by J.D. Davidson
Ohio’s attorney general and Columbus-based policy group are responding to the city of Columbus’ attempt to lift a restraining order and implement a series of gun regulations passed in 2022.
However, the Republican AG and The Buckeye Institute are on different sides.
The city recently filed its brief in its third attempt to lift the preliminary injunction, using a procedural question before the Ohio Supreme Court.
“In its third attempt at lifting a preliminary injunction prohibiting Columbus from enforcing its unconstitutional gun law, the city is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to allow the city to appeal the preliminary injunction, which, according to Ohio law, is not appealable,” Regardless of the ruling on this procedural question, The Buckeye Institute is confident that it will win the case and protect the constitutional right of Ohioans to keep and bear arms.”
In May 2023, the trial court denied the city’s first attempt to lift the injunction, and in November, the Fifth District Court of Appeals denied the city’s appeal of that ruling.
Attorney General Dave Yost, however, agrees with the city, filing a brief saying it should be able to appeal a preliminary injunction.
“Preliminary injunctions must be appealable to ensure justice,” Yost said. “This brief underscores that both the state and cities need the right to an immediate appeal when their laws are enjoined. The rule of law means the same rules for everybody. “It doesn’t matter state or city, Democrats or Republicans – the same rules should apply to all.”
In his brief, Yost said the order blocking the city’s gun ordinance is similar to a Cincinnati judge’s ruling to block the state’s six-week abortion ban in 2022.
In April 2023, a Delaware County judge granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by The Buckeye Institute, stopping enforcement of the law.
In February, the city asked the Ohio Supreme Court to reverse a decision of a lower court to place a preliminary injunction on its gun regulations passed in 2022 that makes it illegal to possess gun magazines that hold 30 or more rounds of ammunition.
As previously reported by The Center Square, The Buckeye Institute filed suit in February 2023 to stop the ordinances. The city prohibited large-capacity magazines of 30 or more rounds, created penalties for people who do not keep firearms stored out of the reach of children and penalized someone who sells a gun to someone prohibited from owning one.
The suit was filed in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas on behalf of five central Ohio residents who are not named. In a release, the institute said the plaintiffs are not named because the new law has made their previously lawful possession of the prohibited magazines illegal.
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An Ohio native, J.D. Davidson is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years of experience in newspapers in Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. He has served as a reporter, editor, managing editor and publisher. Davidson is a regional editor for The Center Square.
Photo “Dave Yost” by Dave Yost. Background Photo “Ohio Supreme Court” by Sixflashphoto. CC BY-SA 4.0.
