COLUMBUS – The city of Columbus suffered a setback in its legal battle with the state over gun control legislation.
A state appellate court on Tuesday overturned a preliminary injunction granted by a Franklin County court that allowed the city to enforce a package of gun control ordinances.
“The court’s ruling assures that all Ohioans must abide by the same law, state law, when it comes to firearms. Just like we argued in court, firearms owners statewide should have to follow the same rules,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said.
In its ruling, the 10th District Court of Appeals said the city failed to prove irreparable injury, harm to others, or public interest in seeking a preliminary injunction against Ohio’s firearms uniformity law, in line with an injunction issued in April by a Delaware County judge blocking the city from enforcing the ordinances.
Yost and the Buckeyes Firearms Association sued the city in separate actions claiming the Columbus ordinances, which would essentially ban magazines of 30 rounds or more, require safe gun storage around children and criminalize giving or selling firearms to anyone prohibited from owning them, violate Ohioans’ Second Amendment rights to possess firearms.
“We respect the Court’s decision and look forward to continuing to make our case on behalf of the residents of Columbus who want nothing more than to have less gun violence and safer neighborhoods,” Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein said in a statement.
“As we have said from the start, every court date, filing or decision is just one of many next steps to reaffirm the City’s ability to exercise its constitutional right to enforce commonsense measures at the local level that allow police and prosecutors to do their jobs to go after violent criminals and to keep our kids and communities safe,” Klein said.
The court blamed the lower court’s decision to grant the injunction on the city’s “inartful drafting” of pleading, ruling that the evidence relied upon by the trial judge was too old.
The case dates from 2019, when Columbus officials sued the state, claiming that the firearms uniformity law prohibiting cities from enacting gun safety ordinances interferes with Ohio’s constitutional “home rule” guarantee that local governments have the authority to pass legislation in their own jurisdictions.
The court held a hearing in May of 2019 and issued its injunction in November 2022. The appellate court took issue with that timeframe and sent the case back to the trial court so that the City could introduce fresh evidence.
The appellate decision did not address the merits of the case.
The case now heads back to the Franklin County trial court for further proceedings.