Ohio GOP bill aims to invalidate US gun laws
Legislation would block enforcement in the state
Calling it the “Second Amendment Preservation Act,” House Republicans have begun debating a bill to invalidate certain kinds of federal gun laws as “infringements on the people’s right to keep and bear arms.”
“Every police officer I’ve talked to in the last two years has expressed their opposition to ever being forced to become [President] Joe Biden’s enforcement brigade against Ohioans,” Rep. Mike Loychik, R-bazetta, said. “This bill protects those from ever having to make that decision.”
House Bill 51 would prohibit Ohio’s local governments and law enforcement agencies from enforcing federal acts, laws or executive orders if they contained the following:
● Any tax, levy or fee imposed on firearms, accessories or ammunition that is not common to other goods and that might reasonably be expected to create a chilling effect.
● Any registration or tracking of firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition.
● Any registration or tracking of the owners of firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition.
● Any act forbidding the possession, ownership, use or transfer of a firearm, accessory or ammunition by law-abiding citizens.
● Any act confiscating firearms, accessories or ammunition from lawabiding citizens.
Violating those rules would open municipalities to civil lawsuits and penalties of up to $50,000 per employee found to be violating HB 51.
“This bill does have teeth to it,” Loychik said.
HB 51 is similar to a law Missouri lawmakers passed in 2021. It says federal laws that violate the state’s stance
on the Second Amendment cannot be enforced within Missouri’s borders.
Rep. Richard Brown, D-canal Winchester, said Missouri has been plagued by “chaos and confusion” since its passage.
For example, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state in February 2022 because “a state cannot simply declare federal laws invalid.”
“This act impedes criminal law enforcement operations in Missouri,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “The United States will work to ensure that our state and local law enforcement partners are not penalized for doing their jobs to keep our communities safe.”
Sixty Missouri police chiefs also wrote a friend of the court brief saying the new law hindered their “ability to defend and protect Missouri citizens.”
Loychik said his bill was similar to Missouri’s but not an exact replica. “There have been changes that have been made. This bill is a lot stronger.”
He also disagreed with the assumption that HB 51 violates the Supremacy Clause, which says federal laws generally override state laws.
“House Bill 51 does not challenge that,” Loychik said. “It simply states that the state of Ohio will not help the federal government agencies enforce their gun-control agenda by commandeering our local enforcement.”
But Ohio’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Commission noted that a Supremacy Clause was possible in its bill analysis.
Anna Staver is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau.