Applauding the ruling, outgoing Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said in a prepared statement, "This is an important victory for every gun owner in Ohio. Before 2006, Ohioans faced a confusing patchwork of local ordinances with different restrictions on gun ownership and possession. The General Assembly stepped in, enacting a comprehensive set of rights and responsibilities for every citizen seeking to exercise his or her Second Amendment liberties. We vigorously defended that law, and today the Court upheld it."
Background to the ruling is that the General Assembly, in 2006, extensively amended Ohio's gun laws defining who can purchase firearms, what types of firearms can be sold, where they can be possessed, where they can be discharged, and who can obtain a license to carry concealed firearms in public.
Taking a swipe at the accepted decades-old sanctity of Home Rule to go beyond state law, state lawmakers also prohibited cities and municipalities from enacting restrictions on gun ownership and possession above those specified in state and federal law.
In their ruling, the high court reversed a lower court ruling on a lawsuit brought by the city of Cleveland that argued state lawmakers could not prevent the city from enacting additional restrictions on gun ownership and possession, based on its "home rule" authority.
Writing for the Court, Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton said, "(Ohio's gun law) addresses the General Assembly's concern that absent a uniform law throughout the state, law abiding gun owners would face a confusing patchwork of licensing requirements, possession restrictions, and criminal penalties as they travel from one jurisdiction to another."
Moreover, her opinion said, "We hold that (the gun law) is a general law that displaces municipal firearm ordinances and does not unconstitutionally infringe on municipal home rule authority."
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson criticized the ruling in a prepared statement, saying it puts urban populations at greater risk for gun violence. “Our inability to enforce [gun] laws that are right for our city flies in the face of home rule and takes power away the people at the local level.” Jackson said in a statement.
Chris Cox, head of the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action, praised the decision, the WSJLB reported. “If Cleveland, or any other city, wants to crack down on violence,” he said in a statement, “city leaders there should focus on prosecuting criminals, not enacting new gun laws that only serve to restrict law-abiding citizens.”
Cordray defended the law with help from the National Rifle Association, Ohioans for Concealed Carry, and the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
No comments:
Post a Comment