Cleveland's Voluntary Gun Registry

Written by Daniel White

Tuesday, 21 October 2008 05:21

An article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Cleveland is now claiming their gun registry is "voluntary" now that the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in the OFCC v. Clyde case that all local gun laws are invalid.

...the city no longer requires people to register their handguns with City Hall. But some people continue to do so, and the city willingly takes down their information, said Lt. Thomas Stacho, a police spokesman.

Willingly preying on the unsuspecting citizens who don't realize they are no longer required to register? Say it isn't so! The City would have you believe that they have done nothing to perpetuate the myth that gun registrations are required, yet an earlier story in the Plain Dealer reported otherwise.

Despite the fact that the story in question reported that Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson ordered police to continue to enforce city ordinances despite the Clyde ruling, Stacho claims that the Mayor never made such a statement and that he was misquoted by the paper.

The Plain Dealer stands by their story, and they should. In a memo posted on the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association website, CPPA President Stephen Loomis wrote:

CPPA Memo 21-08

Re: Charging Gun Related Crimes

Dear Members,
September 30th, 2008

As was reported by the Plain Dealer on Monday, September 29th, 2008, the City of Cleveland has once again taken the position that they intend to ignore a constitutionally, and now Supreme Court upheld State Law, in favor of home rule created city gun ordnances. This proclamation by the Chiefs Office comes just days after these local ordnances were determined to be ILLEGAL by the Ohio Supreme Court. It is extremely irresponsible for the city to place not only our Members but itself in such a position of guaranteed civil liability.

On March 19th, 2007 I informed you that the State Legislature had passed a gun law which effectively deemed most local gun ordnances illegal. The city appealed this decision. Last week the State Supreme Court voted by a 4 to 3 margin to uphold the State Law and reject the cities Home Rule arguments.

It is the position of this Association that city gun ordnances deemed illegal by state CCW legislation which was upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court, should no longer voluntarily be enforced by our Members. We believe, and have been legally advised, that any enforcement of these illegal city ordnances is in direct conflict with State Law and WILL subject our members to civil liability.

If you are uncertain on how to handle an incident that occurs regarding CCW law, ensure that a supervisor responds to your scene and IMMEDIATELY CONTACT THIS ASSOCIATION. Fully document any order given to you by a Supervisor regarding this issue on your duty report and within the narrative of any related reports that stem from the incident.

THE CPPA WILL CONSIDER ANY ORDER TO ENFORCE ILLEGAL CCW RELATED CITY ORDNANCES AN UNLAWFUL ORDER AND WILL TAKE IMMEDIATE AND DECISIVE ACTION TO PROTECT OUR MEMBERS INTERESTS IN ANY VENUE NESSESARY.

Please be safe, and take care of each other out there,

Stephen S. Loomis, President
Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association
(sic)

Would such a memo be necessary had the order to enforce these illegal ordinances not been given? Stacho is changing his story in an attempt to protect the Mayor from well-deserved criticism for basically stating that he is the law. Now, the Mayor is backpedaling. I'm sure he considers obeying any other Cleveland gun ordinances that conflict with state law as "voluntary" also. Law abiding citizens, on the other hand, should consider them null and void.

We thank CPPA President Loomis for getting the word out to the officers he represents that they are to enforce the law, not the whims of an anti-gun politician. And Kudos to the Plain Dealer for helping expose the lies so innocent citizens are not duped into falling for the anti-gun agenda.