Ohio became the latest state to pass a preemption law earlier this year. Much of the state was quite happy to see this happen, but the larger cities were less thrilled.
Shocking, I know.
There was a lawsuit, an injunction, then a stay issued on the injunction to keep Columbus from passing gun control until the suit has run its course.
It’s a whole thing.
Now, though, some legislators want to do something to clean up the mess, among other things. The problem? It’s the wrong something.
Ohio Democratic lawmakers are pushing to reestablish local control over gun regulation as well as repeal so-called ‘stand your ground’ in Ohio, though neither bill is likely to become law considering Republican supermajorities.
The two new Democrat-led bills hope to address gun violence happening in urban centers. With Republican supermajorities in the legislature, and bigger supermajorities coming in the new year after elections using maps declared unconstitutional gerrymanders by a bipartisan majority on the Ohio Supreme Court, the bills’ chances of becoming law remain very low.
I’d imagine so.
Let’s remember that this is a state that not only just passed preemption and elected J.D. Vance to the Senate. It’s unlikely they’re going to trip over themselves to pass gun control.
What’s particularly interesting to me, though, isn’t just the proposals from Democrats, who I expect to push gun control, but how the media framed it.
The headline for the above-linked piece? “Ohio Democratic lawmakers push bill to reestablish local control on gun violence protection.”
They’re basically presenting it as if these policies would actually do something as a matter of fact when it’s nothing of the sort.
Ending preemption won’t change anything, mostly because the criminals who are breaking the laws as they currently exist will simply keep breaking laws. It’s impossible for a city to create sufficient laws to deter violent crime. Not with the punishments they can dictate for such arrests, anyway.
And Stand Your Ground doesn’t lead to violent crime. It gives people the opportunity to respond to a violent attack without having to try and get away first–an action that can rob them of valuable seconds in a deadly encounter. Further, it protects good people from malicious prosecution to some degree. DAs get to take weeks to scrutinize actions an armed citizen had milliseconds to figure out at the time.
That’s why Stand Your Ground exists.
Democrats, however, seem to think they can actually do something here, though I’m not sure what. They know preemption is here to stay, at least from a legislative standpoint, and they have to know that they won’t repeal Stand Your Ground.
So, instead, they’re gearing up for 2024 and hoping they can somehow swing support their way.
Of course, pushing gun control in Ohio may not be the wisest plan. Many voters may tell a pollster they don’t approve of the law, but they don’t care enough about it for them to sway their vote one way or another, so putting their eggs in that particular basket is kind of stupid.
Then again, so is gun control, so…
