The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun prohibition lobbying group founded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, has “joined forces with two Democratic lawmakers on Thursday and filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Ohio’s new “stand your ground” law.”
The lawsuit was filed in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, the newspaper said.
Anti-gunners want the law quashed on the grounds that Republicans “broke the rules when they added stand your ground onto another bill and passed it without taking public testimony.”
According to the published report, attorney Rachel Bloomekatz is arguing that the state constitution “has very strong provisions to make sure our legislators can’t throw in bills close to midnight that haven’t been properly debated.” She claims that GOP lawmakers violated those provisions.
The “Stand Your Ground” amendment was added to a bill involving churches and non-profits “around 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 17.” The legislation, Senate Bill 175, lost bipartisan support and passed on a party-line vote. It was subsequently signed by Gov. Mike DeWine.
Stand Your Ground is a controversial idea that is the law in many states, and has drawn the ire of anti-gunners across the map. Under the law, an individual does not have to retreat from a threat before using force to defend himself/herself.
