The Supreme Court is hearing arguments today that center on states rights to limit gun ownership. Today the Court is looking at a case challenging a ban on handguns in Chicago. The outcome there will affect other states, and Ohio is no exception. They've already weighed in on the fight.
Largely because of the Chicago case before the Supreme Court today, last November Attorney General Richard Cordray announced that his office had cosponsored an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court. That brief stated the official position in defense of Second Amendments rights arguing that individual rights should be protected from undue restrictions imposed by state and local governments.
"This case involves potential extension of the Hellard decision, which involved the District of Columbia to protect Second Amendment rights against state and local governments," says Cordray. "We think that it is highly appropriate that it be done. We think that's a fair reading of the US Constitution going back 200 years, that the Second Amendment is a fundamental right. It is an important right, safeguarded to the citizens of this country, and should be protected by the courts at the same level as the First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment and other fundamental rights."
Ohio Attorney General Cordray cosponsored the amicus brief along with the attorneys general of Texas, Georgia and Arkansas with 33 other states also signing on.