City of Akron DEMANDING registration

[BriKuz]

The City of Akron is aparantly REQUIRING registration of firearms purchased in the city. I sent the following to all members of council and, just for the hell of it, I sent it to John Caniglia at the Plain Dealer, as well.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It has come to my attention that the Akron Police Department is FORCING registration on persons who attempt to purchase firearms in the City of Akron. In particular point of fact, a member of Ohio Carry, a grass-roots Right to Keep and Bear Arms group, attempted to purchase a firearm from the Dick's Sporting Goods by Chapel Hill Mall today, 10 November, 2013. This person was refused service until he filled out personal information, including name, SSN, and address on a form that was purportedly REQUIRED by the Akron Police Department. I would suggest that the members of council look into R.C. 9.68 with regards to a government sub-division in the State of Ohio placing restrictions on the sales, carry, ownership, etc, of firearms.

It is my intention to attempt to purchase a firearm at the listed location this Thursday, the 14th. Should I not be able to make a lawful purchase due to this regulation, I would suggest that the City Could find themselves in a VERY actionable position both on a State R.C. 9.68 level AND on a Federal 42 USC § 1983 Civil Right suit. Unfortunately, both of these would time and monetarily consuming cases, ultimately costing the Citizens of Akron potentially tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in awards and attorney's fees. I feel that it would be in the best interests of the City to alleviate this issue as soon as possible, saving everyone the hassles of protracted litigation.

I thank you for your time and prompt attention on this matter.

Regards,
BriKuz

I don't know if this is a rouge Detective or an official policy... and I don't care, as long as the policy is ended and any records collected in it are destroyed.

[djthomas]

This particular issue has come up before. Here's the rub: standing. Akron is not actually requiring your registration. The merchant (Dicks) is. The merchant has the right to refuse the sale for any reason. You can't make Dicks sell you anything. If Akron is requiring the merchant to provide the information that's a matter between those two parties and not you as a prospective customer.

Do you think Dicks cares enough to sue the City of Akron over this? I strongly suspect that they rather enjoy doing business in that city and would prefer to not make waves.

[Atilla]

I quit going to Dick's when they pulled the EBRs off the shelves. Not to be confused Dick's Gun Room, just up Rt 8 in Cuyahoga Falls, which is one of my LGS's

[BriKuz]

This particular issue has come up before. Here's the rub: standing. Akron is not actually requiring your registration. The merchant (Dicks) is. The merchant has the right to refuse the sale for any reason. You can't make Dicks sell you anything. If Akron is requiring the merchant to provide the information that's a matter between those two parties and not you as a prospective customer.

Do you think Dicks cares enough to sue the City of Akron over this? I strongly suspect that they rather enjoy doing business in that city and would prefer to not make waves.

Whether the suit is against the City or Dick's makes no dif to me... the end result is being refused service on a civil rights ground...

[Werz]

This particular issue has come up before. Here's the rub: standing. Akron is not actually requiring your registration. The merchant (Dicks) is. The merchant has the right to refuse the sale for any reason. You can't make Dicks sell you anything. If Akron is requiring the merchant to provide the information that's a matter between those two parties and not you as a prospective customer.

Do you think Dicks cares enough to sue the City of Akron over this? I strongly suspect that they rather enjoy doing business in that city and would prefer to not make waves.

In the sea of public policy, sometimes waves cannot be avoided. This may require a combined action: actions against the City of Akron under the auspices of R.C. 9.68, and a very public boycott of Dick's Sporting Goods. It might be fun to pit them against one another. The store's corporate offices will not like the negative publicity, particularly if it rubs off on its other stores. The city can be pressured over its use of the store as a stalking horse. And note that this is not done by an informal agreement. It is done pursuant to City of Akron Code of Ordinances § 137.25(C), which mandates daily receipt of those registration records by the City of Akron Police Department. The city cannot divorce itself from this registration process, nor can it claim it is voluntary.

Edit: Keep in mind that this "stalking horse" technique is the new method for circumventing R.C. 9.68: making government licensure contingent upon firearm limitations which a private entity might otherwise not promulgate or enforce.

[pirateguy191]

Are there any other "gun dealers" in the city of Akron? Were they also required to adhere to the city's ordinance?

[Tweed Ring]

I was in Dick's Sporting Goods in Dublin, Ohio some years ago to buy a pistol. Sales clerk told me I had to register it with the City of Columbus; told him no.

[BriKuz]

Mike Freeman, Ward 9 Councilman, has replied... he said he would look into it with both the law department and the police department. Fingers crossed that this goes quickly.

[Werz]

Mike Freeman, Ward 9 Councilman, has replied... he said he would look into it with both the law department and the police department. Fingers crossed that this goes quickly.

It appears that the only Dick's Sporting Goods within the City of Akron is across from Chapel Hill Mall. In case you want to target the proper council member, that's Ward 2.

[BriKuz]

Mike Freeman, Ward 9 Councilman, has replied... he said he would look into it with both the law department and the police department. Fingers crossed that this goes quickly.

It appears that the only Dick's Sporting Goods within the City of Akron is across from Chapel Hill Mall. In case you want to target the proper council member, that's Ward 2.

I targeted the entire council, for the above stated ordinance is illegal and needs to be removed, hence is within the purview of the ENTIRE council... and the Akron PD... and, perhaps, Mr. Caniglia lol

[pleasantguywhopacks]

We are going to touch on this a bit tonight on the radio show and try to stir the embers..

http://www.55krc.com/cc-common/listenlive/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; at 7pm

[polizi212]

Perhaps my cheese has slipped off my cracker but the New Dicks Sporting goods is located in the plaza at Chapel Hill and that my friends is in Ward 1 of Cuyahoga Falls! So if the store is trying to get paperwork for Akron they are mistaken! Here is the map of Cuyahoga Falls. http://cfo.cityofcf.com/web/our-city/city-map" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Perhaps when they moved to the new store a few weeks ago they forgot to tell the sales people that they are not in Akron any more!

[JustaShooter]

Perhaps my cheese has slipped off my cracker but the New Dicks Sporting goods is located in the plaza at Chapel Hill and that my friends is in Ward 1 of Cuyahoga Falls! So if the store is trying to get paperwork for Akron they are mistaken! Here is the map of Cuyahoga Falls. http://cfo.cityofcf.com/web/our-city/city-map" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Perhaps when they moved to the new store a few weeks ago they forgot to tell the sales people that they are not in Akron any more!

Now that would be funny - especially if you could get the manager to tell the Akron PD detective to pound sand when he comes by to collect the most recent batch of illegal registration forms...

[pleasantguywhopacks]

This particular issue has come up before. Here's the rub: standing. Akron is not actually requiring your registration. The merchant (Dicks) is. The merchant has the right to refuse the sale for any reason. You can't make Dicks sell you anything. If Akron is requiring the merchant to provide the information that's a matter between those two parties and not you as a prospective customer.

Do you think Dicks cares enough to sue the City of Akron over this? I strongly suspect that they rather enjoy doing business in that city and would prefer to not make waves.

Dicks doesn't have to sue. They cant be forced to do this. They are just choosing to do this. Pressure needs to be brought to bear.I would be surprised once light is brought that the PD continues..

[BobK]

Dick's Sporting Goods has a long history of respecting their customer's 2nd Amendments rights.

I had an encounter in Columbus back in 2008 that I wrote about here: Dick's Sporting Goods.

When I complained to corporate, I had the store manager calling me and apologizing less than 12 hours later.

Seems to me that an official OFCC complaint with follow-up letter quoting the law would trigger a prompt response from corporate.