The Patriot Post® · Cleveland Recreates Gun Offender Registry

Thumbing its collective nose at Ohio state law, the city of Cleveland passed a battery of gun control laws April 20. Among the changes, the city plans on running a gun-offender registry, requiring residents to notify police when they sell firearms and jailing anyone for six months who doesn’t secure guns to the extent the city deems they should. The measures overreach the state’s gun laws. The editorial board of The Plain Dealer and Northeast Ohio Media Group supported the gun control ordinances. “The legislation also is a direct challenge to state lawmakers who have sought at every turn, abetted by misguided Supreme Court rulings, to deny Ohio cities their constitutionally guaranteed home-rule rights when it comes to gun laws,” the board wrote. “In 2010, the state high court overturned a Cleveland ban on assault weapons as well as city handgun registration requirements. This legislation could be challenged on similar grounds. But until then, it is law.” On April 21, Ohioans For Concealed Carry sued the city over the ordinances. “Shall not be infringed” doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room for anti-gun cities to create a patchwork of laws that make a constitutionally sanctioned act criminal in one zip code but not the next. More…