Toledo gun-rights activist convicted after CCW in city park
Toledo judge ignores Section 9 of House Bill 12
Buckeye Firearms Association has learned that Bruce Beatty, a Luckey, Ohio
resident who has been waging a personal fight against the City of Toledo,
has been convicted in a Toledo Municipal Court for charges filed against him
after he violated a ban on concealed carry in a Toledo city park.
Last
spring, not content to let other court challenges against local gun bans
take their course, Beatty announced that he would stage a protest in a
Toledo City park, and challenged Toledo officials to arrest him. He was
indeed ticketed, and charged with a minor misdemeanor for violating a park
rule.
In a Toledo Municipal Court today, Beatty was found guilty
of violating a park rule which bans carrying a firearm in a park.
Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.
Buckeye Firearms Association is currently reviewing the actual ruling and will provide additional details in the future, but clearly this ruling has created the potential for conflicting court
opinions on this question as we move ahead.
Buckeye Firearms believes the
legislature meant what it said when it passed House Bill 12, which was signed
into law by Governor Bob Taft in January 2004.
Section 9 of HB 12 states in part:
- No municipal corporation may adopt or continue in existence any
ordinance, ... or resolution that attempts to restrict the places
where a person possessing a valid license to carry a concealed
handgun may carry a handgun concealed.
The fact that this court ignored legislators' stated intent for the Ohio concealed carry law (that
"licenses to carry concealed handguns are a matter of statewide
concern" or that the laws governing them are of a "General Nature"
that should be applied uniformly throughout the state) gives even more impetus to coming efforts to pass a statewide preemption law to protect firearms owners.
Gun owners can expect the Buckeye Firearms Association to lead the call upon the General Assembly to pass legislation which will make firearms laws uniform throughout the state (as is, for example, the
motor vehicle code). The vast majority of states have already past
such laws, because it is the best way to solve this problem.
As happened with the concealed carry debate, there will be cries of
"blood in the streets." But just as the anti-gunners were wrong
then, they are wrong now. While there have never been problems with
concealed carry license holders "getting into shootouts at
fender-benders" there continues to be problems with local
municipalities and judges that think they can make their own law.
Ohio is one of only four states that still cling to "home rule"
giving local municipalities the impression they can trump state law. How long will Ohio lag behind the rest of the country? The time has
come for Ohio to pass some truly sensible firearms laws. It's time
for Ohio legislature to address this problem by passing statewide preemption.
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