XPost: alt.education.research, alabama.politics, alt.politics.usa.constitution.gun-rights
XPost: ca.politics
A national group that supports more gun regulation is backing
Columbus as it fights a lawsuit from gun-rights groups that sued
the city over firearms restrictions enacted this year.
Everytown for Gun Safety, co-founded by former New York mayor
Michael Bloomberg, will provide free legal assistance to the
city as it defends the new regulations in Franklin County Common
Pleas Court. It will serve as co-counsel on the case, according
to a news release.
“Everytown is well known for their commitment to working to
reduce gun violence in communities all across America. Their
offer to join our team on a pro bono basis will help us best
utilize all available resources as we work to vigorously defend
the laws we carefully crafted just a few months ago. We welcome
their support and look forward to working hand in hand with
their team,” City Attorney Zach Klein, a Democrat, said in a
statement.
Ohioans for Concealed Carry and the Buckeye Firearms Foundation
sued Columbus last week, saying the city overstepped its home-
rule powers when it created ordinances violating state law that
requires uniform laws across the state to regulate guns.
City officials have said they believe their ordinances do not
fit under the state’s so-called pre-emption law.
Ohioans for Concealed Carry and Buckeye Firearms specifically
challenged the city’s ban on bump stocks, which convert
semiautomatic weapons into near-full automatic fire, and an
ordinance that made carrying a gun while under disability a
misdemeanor.
Those two pieces were part of a broader package of gun
regulations city officials said would help curb violence in
Columbus, which set a new record in 2017 with 143 homicides.
Most of those were committed with guns.
“If Bloomberg’s group wishes to save the taxpayers of Columbus
money in this lawsuit, that is certainly their right,” said
Chuck LaRosa, a director with Ohioans for Concealed Carry.
Judge David E. Cain also granted a motion this week for Ohio
Attorney General Mike DeWine, a Republican, to join the gun-
rights groups in their lawsuit.
http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180629/group-tied-to-bloomberg- helping-city-fight-gun-regulations-lawsuit
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