Legislator Wants To Make Ohio A Second Amendment Sanctuary

I’ll admit, I was more than a little surprised that Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed the state’s new Stand Your Ground bill. Most people expected a veto by the Republican who has been pushing his own gun control package for more than a year now. Yet, he surprised us by signing a bill he’d signaled he wasn’t a fan of.

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Yet a lawmaker in the state wants to top that by introducing legislation that would turn Ohio into a Second Amendment sanctuary state.

An Ohio lawmaker is preparing to introduce a proposed “Second Amendment Sanctuary State Act,” designed to nullify any gun-control measures put into place by the Biden Administration.

The legislation, based on similar bills passed in Alaska, Idaho, Kansas and Wyoming, comes as several counties in Ohio have made similar declarations.

The proposed act would ban a number of steps that “might reasonably be expected to create a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership” of firearms, including taxes and fees, registering or tracking of gun owners, and gun confiscation from law-abiding citizens.

The draft language of the bill also states it is the duty of the courts and law enforcement agencies to protect Second Amendment rights, according to a news release.

State Rep. Mike Loychik, a freshman Republican from Trumbull County who plans to introduce the bill next week, said, the act, if passed, wouldn’t void any existing state or federal gun laws.

Rather, he said, the measure is intended to block gun-control policies that gun-rights activists fear President Joe Biden might implement, such as tracking firearms sold at gun shows and taxing weapons and ammunition.

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Look, I respect the effort, but let’s also be realistic.

While the die-hard pro-gun folks love measures like this, it’s a bridge too far for many Republicans. They have concerns about the precedent such an act might create, and for good reason. After all, creating sanctuaries is based on immigration sanctuaries, so it’s not unreasonable to believe other places may start picking and choosing other laws they don’t want to follow.

But let’s say that’s not an issue in Ohio. What then?

Honestly, don’t expect DeWine to sign this one. While I was surprised he signed the Stand Your Ground bill, his opposition wasn’t based on anything but a lack of movement on his own gun control proposals. He never indicated he thought it was a bad bill.

Somehow, I suspect a governor trying to pass his own gun control laws wouldn’t be particularly inclined to sign a bill that would invalidate other gun control laws within his state’s borders.

Oh, sure, they’re completely different gun control laws, but it’s not unreasonable to believe that DeWine won’t be too understanding of such a bill crossing his desk, even as he continues to push for a set of gun control laws that no one in the state really wants.

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Not that it’ll get that far.

My guess is this bill dies an inglorious death in committee, probably in a way where no one has to actually vote against it. Then no one can be hit for voting against the bill, but they don’t have to actually record their opposition to it.

We’ll just have to wait and see how accurately I called it.

Here’s hoping I’m horribly wrong and it becomes law in Ohio.

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