COLUMBUS, Ohio — The city of Columbus was given the green light to begin looking at ways to curb gun violence.
A lawsuit filed in March 2019, argued home rule should trump local municipality and in a new ruling, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Steven McIntosh sided with Columbus.
“..the Court does believe the public interest will be served by the granting of the injunction. Until the issues that have been presented have been properly resolved there is nothing in this record that would establish that an injunction would cause harm to the interest of the public. The Court finds that its interest would be better served by granting the injunction,” the judge wrote in his opinion.
City Attorney Zach Klein was asked by 10TV reporter Kevin Landers if an assault weapon ban is something the city would consider.
“An assault weapon ban is something that the city of Columbus can now consider and I would support that,” said Klein.
Klein said things like mandating gun safety locks would also be considered. He said whatever is decided will be a decision that will include the mayor, city council, and the police chief.
“Starting with something simple as a lock box, which prior to this ruling, we couldn't even have this conversation. That's how devoid of common sense some of these laws out of that state legislature are,” he said.
The Buckeye Firearms Association, a pro-gun lobbying group reacted strongly to the judge’s ruling.
“This is yet another attempt by the City of Columbus to override state law and pass gun control laws they have no right to pass. The whole idea of having statewide preemption regarding firearms is to provide one consistent set of laws throughout the state, rather than a patchwork of laws that will entrap and confuse people and infringe on their Second Amendment rights,” said Dean Reick Executive Director of Buckeye Firearms Association.
Klein said while crime in Columbus is down 38% from last year, the judge’s ruling will allow the city to drive that number down even further.
You can read the judge’s ruling here.