By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Anti-gun Ohio municipalities which attempt to adopt their own gun control ordinances in defiance of the state’s firearm uniformity law—generically called a preemption statute which prohibits local governments from adopting their own gun laws—could leave those cities facing financial penalties under a bill now under consideration in the legislature.
Senate Bill 278 would allow individuals or groups to “bring a civil action against the political subdivision seeking damages, including punitive or exemplary damages, from the political subdivision, declaratory relief, injunctive relief, or a combination of those remedies.” According to Cleveland.com, Democrat-led cities are defying the law, noting that preemption has been upheld by the Ohio state Supreme Court.
Democrats appear determined to have it their own way, so the Senate bill sponsored by state Sen. Terry Johnson (R-McDermott) is aimed at cooling their fervor.
The bill is supported by the Buckeye Firearms Association, a state affiliate of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, a national grassroots gun rights group. . A story at the Cleveland Plain Dealer quoted Buckeye’s Jim Samuel, who testified at a February hearing that, “Cities have proven that they will never abide by this law until they can be held accountable in a way that extracts a more significant price.”
Opposition to the measure is coming from the Ohio Mayors Alliance, a Democrat-heavy organization. As noted by the Plain Dealer, this group argues SB 278 could “undermine efforts…to protect residents.” That is the traditional contention of municipal gun control proponents. They also contend such civil lawsuits, if successful, could drain city budgets and cost local taxpayers.
SB 278 notes up front, “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, other transfer, manufacture, taxation, keeping, and reporting of loss or theft of firearms, their components, and their ammunition, and knives.”
The bill continues, “The general assembly also finds and declares that it is proper for law-abiding people to protect themselves, their families, and others from intruders and attackers without fear of prosecution or civil action for acting in defense of themselves or others.”
Around the country, preemption—or uniformity—statutes are frequently targeted by municipal governments, typically run by Democrats, because such laws prevent them from essentially creating their own fiefdoms with their own sets of gun control laws.
Preemption statutes became popular over the past three decades because they did away with what had become a checkerboard of confusing and often contradictory local ordinances. Under uniformity, the state legislature sets gun regulations.
