On May 29, the National Rifle Association (NRA) entered into a lawsuit filed by the city of Cleveland against the state of Ohio in March which seeks to overturn the state’s new firearms preemption law.
Cleveland’s suit in Cuyahoga County Court is challenging the state gun law on the basis of the state constitution’s home rule protections.
If the court accepts NRA’s intervention as a defendant-intervenor, NRA will be able to participate fully on behalf of its members in defending the state preemption law that NRA was instrumental in passing.
“We have joined in this lawsuit as a defendant-intervenor to protect law-abiding gunowners in Ohio from harassment by an unreasonable and confusing patchwork of municipal gun laws,” said NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox. “NRA and our members support Ohio preemption so that the state legislature, rather than every town, village and burg, has the sole ability to control state police powers that are clearly of general concern.”
The preemption law passed over a veto affected gun laws in 80 Ohio cities, but none joined Cleveland’s suit.