columbus and suburbs -- where are the bans?

[wiles]

A little off the usual topic of CCW, but there are a lot of knowledgeable folks here to help, so here goes.

I'm considering a move to Columbus, but I'm a little confused by the firearm restrictions mentioned at packing.org. I understand that anything more than 20 rounds or 6 shells is restricted in Columbus, but I really can't figure out what the city limits really are. To complicate matters, in my search for the answer, I've seen it implied that some of the surrounding suburbs have similar restrictions.

I'm coming from Virginia, which is very gun friendly -- our Democratic politicians are almost as gun friendly as our Republicans. My interests include ipsc and three-gun competition, so 20 rounds and 6 shells aren't always enough. I don't want to accidentally fall in love with a neighborhood where I'll get jail time for owning a limited-class competition rig. I've done all of my house shopping on realtor.com so far and I'm not familiar with the area beyond just looking at maps. What are the city limits? The 270 beltway? Do the city limits expand each year? I'm looking mostly in the northwest area -- from Hilliard clockwise through Dublin, Powell, then Westerville. I'd also consider Upper Arlington, Riverlea, and Worthington if I find something I can afford, and if those aren't ban areas. Which of these neighborhoods are inside Columbus and which ones have restrictions like Columbus? Do I have to go all the way out to Delaware or Marysville to get away from the goofy laws?

Any help would be appreciated. And also, while I've got your attention, please give me a shout if you have information on matches in the area -- the bigger weekend matches and the smaller weeknight ones. It looks like Black Wing Shooting Center has GSSF nearby. I've never shot GSSF, but will definitely try it out. What about IPSC and IDPA in the area?

Thanks in advance!

[snoudude]

Really this is tough to say - I think you have the right idea about staying outside of the outerbelt though. I really couldn't give you a total run-down of which neighborhoods are the best. I wouldn't worry too much about the CCW aspect community by community - it's the gun buster signs that'll drive you nuts! I just got back from TX (I have an out-of-state PA permit which TX is recip. with) and it was nice not to worry about some of the aggrivation that Ohio's law has to offer.

I think about 16 or 17 people actually "registered" their "Assult Weapons" in Columbus this time (most of them were probaly on the OSU shooting team) - anyone feel free to correct my numbers if I'm wrong. Just about any semi-auto rifle is an "Assult Weapon" based on Columbus' definition (BTW most home defense shotguns and compensated pistols are too). I'd guess that a signifcant amount of LEO's that work the central Ohio area wouldn't know which firearms are considered to be by the city's AWB definition are or aren't considered "banned".

I don't know how much IPSC but there was a decent sized IDPA club here that shot at a local range indoors during the winter months and about an hour east of the city in the warmer months. I should probably pick IDPA up again to do some more practical/tactical work.

You would be in and out of borders of the City mostly within the belt and Franklin County. To make it more difficult would be you may have a different mailing address than school district, than services, in a county that might not seem to be what you'd think. I'm in Fairfield County, with Pickerington Schools, and Columbus services, with a Reynoldsburg mail address. I wouldn't even know where to begin but perhaps if you can get a referal via the NRA that might be one place to start.

Central Ohio is a pretty nice place to be - in general it's a decent place to find work and raise a family. We don't have a pro football team but do have Hockey and the #1 Buckeyes!

[jabeatty]

Central Ohio is a pretty nice place to be - in general it's a decent place to find work and raise a family. We don't have a pro football team but do have Hockey and the #1 Buckeyes!

You gotta feel for those folks further north - they don't have a pro football team either.

[johnisaly]

Do you have kids? If so, are any of them in school now, or will they be soon? That would determine where I would live in this area if I was just moving here. Some of the burbs have excellent school systems, some are just so-so. Columbus City schools absolutely suck; I wouldn't want my kids going to them.

In my case, I don't have kids in school. In Columbus City you can buy a lot more house for the money and pay a fraction of the real estate taxes you would pay in Dublin, Arlington, Worthington, etc. Personally, I would rather have the bigger house and lower taxes, since I don’t need to worry about the school system.

