Ohio lawmakers passed a law in 2006 that prevented local governments from passing any gun laws that are more restrictive than those enacted at the state level, and when cities challenged it, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the law. Now, there’s a move afoot to change it.
Democratic Sen. Cecil Thomas is sponsoring a bill to allow cities to, once again, implement gun reforms. He said the one size fits all approach now in place isn’t working.
“What may be of interest in the rural areas could be detrimental in an urban core.”
Thomas points to rallies in cities where tempers are hot and guns are plentiful as examples of situations that local communities should be able to control the way they see fit. No Republicans have signed on to his bill. And while polls have shown some public support for gun reforms, it will be a challenge to get enough majority Republicans to embrace the idea of giving control over gun laws back to cities.
