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Poland council expected to vote on repealing firearms ordinance
POLAND
Village council is expected to take action soon to repeal an ordinance banning firearms in Poland Municipal Forest after threats of legal action from right-to-carry advocates.
The ordinance, long on the books in the village, prohibits individuals from carrying guns in the public forest of about 250 acres. The ordinance violates state law, however, according to village Solicitor Anthony D’Apolito.
The issue was raised at an Aug. 4 village council meeting, at which time D’Apolito recommended to council that it repeal the ordinance. He said he expects council members to take action at the next meeting Tuesday.
At the time, some council members expressed concern about repealing the ordinance; council member Robert Limmer objected to repealing it.
D’Apolito and Russell Beatty Jr., village police chief and streets commissioner, also have raised concerns about the state law, although they have made sure that the village is in compliance. Signs prohibiting firearms have since been removed from entrances to the forest.
“It doesn’t take into account what the woods are designed for. I understand the right to bear arms – I appreciate that. But in the forest like that?” D’Apolito said.
The issue came to his attention last month after the village received correspondence from someone who pointed out that the village ordinance violates state law. The correspondence also threatened legal action and pointed to a specific statute in the Ohio Revised Code.
According to state law, “Except as specifically provided by the United States Constitution, state law, or federal law, a person, without further license, permission, restriction, delay, or process, may own, possess, purchase, sell, transfer, transport, store, or keep any firearm, part of a firearm, its components, and its ammunition.”
The correspondence also referred to a 2008 Ohio Supreme Court ruling – “Ohioans For Concealed Carry, Inc. et al. v. City of Clyde et al.” – in which the court sided with the right-to-carry group over the municipality, setting the statewide precedent.
It’s unclear, D’Apolito said whether the individual who contacted the village is affiliated with that group Ohioans For Concealed Carry.
Licensed handgun owners cannot carry handguns into police stations, school zones, courthouses, government buildings and other similar places “but you cannot restrict it in a place like woods or a park,” D’Apolito said. Private-property owners can restrict handgun owners from bringing firearms onto their property.
Although individuals can carry firearms in the forest, Beatty said, they are not permitted to discharge them, nor can they point at or threaten someone with them.