Columbus asks Ohio Supreme Court to uphold city’s firearm restrictions
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The city of Columbus is taking its gun safety laws to the Ohio Supreme Court.
The city has asked the state’s high court to decide whether it and other local governments can enact firearm restrictions in absence of state laws limiting access to guns. Columbus’ own laws, including safe storage requirements and restrictions on the type of firearms that can be possessed within city limits, have faced a litany of legal challenges, while the city argues that attempts to quash the laws violate the principle of home rule.
In an appeal filed Friday, City Attorney Zach Klein argued that the city ought to be able to enact firearm restrictions in light of state laws loosening limits on gun possession and use. He also argued that the city should be able to appeal a preliminary injunction on Columbus’ restrictions because “when a court enjoins the operation of a properly-enacted law, the judicial intrusion on the sovereignty of the legislature constitutes an irreparable harm.”
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In December 2022, Columbus enacted several restrictions aimed at addressing violent crime and homicides by firearm, including banning the possession of high-capacity magazines and prohibiting the “negligent storage of a firearm.” Last April, a Delaware County judge blocked the laws from going into effect while a lawsuit proceeded.
An appeals court tossed the city’s challenge to the preliminary injunction, citing Ohio law that only final, appealable orders can be appealed. The city is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to declare otherwise.
“Our city, like many others across the state, is besieged with a devastating gun problem,” Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said in a news release. “Residents demand safer neighborhoods to live in and raise their kids, but time and again, the state rescinds our commonsense gun safety measures. The ability to enact and enforce these measures is long past due.”
The city is also asking the high court to declare Columbus’ restrictions constitutional under a state provision allowing for the reasonable regulation of firearms.
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“Residents in Columbus neighborhoods and in communities across Ohio devastated by gun violence can’t afford to wait any longer for something to change,” Klein said in the release. “I truly believe the law is on our side, and the City is hopeful the Court will take up this issue. We will be ready to present a winning case before the Court that affirms our right to take reasonable actions to reduce gun violence in our city.”
Plaintiffs in the original complaint, five anonymous residents, will have the opportunity to reply to the city’s appeal before the Ohio Supreme Court decides whether to accept the case. In the meantime, Republican state legislators are hoping to pass a bill that would strip local governments of the ability to enforce more stringent gun restrictions than the state’s laws.
Read the city’s appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court below.
001-2-Memo-in-Support-of-Jurisdiction-011124Download
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