The Supreme Court of Ohio, in the matter of The City of Cleveland v. The State of Ohio, today struck down the city's ban on "assault weapons" and its mandate that handguns be registered.At issue in the case was R.C. 9.68, a law passed in 2006 by the Ohio General Assembly providing that only federal or state regulations can limit Ohioans' individual right to keep and bear arms. Today's ruling, coming in the form of a 5-2 decision, blocks municipalities from enacting restrictive ordinances that conflict with Ohio's "general laws."
Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton wrote the Court's majority opinion. She took Cleveland to task for its political opportunism:
"...the fact that some states have more regulations than Ohio does not warrant a conclusion that Ohio’s statutory scheme for regulating firearms is not comprehensive."The majority opinion concludes:
"A comprehensive enactment need not regulate every aspect of disputed conduct, nor must it regulate that conduct in a particularly invasive fashion."
"R.C. 9.68 addresses the General Assembly’s concern that absent a uniform law throughout the state, law abiding gun owners would face a confusing patchwork of licensing requirements, possession restrictions, and criminal penalties as they travel from one jurisdiction to another. We hold that R.C. 9.68 is a general law that displaces municipal firearm ordinances and does not unconstitutionally infringe on municipal home rule authority."It's another step in the direction of Liberty. And despite the fact that two crucial bills still hang fire in our House of Representatives, the favorable Cleveland v. State ruling makes this a very good day for Ohio gun owners.
