COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on whether the City of Columbus should be allowed to implement its gun safety regulations while the ordinance is making its way through the court system. Columbus passed a safe storage law, requiring owners to lock their firearms up if they aren’t using them, but a lower court has blocked it from going into effect.
For some gun owners, like state Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania), having their weapons easily accessible is essential.
“It had rabies and was attacking me — a pit bull — and I shot and killed that dog,” Williams told me. “It was like a few inches away from me when I fired my weapon.”
After what he calls a wild dog tried destroying the screen on his front door, the lawmaker said he is grateful he was able to grab his firearm.
“Your gun is not gonna be in your hand, loaded, ready, every time a threat produces itself,” he said.
According to the Republican, the dog was on his porch, trying to get into his home. As he got it to run away, he went outside to go to his car. The pitbull, one that seemed rabid and was not a neighbor’s pet, came sprinting back, he said. Due to the proximity and aggression, he fired three shots at it. I have requested the incident report from the Toledo Police.
That wasn’t the only time he had to use his gun, he said. He had a knife pulled on him outside of a tavern in Toledo, and fired a shot that went past the individual’s head, he added. I also requested this police report. The man ran away and to this day, was not caught, he added.
Being in the public eye, Williams said he has to make sure to protect himself and his family. He was one of several GOP lawmakers and politicians who were targeted by death threats and letters with white powder in them.
“There are about four firearms spread out across my house and residence; none of them are locked away,” he said. “My wife and I are the only ones that live there, so we’re always prepared no matter what part of the house that we’re in if we need to defend ourselves because there are people here that do want to do harm.”
This is why he opposes the City of Columbus’ gun safety regulations. One of their ordinances requires owners to lock up their firearms when they aren’t using them, in an effort to curb the growing number of accidental child shooting deaths. The city also banned magazines that can hold 30 or more rounds of ammunition.
This law is currently blocked from going into effect.
Ohio’s Fifth District Court of Appeals dismissed the city’s request to overturn a Delaware County judge’s decision, which granted conservative think-tank The Buckeye Institute a preliminary injunction against the municipality’s ordinance.
Ohio court shoots down Columbus gun safety regulations
RELATED: Ohio court shoots down Columbus gun safety regulations
Back in 2024, we were the first to report that City Attorney Zach Klein was asking the Ohio Supreme Court to step in and pause the block while the case goes through the courts.
On Tuesday, oral arguments will begin at the Supreme Court on whether or not a city can appeal a preliminary injunction while the final judgment is being decided.
Columbus argues that they have a right to appeal any injunction that prevents a law from being enforced.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office is backing Columbus on this argument, arguing that governments can appeal when there is “irreparable harm” caused by a pause in the enforcement of laws.
This is the same argument that the AG’s team has made on several high-profile occasions, such as when a Cincinnati judge temporarily blocked — which then led to permanently — the six-week abortion ban from going into effect.
The Buckeye Institute, which is helping six anonymous gun owners, has argued that this ordinance is unconstitutional and that a preliminary injunction only stops something illegal from going into effect.
The AG’s office agrees that Columbus put forward an unconstitutional law, but does back them on the ability to get the injunction dropped.
This whole debate should be common sense, gun violence survivor Erick Bellomy said.
“The state should step away and allow the city to implement their own laws that protect its citizens,” Bellomy, the Ohio lead for Brady United Against Gun Violence, said.
Safe storage laws save lives, he said, and retrieving your gun from a safety lockbox is quick. There are many different types of safe storage, such as numerical codes, key locks, and even fingerprint devices.
Safes won’t prevent people from protecting themselves from an intruder, he added, but what it will do is keep everyone in the home safe.
“A lot of the families that have had this happen to them, they did not expect this to happen to them and once it happened to them, that’s when they started advocating for similar safe storage laws,” Bellomy said.
According to state data, at least 16 people died in 2024 from accidentally discharging a firearm. Everytown for Gun Safety found that dozens of Ohio accidental shootings led to injuries as well.
Keeping weapons locked up could also help to prevent the rise in teenage gun violence, he added.
“Nobody’s trying to take your gun rights away, nobody’s trying to do that,” he said. “But we’re just trying to make it safer for kids and people that are at risk of harming themselves or other people.”
This could be a trend that catches on, and it should, he said.
“I think [Columbus’ safe storage law] sets up other cities to do the same thing,” Bellomy said. “All eyes are on Columbus when it comes to this type of law, then other cities may follow suit, and if other cities follow suit, that’s hundreds of lives that can be saved.”
The City of Cleveland has previously told us that they are waiting on what happens with Columbus and Cincinnati’s cases before they pass their own legislation.
Williams argued that the government shouldn’t be getting involved in his Second Amendment rights, but he does say that parents need to choose to be more responsible with their guns.
I asked how we balance his gun rights concerns versus keeping kids safe from accidental shootings.
“How do we bridge that?” I asked.
“Those are always gonna be possible as long as we have firearms in our communities, and I believe firearms have to be there,” he replied.
That’s not to say that the state won’t help at all, he added.
Parents should be charged if their child accesses their gun and shoots someone or themselves, he said. He also wants to put forward incentives on gun classes and training on safe storage. He would also want to remove the tax on safe storage devices or provide a tax credit for purchasing gun safes.
“When it comes to safe storage, we can have a conversation,” he said. “But I feel that’s the individual responsibility that the government should not get in the way of.”
The Supreme Court justices will debate for the upcoming weeks or months.
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This article was originally published by a www.news5cleveland.com . Read the Original article here. .