Columbus' rush to pass gun-control measures thwarted by court

Columbus city officials said Wednesday that they intend to act quickly to pass new gun-control legislation after a Franklin County judge last week blocked part of a state law that prohibited cities from having more-stringent restrictions than the state, saying it violated the state's constitution.

"Even if the window is brief, we will be damned if we don't use it," City Council President Shannon Hardin said.

But before the dust had settled, the window of opportunity had closed again on Thursday, when Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Stephen L. McIntosh, the same judge who granted a preliminary injunction against the state law that prompted the city to act, stayed his own ruling pending appeal at the request of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

City officials couldn't be reached immediately for comment Thursday afternoon.

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That puts a hold on the proposed new city restrictions that would prohibit large-caliber ammunition magazines containing more than 30 rounds by ordinary citizens, require the safe storage of firearms when minors could reasonably be in danger of handling them, and prohibit "straw men" gun sales, where people who can legally purchase firearms do so for those who can't.

Hardin said Wednesday the Democrat-controlled council had planned to quickly hold hearings and pass the legislation in the near future.

But while that plan was moving forward, Yost, a Republican who was reelected Tuesday, and firearms organizations were opposing the city's plans, which were based on a McIntosh ruling Nov. 2.

The pro-gun Buckeye Firearms Association issued a statement Wednesday saying the city's aim was "to ban AR-15 type rifles, limit magazine size, mandate gun locks, impose universal background checks, pass red flag laws, and more."

City Council spokesperson Nya Hairston said that was incorrect, saying the city's focus is on only the three measures, which officials repeatedly called "common sense" public safety measures.

"We don't trust them to be very careful and just do a couple things," said Dean Rieck, executive director of Buckeye Firearms Association.

What did Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther say?

But a spokesperson for Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, Melanie Crabill, said "however, we are contemplating legislation to restrict the sale, purchase, brandishing, or any other use of assault-style weapons for the near future. We are not contemplating a complete ban to my understanding, but are exploring as many restrictions as possible so long as they do not conflict with the U.S. or Ohio Constitutions, the (Ohio Revised Code), or any other applicable law."

Rieck said that state lawmakers have been clear that they didn't want a "patchwork" of city firearms laws, just as they don't want nonstandardized traffic laws. Rieck said the city is broadly interpreting McIntosh's ruling to mean they can pass gun-control laws, while the association's attorneys believe the city is limited to how zoning laws interact with gun manufacturing operations.

"They are trying to signal to everybody that pre-emption (or the state's ability to limit local government codes) is gone" as it relates to guns, Rieck said.

"I think storing firearms safely is a great idea," and the association encourages it, Rieck said. But only the state can make laws mandating storage, and to date it hasn't, he added.

"We need to stand up against the madness that is ruling the Statehouse," Hardin said the day after Republicans swept all statewide offices in Ohio and expanded their legislative majority.

"This is our moment," Ginther said at the announcement at the City Hall campus, adding that firearms supporters would have the public believe that the nation's founding fathers and framers of the U.S. Constitution "intended mass murder."

"It is the time to act and Columbus will lead the way," Ginther said.

To bring the message home, Columbus officials invited a trauma surgeon, Dr. Keshav Deshpande, to speak at the press conference. He described a recent gunshot victim who arrived at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, Downtown.

"He turned around and he looked right at me, clear-minded, just as any of us here in this room," Deshpande said. "And he said, 'Please, don't let me die. I have to get home to my son'."

Then his pulse stopped, Deshpande said. The doctor opened his chest, and instantly several liters of blood poured out, "all over the bed, all over the floor." The bullet had filled his chest and lungs with blood, and his heart was damaged.

Minutes later, Deshpande pronounced him dead.

"That day, I witnessed a wife in complete disbelief, a mother that was just shaking from hundreds of emotions I'm sure, a cousin that was just so mad at the world," Deshpande said.

"And off to the side there, a little boy, who couldn't have been more than 2 years old, sitting on his grandma's lap, completely clueless that daddy wasn't going to be there tonight at bedtime."

Dispatch reporter Jordan Laird and USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau reporter Jessie Balmert contributed to this article.

wbush@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus gun codes on hold after judge issues stay of his own order