Articles

Cleveland Heights, Law Director: On Notice Since 2008

: Category: Ohio Litigation; Published on Thursday, 18 August 2011 20:08; Written by Jeff Garvas

When Ohioans For Concealed Carry decides to resort to litigation to resolve matters it comes after we, and sometimes third parties, have made attempts to resolve a conflict through other diplomatic or legislative methods. We simply do not go around taking people to court on a whim or, as recently stated in the comments of a Plain Dealer article, for the sake of publicity.

Our grassroots organization is proud of our efforts to educate law enforcement and communities with respect to changes in the law. In the past six months alone we've empowered grassroots activists to deliver documents written by Ohioans For Concealed Carry that explain Open Carry and more recently the new changes coming in SB17. By the time September 30th comes around we anticipate every police agency in Ohio will receive a copy of our letter.

We do this because it has become increasingly evident that when gun laws are changed in Columbus local municipal governments are either innocently ignorant, The City of Cleveland Heights has no excuse for it's actions fail to educate their officers of the changes in law, or are intentionally playing stupid hoping we'll go away.

Despite recent comments in the media by their law director John Gibbon the City of Cleveland Heights has been on notice at least since 2008. We implied in 2008 that they could be taken to court for failing to act, and they acknowledged our letter and stated they were going to look into the matter with their law director three days later. In this Cleveland Heights Patch article John Gibbon was quoted stating:

"I’ve had no conversation with anyone about all of these other ordinances that they are suggesting are illegal."

It is intellectually dishonest for John Gibbon to tell the media we never brought concerns over gun control ordinances to their attention. Here is the proof:

In our ORC 9.68 Compliance forum on the OhioCCWForums.org website we began discussing Cleveland Heights on September 22nd, 2008 here in this discussion thread. On September 29th, 2008 the following email was sent to Cleveland Heights city officials and the entire council: From: Jeff Garvas
Date: Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 1:22 AM
Subject: Re: Cleveland Heights Ordinances & ORC 9.68 Conflict
To: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Mayor Kelly, Mr. Gibbon, and members of City Council,

My name is Jeff Garvas and I am the president of Ohioans For Concealed Carry, Inc. As you may know the Ohio Supreme Court recently ruled in a case we brought against the City of Clyde in 2004, and that ruling has an impact on your city. We've written a letter to bring this issue to your attention.

Since we could not find a general fax number for the city we've faxed a letter to the Law Director and are attaching that letter here in plain text and as a PDF file.

Thank you for your time,

Jeff Garvas

That particular email contained this attached document as well as the text of this document copied into the email in plain text.

It's important to note this paragraph: On September 18th the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in favor of us in Ohioans For Concealed Carry v. City of Clyde. This decision is binding precedent and applies to all Cleveland Heights firearm ordinances. A cursory review of Cleveland Heights ordinances suggests that numerous sections of Chapter 551 need to be amended or repealed with respect to firearms. Specifically, Cleveland Heights’s handgun registration card, dealer licensing, records of firearms dealers, possession in public places, and virtually every restriction the city has enacted are preempted by ORC 9.68.

In addition, section 923.10 which purports to prohibit firearms in city parks notwithstanding an individual's state concealed handgun license is invalid on its face and needs to be repealed. On September 29th, 2008, practically three years ago, we told Cleveland Heights their various ordinances in Chapter 551 need to be repealed.

Three days later, on October 2nd, 2008 the chairman of the Public Health & Safety Committee, councilman Mark Tumeo, committed that they would have their Legal Council examine the ruling and take the steps to come into compliance (typos in his email maintained): From: < This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. >
Date: Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 8:44 AM
Subject: Re: Cleveland Heights Ordinances & ORC 9.68 Conflict
To: Jeff Garvas, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Mr. Garvis,

t assured we are having our Legal Council examine the ruling and the Council will take all necessary steps to come into compliance with the ruling.

Cheers
Mark Tumeo, Chair
Public Health and Safety Committee
Cleveland Heights City Council
Members of Ohioans For Concealed Carry's discussion forums in the same original thread on our forums started to write their own emails to the law director only to be ignored. The City of Cleveland Heights has historically ignored this issue.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. This year alone Ohioans For Concealed Carry representatives have been laughed at, hung up on, and outright ignored. If you have not yet read the civil complaint read it here and jump down to paragraph 12 on page three.

The City of Cleveland Heights officials decided to ignore Ohioans For Concealed Carry. They felt that if they simply ignored everyone their illegal ordinances and their illegal signs implying they had authority to ban guns would remain in place.

Our only recourse to force their hand in this case was to file a lawsuit under the protections provided in Ohio Revised Code 9.68, and now the city appears to be back peddling pretending we never brought these issues to their attention. It might work while talking to the news media, but I doubt its an effective legal strategy.