COLUMBUS — A judge in Fairfield County has issued a temporary restraining order against the City of Columbus’ newly passed gun ordinances.
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The Columbus City Council passed a set of gun ordinances December 5 that would prohibit the possession of a large capacity magazine by anyone other than a federal or state agent, armed service member or a member of state or local law enforcement, according our news partner WBNS TV.
Judge Richard Berens, Fairfield County Common Pleas Judge, issued the ruling Thursday morning, according to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office.
“This request of the court is strictly a matter of the law – as state law supersedes what Columbus is attempting to do here,” Yost said. “The city has knowingly and deliberately overstepped its legislative authority.”
A Franklin County judge stayed “all proceedings” related to Columbus’ 2019 legal challenge of an Ohio law mandating statewide uniformity in firearm regulations, Yost’s office said.
Columbus Councilwoman Shayla Favors said the measure “prohibits the reckless selling, lending, giving, or furnishing of a firearm to a person who is prohibited from possessing a firearm,” WBNS said.
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Two of the Columbus ordinances violated a 2006 law passed by the Ohio General Assembly, Yost said.
One bans possession of “large capacity magazines,” making such possession a misdemeanor punishable by a minimum jail stay of 180 days and a maximum of one year.
The other makes it a criminal misdemeanor to store a firearm in a way that doesn’t comply with the Columbus City Code, regardless of whether any harm has resulted from the “improper” storage.
“The issue here is that the legislature has said, ‘We’re going to have a uniform law for the entire state so that citizens don’t have to guess whether they’re breaking the law because they passed a municipal boundary – and that law needs to be enforced,’ " Yost said. “If we’re going to have changes to Ohio’s gun laws, they need to go through the General Assembly.”
The court issued a stay until a final decision is issued by the Tenth District Court of Appeals.
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