As far as the municipal gun laws, assault weapon bans, etc., they don't matter much to me either. If anyone successfully made it to my gun safes to see what is in them, I would undoubtedly already be on my way to the morgue anyway. It wouldn't really matter to me what kind of charges they hit me with after my autopsy.

[Greg Jones]

There are several places to shoot USPSA and IDPA in the central Ohio area. The Pickaway County Sportsman's Inc. club in Circleville holds monthly USPSA, IDPA, Steel Plates, NRA Action Pistol, SASS, IHMSA, and various rifle matches each month. The PCSI club has hosted the Ohio USPSA Sectional match for the past two years and many of the finest shooters in this part of the country shoot the monthly matches there.

The Central Ohio Defensive Pistol League started shooting mild weather IDPA matches at PCSI two years ago while shooting indoors at Grove City in the winter. We have canceled the indoor matches this year due to new range rules that would require green frangible ammo, which we felt was a good idea but cost prohibitive for the shooters. There is a new outdoor range opening in 2007 just west of Columbus and there are tentative plans to hold a monthly IDPA match there in addition to the monthly matches at PCSI.

I also put together a Practical Shotgun match at PCSI this fall and I am planning on holding additional matches in 2007. This was run under modified IMG/USPSA 3-Gun rules and was a great match.

If you are willing to drive up to 1 1/2-2 hours to get to a match, you have a choice of several USPSA/IDPA matches each weekend day during the Feb/Mar-Oct/Nov months. One of the USPSA clubs alternates between a shotgun or a rifle side match each month. It is harder to find true 3-gun or multi-gun matches in Ohio, but as 3-gun continues to gain in popularity I believe that will change. Here are links to some of the more active ranges in the central Ohio area. You can locate additional ranges at the IDPA and USPSA Web sites.

http://www.pcsirange.com/
http://raynersrange.com/
http://www.briarrabbit.com/index.asp
http://www.ccfsa.com/
http://www.ashlandlakegunclub.org/

[Durruti]

Here's the exact wording:

(L) “Assault weapon” means any:

(1) Semi-automatic rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has one (1) or more of the following:
(a) A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the receiver of the weapon;
(b) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand;
(c) A folding, telescoping or thumbhole stock;
(d) A shroud attached to the barrel, or that partially or completely encircles the barrel, allowing the bearer to hold the firearm with the non-trigger hand without being burned, but excluding a slide that encloses the barrel; or
(e) A muzzle brake or muzzle compensator;

(2) Semi-automatic pistol with a fixed magazine, or any semi-automatic, centerfire rifle with a fixed magazine, that has the capacity to accept more than ten (10) rounds of ammunition;

(3) Semi-automatic pistol that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has one (1) or more of the following:
(a) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip than can be held by the non-trigger hand;
(b) A folding, telescoping or thumbhole stock;
(c) A shroud attached to the barrel, or that partially or completely encircles the barrel, allowing the bearer to hold the firearm with the non-trigger hand without being burned, but excluding a slide that encloses the barrel;
(d) A muzzle brake or muzzle compensator; or
(e) The capacity to accept a detachable magazine at any location outside of the pistol grip;

(4) Semi-automatic shotgun that has two (2) or more of the following:
(a) A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the receiver of the weapon;
(b) A folding, telescoping or thumbhole stock;
(c) A fixed magazine capacity in excess of five (5) standard two and three quarters inch (2-3/4), or longer, rounds; or
(d) An ability to accept a detachable magazine;

(5) Shotgun with a revolving cylinder;

(6) Conversion kit or combination of parts from which an assault weapon can be assembled if those parts are in the possession or under the control of the same person.
(M) Assault weapon does not include any antique firearm or any firearm that has been modified to either render it permanently inoperable or to permanently make it a device no longer defined as an assault weapon.

It appears that it only applies to semi-auto weapons. As I read it, you would be fine with, for example, an SKS (unless it had certain modifications).

As for locations, I've been wondering the same thing myself. I live in Clintonville. I'd imagine I fall under the ban, right?

Of course, johnisaly probably has the best argument here.

[Durruti]

Almost forgot, Columbus also has a large capacity magazine ban:

(F) “Large capacity magazine” means a box, drum, clip or other container which holds more than twenty (20) rounds of ammunition to be fed continuously into a semi-automatic firearm, except a magazine designed to hold only .22 caliber rimfire cartridges.

