Bloomberg group to help fight city gun lawsuit
A national group that supports more gun regulation is backing Columbus as it fights a lawsuit from gunrights groups that sued the city over firearms restrictions enacted this year.
Everytown for Gun Safety, co-founded by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, will provide free legal assistance to the city as it defends the new regulations in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. It will serve as co-counsel on the case, according to a news release.
“Everytown is well known for their commitment to working to reduce gun violence in communities all across America. Their offer to join our team on a pro bono basis will help us best utilize all available resources as we work to vigorously defend the laws we carefully crafted just a few months ago. We welcome their support and look forward to working hand in hand with their team,” City Attorney Zach Klein, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Ohioans for Concealed Carry and the Buckeye Firearms Foundation sued Columbus last week, saying the city overstepped its home-rule powers when it created ordinances violating state law that requires uniform laws across the state to regulate guns.
City officials have said they believe their ordinances do not fit under the state’s so-called pre-emption law.
Ohioans for Concealed Carry and Buckeye Firearms specifically challenged the city’s ban on bump stocks, which convert semiautomatic weapons into near-full automatic fire, and an ordinance that made carrying a gun while under disability a misdemeanor.
Those two pieces were part of a broader package of gun regulations city officials said would help curb violence in Columbus, which set a new record in 2017 with 143 homicides. Most of those were committed with guns.
“If Bloomberg’s group wishes to save the taxpayers of Columbus money in this lawsuit, that is certainly their right,” said Chuck LaRosa, a director with Ohioans for Concealed Carry.
Judge David E. Cain also granted a motion this week for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, a Republican, to join the gun-rights groups in their lawsuit.