Appeals Court reverses: Clyde City Parks 'no-guns' signs illegal

In an important victory to gun owners, the Court of Appeals of Ohio’s Sixth district, on Friday April 13, 2007, reversed its earlier ruling on the City of Clyde’s ordinances intended to restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens who possess a concealed handgun license from exercising their constitutional rights in city parks.

In their ruling, reversing an earlier decision, the court noted:

On December 12, 2006, while this appeal was pending, the Ohio Legislature passed H.B. 347 over Governor Taft's veto. The bill affects 31 different statutes, most of which comprise the concealed carry laws.

...R.C. 9.68 became effective March 14, 2007. The emphasized language quoted supra indicates the Ohio Legislature's clear intent that the concealed carry laws have general and uniform operation throughout Ohio. Since, pursuant to R.C. 9.68, no loaw, other than the United States Constitution, Ohio State Constitution, state law, or federal law, may interfere with the right to "keep and bear arms," local ordinances which further restrict the places in which a person may carry a concealed weapon are invalid. Therefore Clyde Codified Ordinance 2004-21 is preempted by R.C. 9.68 and 2923.126, and summary judgement must be entered in appellants' favor.

...For the foregoing reasons, the judgement of the Sandusky County Court of Common Pleas is reversed. This matter is remanded to the trial court to enter judgement in favor of the appellants.

The court has also ordered the City of Clyde (i.e. the taxpayers) to pay for the costs of the appeal.

Congratulations to OFCC Inc. and attorneys Dan Ellis and Ken Hanson. Special thanks also to former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro and current Attorney General Marc Dann.

As the court states in their ruling, it was the passage of HB347 that caused them to reverse their earlier ruling. Victory would not have been possible with out the leadership of Representative Jim Aslanides, Speaker of the House Jon Husted and Senate President Bill Harris.

Also crucial to the override of Taft’s veto were the thousands of calls, letters, and faxes by grassroots constituents to their Representatives and Senators, and the legislators themselves who took the historic actions of completing a veto override.

Click here to download the 6 page ruling.

UPDATE - Media coverage links: