Columbus gun restrictions blocked by Fairfield County judge
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- New gun restrictions in the city of Columbus are now on hold.
A Fairfield County judge ruled in favor of Ohio Attorney General David Yost on Thursday, implementing a temporary restraining order on the enforcement of the Columbus City Council’s three-pronged package that limits firearms. The legislation defies Ohio law, Yost argued, because cities are barred from limiting firearms and doing so violates the “fundamental right to bear arms.”
Yost filed a legal challenge against the council's move on Wednesday.
“This request of the court is strictly a matter of the law -- as state law supersedes what Columbus is attempting to do here,” Yost said. “The city has knowingly and deliberately overstepped its legislative authority.”
The three-pronged package, which was set to take effect Thursday, bans Columbus residents from having magazines holding 30 or more rounds, criminalizes the sale or lending of firearms to those prohibited from having a gun, and penalizes those who fail to safely store a firearm.
The council, along with Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein, forged ahead with the legislation after Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Stephen McIntosh temporarily blocked on Nov. 3 part of an Ohio law barring municipalities from adopting their own gun laws.
Yost disagreed with McIntosh’s interpretation. The “clearly unconstitutional and unlawful” Columbus Firearm Ordinances violate Ohioans’ right to bear arms, which includes firearm components like large capacity magazines, he said. Ohio Revised Code also calls for the uniformity of firearm-related laws, and gun regulations may only be provided by the U.S. Constitution, Ohio Constitution, state law or federal law, Yost wrote.
Klein, however, said the state remains bound by McIntosh’s decision in Franklin County that found Ohio’s preemption laws as they pertain to gun safety are unconstitutional, giving local governments the ability to adopt their own rules.