PA Bill Number: HB2235

Title: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ...

Description: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ... ...

Last Action: Referred to LABOR AND INDUSTRY

Last Action Date: Apr 25, 2024

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Cleveland council passes gun law admittedly that won't stop violence :: 04/23/2015

In a remarkable bit of candor by a public servant, a member of the Cleveland, Ohio City Council yesterday reportedly acknowledged that the city’s new gun control law was “not designed to stop gun violence,” but only reflect the “council’s values,” according to Cleveland.com.

That ordinance might also not even be legal under Ohio state law. According to WRGT, the local Fox affiliate, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that state gun law supersedes local ordinances, and even the local press expects a court challenge.

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UPDATE: Today Ohioans For Concealed Carry and one of its Cleveland resident members have filed a taxpayer action against the City of Cleveland challenging illegal gun control legislation City Council adopted Monday, according to a press release. The organization is seeking Mandamus to compel the city to provide public records requests related to Cleveland gun buy-back events that have been ignored and/or denied for more than five years. Read more here.

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But the story appears to epitomize the problem with gun control advocates, especially at the local or even state level. Under the new ordinance, private firearm sales must be reported to the police. Gun owners must report lost or stolen firearms. The brandishing of a “facsimile” firearm is prohibited, as is the “negligent transfer of a firearm to a felon or intoxicated person.”

Most egregious of all, according to some critics, is that this new law creates a “gun offender registry” that keeps track of people convicted of gun-related crimes. They must register with the city’s safety director, the news agency reported.

But Cleveland.com reported that Council President Kevin Kelley acknowledged that the legislation is not about stopping “gun violence.” Instead, he described it as “good public policy intended to encourage responsible gun ownership.”

His colleague, Councilman Michael Polensek, was quoted stating, “So we pass this legislation tonight, but what does it really mean? I think there are going to be some people who think that as a result of this passage, things will dramatically change in this city. And they are not, because the bad guys are not turning in their guns. The bad guys are not registering. The kids who want to shoot indiscriminately on the street won't stop.”

Translation: This new gun control law, pretty much like all gun control laws, is a failure from the get-go. It won’t prevent crime, nor make anyone safer, but it is something of a trophy that “reflects values.”

The only council member to vote against the new ordinance was Zack Reed. The story said he argued that “the legislation is powerless to address gun violence in the city.”

This comes on the heels of the Pew Research report noted by this column yesterday that found public support has dramatically shifted in favor of gun rights, and away from gun control. The change was enough to form the basis of an editorial in today’s edition of The Republican in Springfield, Massachusetts by Charles Blow, New York Times News Service. He seems to lament that the National Rifle Association “has won this era of the gun debate.”

It’s not about winning or losing, but about whether government at all levels will treat the Second Amendment and its sibling state constitutional provisions as constitutionally-protected fundamental civil rights or heavily-regulated government privileges. It is pretty well established that the gun prohibition lobby wants gun ownership to be a privilege that can easily be regulated into oblivion, while Second Amendment advocates wish only to be left alone.

At what point does push turn to shove, or perhaps push-back? Today in Oregon, there is an effort to recall a trio of state lawmakers who are supporting SB 941, the so-called “universal background check” measure that appears to be a gun registration scheme in disguise, much like Initiative 594 was for neighboring Washington. Examiner spoke today with one of the organizers of the Oregon action, Norm Voshall and learned that scores of volunteers are already involved in the grassroots effort.

Gun owners are increasingly getting involved in political action. They are learning tactics from the enemy camp and turning their friends and families into activists. Targeting politicians who vote against their rights, especially when it’s just to “reflect values” while admittedly doing nothing to stop crime, could become a new vocation for these folks.

David Codrea weighs in here.

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