory judgment against the State of Ohio to fight the enactment of Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Section 9.68. Click here to download the press release. (.pdf)

ORC Section 9.68: "(A) The individual right to keep and bear arms,being a fundamental individual right that predates the United States Constitution and Ohio Constitution, and being a constitutionally protected right in every part of Ohio, the general assembly finds the need to provide uniform laws throughout the state regulating the ownership, possession, purchase, other acquisition, transport, storage, carrying, sale, or other transfer of firearms, their components, and their ammunition."

This preemption provision enacted in HB347 allows law abiding gun owners to travel throughout Ohio without concern of violating the previous patchwork of ordinances enacted by various cities. HB347 effectively put the battle back where it belongs, between the city attorneys and the state legislature.

Following is the Buckeye Firearms Association Response to Cleveland Announcing Lawsuit Against HB347.

Buckeye Firearms Association Response to Cleveland Announcing Lawsuit Against HB347

It is with mild chagrin, but not surprise, that Buckeye Firearms Association learned that the City of Cleveland will be squandering tax payer funds in a doomed attempt to challenge the preemption provisions of HB347.