Cincinnati might try to ban bump stocks

Ordinance would outlaw devices that increase fire rate.

Cincinnati leaders COLUMBUS — think they’ve found a loophole in state law that will allow them to ban bump stocks in the city.

Cincinnati City Council is working on an ordinance to outlaw the devices, which increase the fire rate of a semi-automatic gun. Bump stocks were used in last year’s mass shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 people dead.

But a 2006 Ohio law preempts local laws relating to the sale, ownership or possession of a firearm, part of a firearm, a firearm “component” and ammunition.

A bump stock isn’t a gun “component,” but instead is an “accessory,” council attorneys say in a legal opinion released Monday by Councilman PG Sittenfeld. There’s no Ohio court precedent on what counts as a component, city solicitor Paula Boggs Muething wrote, but the word’s definition indicates component means a part of a gun. Therefore, she reasoned, a bump stock is not a firearm but a separate attachment or accessory.

“Federal lawmakers have failed to ban bump stocks, so cities will act where Congress has failed,” Sittenfeld said in an emailed statement. “Our extreme state legislature has preempted our ability to implement most common sense gun safety reforms, but when it comes to those things we can do, we’re determined to push forward in every single way to reverse the bloodshed in our country.”

Boggs Muething noted that the city risks being sued and losing in court.

Columbia, South Carolina banned bump stocks late last year under the same logic. South Carolina state law also prohibits cities setting more stringent laws regarding firearm components. A lawsuit filed the next day claims the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined in 2010 that bump stocks are parts of guns.

“Clearly, a firearm ‘part’ is a component of a firearm. The linguistic gymnastics attempted by the city is mind boggling and insulting to anyone with an I.Q. above 6,” attorney Mark Schnee wrote in the complaint.

Rep. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican who voted to override Gov. Bob Taft’s veto of the 2006 law, said it’s possible a loophole may exist. But he questioned what impact Cincinnati-specific legislation would have.

“If bump stocks are not available in the city of Cincinnati but are available in every surrounding area and in Kentucky and Indiana, what other than pure symbolism are they trying to convey by their resolution or whatever they’re doing?” Seitz said.

The U.S. Department of Justice has proposed reclassifying guns fitted with bump stocks as automatic weapons banned under federal law.