Legislation introduced this month would allow state law-enforcement agents to disregard federal law relating to gun regulations and make it a first-degree felony if officers in Ohio enforced a federal ban on assault weapons.
"Our state has to push back on Washington policies that clearly infringe upon the Constitution," said Sen. Kris Jordan, R-Delaware. "We need to stand strong at the state level."He said he hopes the bill is more than just a political statement and that it becomes law, which he says is possible because of support he has received from other senators and the Buckeye State Sheriffs' Association.
The association is speaking out against proposed gun regulations from Washington, and one sheriff has said he would not enforce federal law related to guns.
President Barack Obama has called for a ban on military-style assault weapons, more information in the nation's background-check system, and incentives for states to share information with the federal government, among other proposals.
The plan was put together after the December school shooting in Connecticut where 20 children and 6 adults were killed. The Buckeye State Sheriffs' Association opposes new state or federal laws that would result in citizens losing any type of firearm -- even assault weapons, said Robert Cornwell, executive director of the association.
Hancock County Sheriff Mike Heldman wrote a letter to Obama this month that read: "Any edict, regulation, or so-called 'federal law' which infringes on the right of the citizens of Hancock County to keep and bear arms for their security will not be tolerated, recognized or enforced by me or my office."
Jordan's bill would attempt to make Heldman's proposal to Obama legal.
But because of the supremacy clause in the U.S. Constitution, which says state law ought not to supersede federal law, the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio opposes the bill.
Mike Weinman, director of government affairs for the FOP, said the bill is "grandstanding" and blatantly unconstitutional. Recognizing that Jordan plans to send a message to Washington with his bill, Weinman said his efforts would be more appropriate as a senate resolution.
"It's designed to invoke controversy than address any pending issue," Weinman said.
Joshua Jamerson is a fellow in Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Statehouse News Bureau.
Copyright 2013 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
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