Woody toy at Heathrow airport security courtesy reddit.com

Following in the footsteps of such great violence-free cities as Chicago, Washington, DC and New York, Frank Jackson, the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, has proposed his city enact a series of new gun laws that he claims will reduce the “scourge of gun violence.” The proposals are very much in line with what we’ve seen before, aimed at killing the gun culture in America rather than actually targeting criminals and reducing violence. Included in hizzoner’s proposal: a ban on toy (“replica”) firearms, a 90 day waiting period between firearms purchases, and a sex offender-esque list for “gun criminals” in the city. There’s just one problem: what they’re doing is against Ohio state law . . .

From Cleveland.com:

The legislation would restrict gun owners from leaving firearms in a place accessible to minors; create a registry in the city of Cleveland that would compel convicted gun offenders to register with police once a year for four years; and limit gun purchases to one firearm per person per 90 days.

The new ordinances might also incorporate past laws including: Requiring school officials to notify police when a prohibited weapon is found on school property; allowing people to voluntarily surrender guns to police; and banning the sale and manufacture of gun replicas.

But Ohio law dictates that guns can only be regulated through state and federal statutes — and not on a municipal level, Ohioans for Concealed Carry president Jeff Garvas said.

“The United States Constitution, Ohio Constitution, state laws or federal laws are the only means by which regulation may be imposed on firearms in the state of Ohio,” Garvas wrote in a letter Friday to Cleveland law director Barbara Langhenry.

As we’ve seen time and again, gun control advocates don’t really care about little things like laws — they just want to force their will on people. In this specific case it looks like the new laws will pass, but Ohio-based gun rights groups will be Johnny-on-the-spot with the lawsuits and restraining orders. Again. Still.

In the end, all that Mayor Jackson is doing is forcing both sides of this debate to spend more money in court on a battle where the outcome is already known. Cleveland will be wasting taxpayer money that it desperately needs on a lost cause, and the Ohio gun rights groups will be victorious in the end no matter what happens. Other than the political brownie points and maybe a photo op or two, it’s a pointless effort, Then again, that’s not a bad description of gun control in general.

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68 COMMENTS

    • At least as to the matters listed in the article, doubtful. The Second Amendment does not apply to replica (fake) guns, registering convicted felons, or schools notifying police about contraband firearms found on their grounds. That does not mean that there is no defense to expansive ordinances that do touch and concern guns, such a the limit on purchases, and storage requirements: the Ohio Supreme court has ruled twice that municipalities (specifically Cleveland) have no power to enact gun laws.

  2. Jackson also wants to limit purchases of .22LR to one brick a month. Which is one brick a month more than I can buy now. And I don’t live in or near The Mistake on the Lake.

    • Yeah, I think he’s drooling to get some anti gun action going in VA. He’s already on the books supporting assault weapons ban, magazine limits and one gun per month as well as others.

    • VA used to be one handgun a month. We worked hard and it was eliminated. Magic 8 ball says it’d be real tough to sell. IIRC, a couple od dems have resigned so the balance is to the Republicans.

      • If you had your carry permit you could buy as many as your wallet and/or wife would let you. Seems like that law was used to cut down on straw purchases, which does not help real VA firearm owners.

        Norfolk’s mayor was making noise about his “city” needed better laws, same as in Ohio, the commonwealth law states that cities can’t go out on their own.

        Norfolk’s Commonwealth Attorney was arrested for DUI, refused to do a field sorority test or a BAC test so not convicted of DUI, just refusing to take the test and loss of driving privileges for a year. Nothing like breaking the law of carrying while drinking, then again do as we say not as we do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCl0XgucpUQ

  4. SC used to have a 30 day limit on pistols, crime actually increased did nothing other than create more paperwork.

  5. Replica gun! OMG! Ban!
    So much for any toy that is gun shaped. They should also ban poptarts because those can be turned into replica guns. Also clay. And paper. And…

  6. Just ban hands.

    Then nobody can use any gun, or make a replica with a forefinger and thumb.

    Guess you also need to ban larynxes too, because we can’t be replicating the sound of gunshots, eh?

    Oh, and lips, because a puffing sound sounds just like a silencer, you know.

  7. Replica gun? So if I bit a piece of toast on one corner and it kind of looked like a gun then I could be in violation? After all it could be considered a replica of a rapid fire high capacity assault ghost pistol that had been covered with jelly.

  8. Where I live there is a municipal code stating you cannot carry firearms on private property without owner permission(so basically anywhere besides the sidewalk), but we have the same state law as Ohio making that code void.

