Columbus, Ohio Can Go Straight To Hell

"The maintenance of the right to bear arms is a most essential one to every free people and should not be whittled down by technical constructions." [State vs. Kerner, 181 N.C. 574, 107 S.E. 222, at 224 (1921)]

In the post below I mentioned what Columbus was trying to do. Well, they've done it. (Many thanks to PRO for staying on top of this.)

Here's a nice one sided story about the 6-0 vote. Of particular interest:

"At the request of the chair of the Columbus Public Safety Committee, Michael Mentel, LCAV [Legal Community Against Violence] testified about assault weapons, and provided the Committee with its comprehensive report, Banning Assault Weapons - A Legal Primer for State and Local Action, which includes a model law. The report provides a legal framework for state and local governments interested in banning assault weapons."

That's right - they brought out the Playbook. Now the good folks in Columbus have 90 days to register their "assault weapons". But don't worry about those who neglect. Ya see, the city of Columbus requires anyone who would purchase a firearm to get a permit. Look here & scroll down to the article entitled Gun ban called inconsistent. It says that:

"Columbus already requires anyone who wants to purchase a gun in the city to get a permit. The permits cost $20, take more than a week to process and are kept on file with police."

What was that about registration will never lead to confiscation? Oh, & the friendly neighborhood retired ATFU agent suggests that:

"About 1,000 firearms are sold in Columbus each year. However, city officials have not reviewed their own records to determine how many of those guns would be banned, Seckler said.
If city officials wanted to help make police officers safer, that would be one place to start, Vince said.
Those records should be computerized and searchable so that Columbus officers who stop a vehicle could check whether the driver owns a gun. The list wouldn’t be complete, but it would be better than nothing, Vince said.
'That could help save a law-enforcement officer’s life,' Vince said. 'Why wouldn’t you do it?"

That'd be retired ATFU agent Joe Vince. The most obvious answer to Mr. Vince's question would be that you shouldn't do it in case assholes like the Columbus city council tried to make it a crime for you to merely possess a firearm. & it wouldn't save any cops life. Look, if you were going to gun down a cop would you have registered your damn gun first? The vast majority of folks who comply with such bullshit aren't the ones you have to worry about. The ones you have to worry about are the guys getting nervous cause they have a few pounds of marijuana in the trunk (& I'm still trying to see where the constitution says the feds can ban that) & the uber-paranoid types who think the cop is checking to see if they have guns so they can take them away.

Now to be fair Mr. Vince did point out how tricky it would be enforcing Columbus' law:

"Columbus’ ban is similar to the federal assault-weapons ban that expired last year in that it leaves enforcement up to the interpretation of the officers who encounter the gun. For example, Columbus’ proposed law would make illegal any pistol grips on rifles that "protrude conspicuously beneath the receiver."
But what does 'conspicuously' mean?
'It’s very confusing,' Vince said after reviewing the legislation. The federal law also was confusing for law-enforcement officers, he said, 'so enforcement is difficult."

Anyway, Columbus joins the list of notches in the witch hunt against gun owners' property rights. In the comments to the previous post reader Brass points out that Aspen, Colorado has an "assault weapons" ban. & yes; Vail, Colorado can go straight to hell too.

It'll be curious to see what happens in Columbus. There will be a legal challenge to this. Seems that the last two times Columbus passed an "assault weapons" ban the state courts struck them down as being unconstitutionally vague. Here's hoping for three in a row. Until then Columbus, Ohio (as well as Denver, Co; Vail, Co; Illinois; California; Massachusetts; New York & New Jersey) should be off of everyone's list of places to visit &/or spend money.

Posted by Publicola at July 12, 2005 04:58 AM | TrackBack