Whitehall, Ohio Franklin County

[Oldsarge]

Ordinances for permits for sale or possession of firearms are still on the books in Whitehall, Ohio

549.16 SALE OR GIFT OF DEADLY WEAPONS; PERMIT REQUIRED.
(a) No person shall sell or give away to any person within the City any pistol, revolver, derringer, bowie knife, dirk or other weapon of like character which can be concealed on the person, nor shall any person doing business as a pawnbroker sell or give away or permit to be redeemed or removed from deposit or pledge, any of the deadly weapons hereinabove mentioned without securing a license to do so from the Chief of Police; and no person having secured such a license shall sell or give away, or permit to be redeemed or removed from deposit or pledge, any such weapon unless the person so purchasing, acquiring, redeeming or removing such property shall have secured a permit as required by Section 549.17.
(b) The application for a permit to sell firearms shall be in the form as set out in Section 549.17 and shall be accompanied by a fee of five dollars ($5.00) which fee shall be retained by the City whether the permit is granted or denied.
(c) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.
(Ord. 129-73. Passed 12-27-73.)

549.17 PURCHASE OF DEADLY WEAPONS; PERMIT REQUIRED.
(a) No person shall purchase, redeem or remove from deposit or pledge any pistol, revolver, derringer, bowie knife, dirk or other weapon of like character which can be concealed on the person without first securing from the Chief of Police a permit to do so.
(b) The application for a permit for the purchase of firearms shall be accompanied by a fee of one dollar ($1.00) which shall be retained by the City whether the permit is granted or denied.
(c) The permit for the sale or purchase of firearms shall be in a form substantially as follows:
No.
TO CHIEF OF POLICE
Application to sell or purchase Firearms as described in Sections 549.16 and 549.17 of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Whitehall, Ohio.
Date_________________
Name of Applicant_____________________________________________________
Address_____________________________________________________________
Telephone Age Height Weight_____________
Complexion Nationality____________________________
Occupation __________________________________________________________
Business Address_______________________________________________________
Description of Weapons__________________________________________________

RECOMMENDATION THAT PERMIT BE GIVEN
By two (2) persons of good reputation and residents of City for at least one year.
Signature One________________________________________________________
Residence___________________________________________________________
Occupation__________________________________________________________
Signature Two________________________________________________________
Residence____________________________________________________________
Occupation___________________________________________________________
(Ord. 129-73. Passed 12-27-73.)


Contact Info:

Mayor John A. Wolfe
Phone: 614-338-3106
Fax: 614-338-3119

Julie Ogg, Secretary to the Mayor
jogg@cityofwhitehall.com

City Attorney
360 S. Yearling Road
Whitehall, OH 43213
(614) 237-9802

[djthomas]

Good deal...

Do they have any non-compliant signage (restrooms/parking garages) or prohibitions against carrying in parks, perhaps by sign/rule rather than ordinance?

May as well bring up all the major 9.68 violations in the same letter.

[Oldsarge]

Good deal...

Do they have any non-compliant signage (restrooms/parking garages) or prohibitions against carrying in parks, perhaps by sign/rule rather than ordinance?

May as well bring up all the major 9.68 violations in the same letter.

dj
I have found no ordinance or signage prohibiting carrying in the parks/restrooms. I live real close to one park I know is not posted, and I will check the other two within a day or two.

I have been looking at the 549.00 ordinance section that deals with weapons and found one for carrying concealed weapons (549.02) and one for improperly handling firearms in motor vehicles. (549.04) They seem to follow O.R.C. 9.68, but it seems to me that they should be removed since state law preempts local laws.

Jim

[djthomas]

I have been looking at the 549.00 ordinance section that deals with weapons and found one for carrying concealed weapons (549.02) and one for improperly handling firearms in motor vehicles. (549.04) They seem to follow O.R.C. 9.68, but it seems to me that they should be removed since state law preempts local laws.

Municipalities may have ordinances that are consistent with state law even if the state law is general, provided that the ordinance is not in conflict. There is no conflict if the ordinance prohibits that which state law prohibits provided that the ordinance does not lessen the penalty (though it can increase the penalty up to and including an M1). Since both the CCW and IHFiMV have provisions where the violations are misdemeanors the cities can keep them, so long as the felony provisions say "shall be charged under applicable state law" or words of similar import.

Our courts are a bit screwy. If there is an ordinance and a state law that prohibit the same thing and the crime is a misdemeanor, the prosecutor has the discretion of charging you under either the ordinance or state law. If you're charged under state law, the state gets any of the fines and whatnot and vice versa. Anything that is a felony has to be charged under state law.

Consequently I don't think we'd be successful in getting those provisions removed under the guise on 9.68, but so long as they prohibit only what state law prohibits, it's not a big deal.

[MyWifeSaidYes]

In 2013, I looked at the 2 ordinances oldsarge found in Whitehall.

They were in violation. I contacted them in June. Oldsarge also followed up with them a couple months later and got an email from their attorney that council would repeal the invalid ordinances.

The first reading of "ORDINANCE NO. 010-2014" happened at the February 18th meeting of the Whitehall City Council.

Many thanks to oldsarge for tackling this issue!


Now we wait to see if the ordinance to repeal passes, or whether we start planning our visits to Whitehall.