I think this is what Wiles was referring to in the first post.

[shooterwolf]

I think I would start looking at least 20 miles outside of 270. If H.B.347 goes through in the next ten days or so the local bans will be irrelevant. Look around in this forum for more info on H.B.347.

[SeanC]

Hopefully it won't be an issue in about 100 days. If the governor's veto of 347 is overriden, then the AWB is no more. If you're new to the forums, check out the posts on HB347.

The gun laws are pretty pervasive, but I tend to agree with Johnisaly - if someone finds out that I have one of these in my house then I'm either dead or in all kinds of other law enforcement trouble that would be way more serious. If memory serves, possession of a restricted gun is a misdemeanor - but they may take your gun away.

I would personally recommend that you avoid living in Col's city limits, as well. A problem that you'll find is that most "suburbs" are also part of Columbus proper, as the city did extensive annexation in the 70's-90's. Delware is a nice area about 30 minutes north of town, and I don't think they have any AWB's - plus they have a great range, Blackwing Shooting Center.

[dan_sayers]

If H.B.347 goes through in the next ten days or so the local bans will be irrelevant.

90 days after A) it's signed or B) the 10 days elapse without a veto.

[musterion]

On the North West/ West side, I would suggest that you find a place in the townships:Brown, Washington, or Norwich. This way you avoid city taxes, and can get into Hilliard City Schools which were pretty good for my two kids (now graduated). Davidson High School is very competitive academically. My son had a 4.0+ and was not (just barely) in the top 10%.

Hilliard is not as "snooty" as the suburb to the north. I should point out that "Hilliard City Schools" does not mean "City of Hilliard Schools" the two are separate entities. Hilliard has one gun store--Gun World, but I don't know who shops there.

[Dr. Winston]

Welcome aboard! I live just outside of the city limits, by less than a mile, and the the ban has no affect here in the SW corner of Columbus. Many LEO's live just outside to stay away from 'the city'.
Hilliard is a rapidly expanding area with very high taxes, so I'd stay away from moving close to there (Nice area though!)
If I were you I'd try to get a Columbus city map that will show you better where all the boundries are.
By the way, we have a GREAT place to shoot just up North! BLACKWING Shooting Center...

[MeanStreaker]

Moving to the appropriate forum.

[jmwildenthal]

I'm considering a move to Columbus, but I'm a little confused by the firearm restrictions mentioned at packing.org. I understand that anything more than 20 rounds or 6 shells is restricted in Columbus, but I really can't figure out what the city limits really are. To complicate matters, in my search for the answer, I've seen it implied that some of the surrounding suburbs have similar restrictions.

I moved from Texas to the northern suburbs of Columbus three years ago. The actual city limits of Columbus look like Swiss Cheese. There are lots of little towns inside 270 where Columbus City Code does not apply. many of those areas have nice neighborhoods (Bexley, Worthington, etc). Some of the arms extend past 270, but not all. An address that is listed as "Columbus" may be listed as Columbus because their post office is in Columbus. Start here http://gis.columbus.gov/oss/ossstart.aspx and click on "Search for Parcel by Map Navigation" to get an overview. If you have particular houses in mind, you can check their address from this page.

I've heard Dublin has a waiting period. But all the local restrictions will evaporate by April.

If you have kids, choose based on the school district.

Annexation can only be done at the landowner's request. So it only happens in particular circumstances.

What brings you to this neck of the woods? If you need to commute to the downtown area, you might want to stay near one of the arteries that service the areas you mention - 70, 315, and 71.

PM me if you want contact information to discuss the lay of the land with another displaced Southerner.

[wiles]

Hey all -- thanks for all the great information and links! You're right -- the map of the "city limits" really does look like swiss cheese. No wonder I was so confused. Yeah -- school districts rank first in priority, but Dad's recreation without fear of jail time needs to be considered, too. From the sounds of it, I can satisfy both pretty easily in the suburbs. Next I have to convince my Florida bride that the cold is only a state of mind.

Thanks again for all the helpful posts and PMs!