| As Expected: Cleveland Files Lawsuit Against HB347 |
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| Written by Jeff Garvas | |
| Wednesday, 14 March 2007 | |
Today, the City of Cleveland filed a declaratory judgment against The State of Ohio's attempts to modify Ohio Revised Code (RC) section 9.68 (as modified in HB347) in an effort to have it over turned. We've acquired a copy of the 12 page complaint. City of Cleveland v. State of Ohio (may require latest version of Acrobat). This means that Cleveland will be the first City to challenge statewide preemption, but appears not to jeopardy any other area of HB347 such as carrying concealed in a motor vehicle. At the time of this writing OFCC was not aware of any stays granted to Cleveland. Representatives from the City of Toledo have already promised to join in the suit, but have not yet taken action. After the City has failed in other attempts such as the American Financial Services debacle, and the efforts to fight laws which allow police and fire employee to live outside of the city, Mayor Frank Jackson planned to hold a press conference today at 11:15 to announce the City's intent to challenge statewide preemption. The press release stated: Today the City of Cleveland filed a declaratory judgment against the State of Ohio to fight the enactment of Ohio Revised Code (RC) section 9.68 which seeks to threaten the safety of our children, citizens, businesses and visitors by nullifying local gun laws that were put in place to address the specific needs of the City of Cleveland. Mayor Frank G. Jackson has vowed to protect the city’s residents and its right to home rule.As we knew when HB347 was passed and the Governor was overridden by the legislature the fight for statewide preemption is all but over in Ohio. The difference now is who is playing defense. Stay tuned to this website for more details as they become available. |