Posted on 12/18/2006 9:28:04 AM PST by neverdem
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - As gun-rights groups lauded a new law passed last week lifting most local restrictions on carrying firearms, Ohio's big cities were contemplating joining forces to stop it.
In a rare confrontation with lawmakers, Gov. Bob Taft vetoed a bill that wiped out half a dozen assault-weapons bans across the state and dozens of other local gun laws - but the Legislature overrode the veto soundly, the first time it had done so since 1977.
Jeff Garvas, who represents Ohioans for Concealed Carry, said gun rights advocates had been boggled by how to comply with an earlier law that allowed gun owners to carry handguns in holsters, purses and pockets - but didn't apply in municipalities where local restrictions had been passed.
"A collective sigh of relief went across the state of Ohio when pre-emption passed," Garvas said. "As cliche as it sounds, it's what happened. There are a couple different cases we're involved in where people are hung up on misdemeanor charges because they were trying to comply with Ohio's concealed carry law."
But Ohio's cities were not happy with the state overriding their right to enact gun protections - and most immediately vowed to take the state to court on the basis that that the state law violates their constitutional right to home rule.
"It's not only our assault-weapon ban that would be impacted," said Maureen Harper, a spokeswoman for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. "We have a law that prohibits minors from possessing firearms. We have a law that holds adults accountable if a child is in possession of a firearm. Those are three that would definitely be affected by this."
The Ohio Municipal League, which represents cities and backed Taft's veto, said the new law even strips cities of rights that private-property owners would have to, say, regulate gun activity at parks and playgrounds.
"This double standard just does not make good sense and certainly is not fair," executive director Susan Cave wrote in her protest of the bill.
Harper said Cleveland and the other cities with bans - including Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo and the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights - are talking about coordinating their efforts once the law goes into effect.
The Ohio Supreme Court recently upheld Cincinnati's assault-weapons ban, which had been suspended for years as litigation proceeded. The cities' hope this time would be that a judge allows cities to continue to enforce their gun laws while the legal issues are argued.
Garvas said such a scenario is what gun rights groups fear.
"Any gun owner in Ohio who pays attention to the issues will tell you that pre-emption was the golden egg in this bill," he said. "It's something that we wanted, something the NRA wanted. It's going to solve a lot of things."
The National Rifle Association, in fact, made public its intention to wield its considerable political might in Ohio specifically to see local gun laws pre-empted by a Republican-led Legislature more friendly to its cause than the Democrat-run cities.
Such an irritation was the issue that NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre laid down the gauntlet personally during an appearance in Columbus - shortly after the city passed its assault-weapons ban - at which he pulled the group's lucrative convention from the city.
Since the Columbus ban passed last summer, the NRA has pumped more than $16,000 into legislative campaigns - most of it flowing to Senate and House leaders. The group also gave $1,000 to incoming Attorney General Marc Dann, a Youngstown Democrat.
Toby Hoover, executive director of Ohioans Against Gun Violence, said there is a fundamental disconnect between Ohio's suburban-rural areas and its urban areas on the issue - with the former dominating policy made at the Statehouse.
"More and more, I'm reminded how it is the rural versus the urban," she said. "They've never lived there (in the city), never had a killing. Their communities are filled with people who have all hunted all their lives, and they don't relate to what's happening in the big cities."
While proponents and opponents vie for victory, the state is proceeding with its education campaign on how the law is supposed to operate 90 days from enactment.
But Bob Beasley, a spokesman for Attorney General Jim Petro, said the focus is on changes to the existing state law, such as the changes to gun owners' ability to carry in cars.
It will be up to cities to figure out for themselves how the bill affects them, he said.
ON THE NET
Attorney General: http://www.ag.state.oh.us/le/prevention/concealcarry/index.asp
Ohioans for Concealed Carry: http://www.ofcc.net
Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence: http://www.ocagv.org
Ohio Municipal League: http://www.omunileague.org
When it comes to the RKBA, 'Home Rule" be darned!
--ah, yes--city councils-generally Demotraitor-controlled--with too much time and money on their hands---
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
The taller the city's buildings, the more lib-wacked the city generally is.
--good point--
Since when did liberals care about private property rights?
The right to protect myself from criminal scumbags (who violate property rights laws everyday when they break into homes and stores, but the Municipal League won't tell you that) far outweighs the perceived concerns that people may have.
DC has a height cap but is majorly lib-whacked.
Dems never ask why a 14 year old rural boy gets into an argument with his classmate does not go home and get his daddy's semi auto rifle and shoot his detractors, while a 14 year old urban boy gets mad and gets even with his daddy's handgun the next day after an argument with his classmate. Is the answer, family values, cultural values or racial values?????
One has to wonder if the liberals ever realize just how stupid they sound.
so ohio's big cities are on the side of the criminals
Obviously, they can't realize how stupid they sound. There should be a law against it. /s
"More and more, I'm reminded how it is the rural versus the urban," she said. "They've never lived there (in the city), never had a killing. Their communities are filled with people who have all hunted all their lives, and they don't relate to what's happening in the big cities."
You know, they actually might have something here...
They are correct...Rural and Urban environments are different...
How things are prevented and handled are diferent too...
Rather obvious conclusion I know...
But it just amazes me how in flux Ohio actually is on many levels, politically, socially and morally...
Just amazing...
They don't like the law the legislature wrote and now hope the court will write them better law.
This demonstrates ignorance on the part of the Municipal League. It is impossible for cities to have rights. So it is impossible for cities to be stripped of rights.
Rights come from God/natural law and are given ONLY to individual PERSONS. For example, a city does not have a right to life. To say it has a right to freedom of religion, makes the absurdity clear. A city cannot "believe in God" due to the nature of a city that has nothing to do with laws and constitutions. Only individual persons have the ability to believe in God, or not to believe.
Governments, including cities, states and national, have POWERS. In this case, the state legislature, that created the power of home rule, took away from the cities the power of violating the US constitution, and probably the Ohio constitution.
I would suspect that many times the 14-year-old urban boy doesn't have a daddy, just the latest loser that's shacking up with his mamma.
The right to exercise "home rule" was created by the Ohio Constitution, not the state legislature. As a general rule, however, a municipal ordinance may not conflict with the general law of the state.
You get the government you vote for and deserve.....no matter where you are.
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