This column, as well as four others, was written by a student in Matthew Arbuckle’s Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations (POL 364) class, based on the question of whether cities in Ohio should be able to enact gun laws in their own jurisdiction.
In 2023, Columbus tried to ban magazines holding more than 30 rounds in response to a rise in gun violence. That local ordinance, now tied up in court, reflects a growing push by some Ohio cities to go their own way on firearms regulation.
Proponents argue that local governments should have the freedom to address unique urban safety challenges. But this approach is that Ohio’s current firearm preemption statute, Ohio Revised Code § 9.68, prohibits cities from passing gun laws stricter than the state’s. This isn’t an accident; it’s an intentional safeguard to ensure consistency across the state. If each of Ohio’s 900+ municipalities could enact its own rules, a law-abiding gun owner traveling from Columbus to Cleveland could unknowingly break multiple laws in a single day. One city might ban certain magazines, another might set an age limit and another could restrict open carry altogether…