  9. “Following in the footsteps of such great violence-free cities . . . ”
    .
    Following in the FOOLsteps of such great violence-free cities . . .
    .
    There. Fixed it for ‘ya!
    .

  11. :::sigh::: Why can’t/won’t cities take action on the things that, you know, actually CAUSE crime?

    • Because it’s THEIR Progressive Politics that gives rise to crime! You wouldn’t want them to surrender their power for the good of the citizenry now would you?

  13. And this is where the Republican party has just chosen to host the 2016 Republican National Convention?

  15. It’s more wellfare for the leagle profession

    This has been the way the world has worked for a very long time… Just look at the number of politicians that are also people that took up law while at school even if they never managed to make a living at it they seem to spend a lot of time passing laws that will due to their complexity or the fact that they can not pass the state or federal law smell test will result in lots and lots of work for the advocates of defendants and plaintiffs.

    • I think you’re close; but I propose it’s more that they know law, hence believe anything can be solved with more or ‘better’ laws.

      Everything is a nail if you have a hammer, etc..

  16. “You can have my toy guns when you pry them from my cold dead hands” -soon to be the rallying cry of 8 year olds everywhere in Cleveland.

    • Soon there will be a law banning ‘futuristic looking’ guns because they’ll be designed to sell to children.

      Buy up that Neos now if you want one I guess.

  17. I was going to ask why this & not you know actually doing things to help curb violence and crime then it hit me… you get tough on crime you lose all those families of all them felons you locked up in the war on plants that smell funny. So no way in hell are they gonna do that, instead they go for low hangin fruit and quick feel good “fixes” that really just amount to making harmless stuff illegal and givin DAs more stuff to tack on then piss away for a plea because God forbid their conviction rate drop a point or two.

  18. Ah Cleveland. With no economy it only makes sense to focus on restricting guns both real and toy. They don’t want to end up like Detroit and encourage the citizens to buy a gun and protect themselves because the municipality has no resources. They are tougher in Cleveland and won’t need guns for protection like they do in Detroit. You get what you vote for.

  19. Shhhhhhhhh. They are disarming themselves for the next Civil War.

    I got dibs on OH, TTAG can publish a map, we can divvy-up the blue disarmed states. ; P OH can be my beotch, Cleveland first. In the space of a decade Cleveland’s gone from ‘Cleveland Rocks!’ to Cleveland’s got a purty mouth. Who’s line is it anyway? Not yours Cleveland, you lost your right to free speech 0.00000000000000001 of a second after you poo-poo’d the 2nd Amendment.

    • I get Maryland… sorry yall it’s just got the old family homestead out in Allegheny county and I want it back.

      • I know, fully understand, got’s some nearly-lost-causes myself on a long island north of there, if ya all need help, holler.

    • Some people might say my post is “crazy to say” or “crazy thinking” but those are just the same people who fail to see their ‘anti-gun’ efforts as I do, and that is as an attempt to disarm me for the next Civil War.

      Of course, they’d [likely] also say that’s not their intent, but, what would they say if it was? The last Civil War started by two brothers sitting on their mother’s couch calling each other a mf.

    • “I got dibs on OH, TTAG can publish a map, we can divvy-up the blue disarmed states.”

      Ohio is far from a “blue disarmed state”. The only ridiculous anti-gun law that is still on the books is that you can only use mags larger than 30 rounds in NFA items.

  20. Cleveland will be wasting taxpayer money that it desperately needs on [another] a lost cause…

    From my office building on Euclid Ave., I can look out the windows and see dozens of abandoned buildings. This city is hemorrhaging population, and they want us to believe that guns are the problem?

    • From my office building on Euclid Ave., I can look out the windows and see dozens of abandoned buildings.

      Potential illegal alien safe houses? Cleveland does have an airport and a bus terminal after all.

  21. But the river does not catch fire any longer. Course that’s because all the jobs are gone. Anyone remember a song by Chrissy Hynde. Something about a-oh way to go etc.
    Except it now applies to the whole damnable country.

    • He doesn’t live in Cleveland. He gets the hell out of town at quitting time just like the rest of us sane people.

  23. This is another example of the great illusion that our politicians have perfected. The mayor knows his idea won’t work and won’t even be legal, but he can say he tried to do something and then blame the courts, the state and that pesky constitution for the failure of his brsve act to pass. It’s complete bullcrap yet the blissfully ignorant in our country fall for it again and again.

    • I think Jackson learned the Obama technique by reading “Nightmares From My Father” or something.

