Judge puts temporary halt to Columbus’ new gun laws

By J.D. Davidson 
The Center Square
https://www.thecentersquare.com/

A Delaware County judge Tuesday morning put on hold a controversial gun law recently passed by the city of Columbus.

Common Pleas Judge David Gromley granted a request from The Buckeye Institute for a preliminary injunction, stopping enforcement of a law that makes it illegal to possess gun magazines that hold 30 or more rounds of ammunition.

In December, the Columbus City Council passed the law, which The Buckeye Institute claims violates Ohio law and the U.S. and Ohio constitutions.

“Judge Gormley’s order vindicates and protects our clients’ rights and recognizes that The Buckeye Institute’s clients are likely to succeed in their claims that this ordinance conflicts with state law and violates the right to bear arms as set forth in the Ohio Constitution,” The Buckeye Institute said in a statement. “In granting the preliminary injunction, Judge Gormley recognized that Buckeye’s clients are already being harmed by the enforcement of the gun ordinance, which makes it a criminal offense to possess a 30-round magazine in the city of Columbus and dictates how firearms must be stored.” 

As previously reported by The Center Square, The Buckeye Institute filed suit in February to stop the ordinances that prohibit large-capacity magazines of 30 or more rounds and created penalties for people who do not keep firearms stored out of the reach of children and for someone who sells a gun to someone prohibited for owning one.

The Buckeye Institute filed the lawsuit in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas on behalf of five central Ohio residents who are not named. In a news release, the institute said the plaintiffs are not named because the new law has made their previously lawful possession of the prohibited magazines illegal.

Gromley also said the plaintiffs can proceed under pseudonyms and dismissed the city’s request to dismiss and transfer the case to a different court.

As previously reported, Attorney General Dave Yost sued to stop the law, but the Fairfield County Common Pleas Court ruled in favor of Columbus, allowing the laws to go into effect in late January.