Court Orders Cleveland to Stop Enforcing Local Gun Control Laws
OutdoorHub 05.26.11
DELAWARE, OH – Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Brian Corrigan has ordered Cleveland to stop any enforcement of 19 separate local gun control ordinances, effective immediately.
Buckeye Firearms Foundation is the lead Plaintiff in the case, which was filed in early 2009.
In the interim, Cleveland sued the State of Ohio in an attempt to have the state’s firearm laws declared an unconstitutional usurpation of a city’s home rule authority. In December 2010, the Ohio Supreme Court entered final judgment against Cleveland, ruling (for a second time) that the state’s laws were valid.
The ordinances invalidated dealt with gun registration, owner I.D. cards, assault weapon bans, limits on firearm dealers within city limits, possession of firearms in parks and other public places, seizure and destruction of firearms, storage of firearms, reporting theft of firearms and concealed carry of firearms.
Judge Corrigan wrote, “R.C. 9.68 clearly invalidates any and all municipal ordinances regulating ‘the ownership, possession, purchase, other acquisition, transport, storage, carrying, sale, or other transfer of firearms, their components, and their ammunition.'” Judge Corrigan set July 7, 2011 as a hearing on Buckeye Firearm Foundations request for mandatory attorney fees. The Ohio Supreme Court has already upheld the validity of the mandatory attorney fee provision.
Attorney Ken Hanson, who represented Buckeye Firearms Foundation in the litigation, said “We are gratified that the trial court took the time to understand the arguments and the law, and consider the case without being sidetracked by emotional, discredited arguments. Public records requests clearly showed that these ordinances were almost never used to prosecute criminals, and instead operated only as a bar to ownership/possession by those inclined to follow the law in the first place.”
Jim Irvine, a board member of Buckeye Firearms Foundation, observed “When we originally filed this case, Cleveland Law Director Robert Triozzi said the case was ‘more of a publicity stunt than a legal maneuver’ and concluded that none of the city’s ordinances conflicted with state law. Clearly this ruling shows that he was wrong on both counts, and it is the taxpayers of Cleveland that will end up paying for his incorrect conclusions.”
PDF: Download the ruling here.
Buckeye Firearms Association is a grassroots political action committee (PAC) dedicated to defending and advancing the right of Ohio citizens to own and use firearms for all legal activities, including self-defense, hunting, competition, and recreation. We work to elect pro-gun candidates and lobby for pro-gun legislation.
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For more information, please visit www.BuckeyeFirearms.org.
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