  24. Yep. They keep doing this stuff even though it’s contrary to Ohio Revised Code 9.68 and they consistently lose in court. The toy gun laws might or might not hold but the actual firearm proposals won’t. They’re probably all butt-hurt because the tyrants can’t pass more restrictive gun laws so they’ll take it out on the children. Mistake by the lake.

  25. “…all that Mayor Jackson is doing is forcing both sides of this debate to spend more money in court on a battle where the outcome is already known.”

    This is not new. One of the tactics of the antis is to try to bleed off the coffers of pro-gun organizations and reduce their ability to protect against the grabber politicians efforts to further restrict or eliminate gun ownership and use. The grabbers don’t care about the misuse of taxpayer funds if it helps them achieve their efforts toward their ultimate goal: confiscation and gun bans.

    California is a shining example of that tactic being employed by grabber politicians.

    • “…This is not new. One of the tactics of the antis is to try to bleed off the coffers of pro-gun organizations and reduce their ability to protect against the grabber politicians efforts to further restrict or eliminate gun ownership and use…”

      Except Ohio Revised Code 9.68 contains this provision:

      ”(B) In addition to any other relief provided, the court shall award costs and reasonable attorney fees to any person, group, or entity that prevails in a challenge to an ordinance, rule, or regulation as being in conflict with this section.”

      So while the antis no doubt may try to bleed off the coffers, that tactic won’t work here.

      This is just the Mayor’s way of being seen doing something.

  26. So the new law “might” allow people to “voluntarily surrender guns to police”? I didn’t realize that surrendering a gun to police is currently disallowed. Thank goodness someone thought to close that loophole.

    • Probably would make it so it is anonymous or something to allow criminals to hand them over to police so the evidence can be destroyed instead of them taking your name and running the SN on the gun to see if it is hot.

  27. By the way for those who complain about long gun OC or even OC in general, the reason we don’t get harassed anymore in even the most anti-gun cities in Ohio (*cough* Cleveland) is because we OCed firearms in the past and we continue to do so. Exercise of the right was demonstrated repeatedly and it is now re-enforced every time we do it. If we ever stop then we will eventually once again see police departments feigning ignorance as to its legality and the number of 911 calls would probably jump dramatically. Long gun and hand gun open carry has been steadily becoming more and more normalized in the Buckeye State because we actually exercise our right to bear arms.

  29. it is disappointing to see this even from a city as screwed up as Cleveland. Despite the fact that this violates the OH constituation, it will likely pass. One gun every 90 days… really? Similar to the “7 day waiting period”, goofy lawmakers should be forced to provide some, hell, ANY evidence that such measures will work, hell, have EVER worked. But, it is just like the “left” to continue to blame the gun vs. fixing the root cause. Hey, Mr. Mayor! If you want safer streets, break the cycle of poverty, absent parents, and no opportunity to improve lifestyles! But, i guess if those things happened, folks would barely need entitlements (i.e. YOU), which is why you are probably going to stick with going after guns, huh? FRUSTRATING.

  30. Cleveland is hosting the 2016 Republican convention. For those that like to write or call every Republican in your state from Senate/House of Reps on down. Let them know what Cleveland is doing urge them to move the convention. Money does more to influence politicians than reason or even a baseball bat.

    • Ask the merchants of downtown Tampa how happy they were when the RNC was in town in 2012.

      Clue – Not Happy. Not Happy _AT ALL_.

      • Cleveland went & solicited the business from the RNC. Only the hotels, bars & food service make money. Cleveland seems financially in the same boat as Detroit just a deck or 2 higher on the sinking ship called Amerikas economy. K was intentional not an error.

  31. So if children make toy guns out of Legos or Tinker Toys, the Legos or Tinker Toys are now illegal? What about a stick? Are trees illegal now?

  32. I propose we enact a law limiting him to expressing himself as such to once every 180 days.

  33. The point of being politician is if you can’t do something, at least be seen doing anything. No matter how irrelevant or ineffectual.

  34. I wish for once one of these idiots would man up and attack the most irresponsible part of ‘gun culture’ – Hollywood. They do everything they can to keep kids ignorant about guns AND gun safety, then park them in front of the TV to watch hour after hour of people misusing and glorifying guns. Instead of banning toy guns or expelling 7 year olds for chewing their pop tarts into the shape of a gun, how about ban movie theaters from showing movies that feature ‘gun crime’. See how that goes over. What? Can’t violate the 1st amendment? Never stopped them from violating the 2nd.

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