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Ban on selling guns is vacated
Campbell law was approved Jan. 6
By jeanne starmack
campbell
City council repealed a controversial ordinance that banned gun sales in the city.
The ordinance, which passed Jan. 6, was the reason behind a rally Saturday in Roosevelt Park.
Young Americans for Liberty’s Youngstown State University chapter sponsored the rally, which also drew members of Ohioans for Concealed Carry.
Even before the rally, council had plans to repeal the ordinance.
City Law Director Mark Kolmacic told council in March that Ohioans for Concealed Carry planned a lawsuit over it. Kolmacic said the ordinance was contrary to state law.
Council was in the process of amending the ordinance to allow private sales by residents — but not retail sales — when it got the word about the pending suit. It tabled the amendment.
Members said at a caucus meeting April 14 that the ordinance would be repealed.
The gun-rights group’s lawsuit was filed the next day.
The ordinance was an attempt to keep gun shops from opening in the city.
It was approved after a Hubbard man tried to open a gun-repair shop on Robinson Road last fall.
Police objected to the shop, saying it would stress their understaffed department.
Council denied a zone change request that would have allowed it.
Council members have said they plan to revisit the issue of gun sales in the city with legislation that restricts them through zoning.