COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio court has shot down Columbus' efforts to save lives, siding with gun rights advocates to rule that the city can't require firearm owners to lock their guns up to prevent children from accessing them.
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Ohio’s Fifth District Court of Appeals dismissed the city's request to overturn a Delaware County judge's decision, which granted conservative think-tank The Buckeye Institute a preliminary injunction against the municipality's ordinance.
In basic English, this means that the judge sided with gun rights advocates, who said Columbus can’t make their own safety regulations.
This is exasperating for Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein.
In January, a small child survived after shooting a gun inside his home in Columbus. He found the gun between two couch cushions. Klein charged the father under their new safe storage law.
"That is such a tragic and preventable situation, but there needs to be accountability for individuals who leave their guns in a couch cushion," Klein told News 5.
The city requires gun owners to lock up their guns around children when they aren't using them and banned magazines that can hold 30 or more rounds of ammunition.
"We have been trying to pass some common sense gun laws to get guns out of the hands of violent individuals," the attorney added.
A News 5 analysis from September found that gun violence impacting children is up. The number of kids and teenagers being shot and killed has steadily increased over the past decade.
RELATED: Despite rise in child deaths, Ohio lawmakers won’t allow for gun safety laws
While Klein and Columbus attempt to require people to lock up their guns, they have been blocked by not just this current lawsuit, but have had to deal with the state suing them in Fairfield County, which ended up being dismissed. Klein is also suing in Franklin County to preserve the city's ability to make gun laws.
However, the latest blow came on Wednesday.
"We still cannot enforce our safe storage law, which is a real shame," he said.
Buckeye Firearm Association's Rob Sexton believes the court made the right call. Columbus and Cincinnati bans, ones that Cleveland also wants, are unconstitutional, the lobbyist said.
"You're setting up a situation in which someone who wants to be law-abiding is constantly tripping over the various laws and regulations," he said.
The reason why it is in court, despite Ohio being a "home rule" state, is because the Revised Code has a preemption law that prevents municipalities from creating their own gun regulations.
Patchwork laws are difficult for Ohioans, Sexton said.
"Well, if you think about a person who leaves their house in Brook Park and has to drive all the way into downtown Cleveland, they're gonna go through several jurisdictions," he said. "Do we really expect every single person to know the firearm law from seven or eight different political subdivisions, the townships, the villages and the cities?"
He fears people could be arrested if their home city allows them to have their gun in their glove box, but the town they are entering requires them to lock a gun in the trunk.
Home rule
Cities know what is best for their communities, Klein said, and it's not fair that lawmakers pick and choose which local governments have the authority to pass ordinances. Typically, it's the state supporting rural areas and denying urban areas.
When abortion was banned in the rural town of Lebanon in 2021, the Legislature didn't do anything. The state also sided with counties that want to or have banned green energy projects.
Meanwhile, Columbus is seemingly constantly getting under the skin of lawmakers. In just the past year, the lawmakers have found issues with the city for gun safety regulations, banning flavored tobacco and suggesting a voluntary curfew after a string of shootings.
Cleveland was the most recent victim of this, with a lawmaker proposing legislation solely to prevent one of their ballot proposals from being voted on.
Sexton says he can only speak for guns, and there is a reason why firearm laws are different.
"Regardless of what city politicians want, they still have to exist underneath the framework of the constitution," Sexton said.
Second Amendment
Everything has its limitations, like the freedom of speech, Klein rebutted.
"You don't have a constitutional right to own a machine gun," Klein said. "There are reasonable restrictions: requiring background checks before you purchase a gun, requiring training, having red flag laws that respect due process — those do not violate the Second Amendment."
The attorney plans to push this case to the Ohio Supreme Court. Sexton agreed this is the next step.
"The very first filter would be that this proposal would have to be evaluated along with the other aspect of the constitution, which does spell out our rights to have firearms," Sexton said. "Will prevail before the Ohio Supreme Court."
What's next?
There is a more important question the public should be asking, Sexton added.
"How much longer will Ohio cities be allowed to harass gun owners with nonstop litigation?" the lobbyist asked.
Columbus will fight, Klein said. Cincinnati has been dedicated to its cause for safety regulations for years now, as well. Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb has also asked for gun safety laws. After a mass shooting, he brought up an idea to put forward a constitutional amendment to change gun laws.
The other alternative is to stop partisan gerrymandering, Klein offered, so that politicians who have "radical" beliefs that don't align with the majority of the citizens can be booted, or at least not have as much power.
"Our system is so broken because of gerrymandering that it's not reflective of what a supermajority of people are clamoring for," he said.
Klein also believes Sexton is wrong about the Supreme Court.
"If you're able to divorce politics from it, the reality is we can win this case," he said.
Previous rulings by the court have protected home rule, so he said he is hoping the justices will let him save lives.
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