toledoblade.com --

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Supreme Court is preparing to wade into the hot-button issue of guns.

The court yesterday agreed to hear the city of Clyde's appeal of an April ruling striking down its ordinance prohibiting the carrying of firearms in public parks.

The Toledo-based 6th District Court of Appeals, in overturning a Sandusky County Common Pleas Court decision, had ruled that the ordinance conflicted with Ohio's concealed-carry laws. Parks are not on the state's list of public and private places where guns are off-limits, and House Bill 347, which passed in December, expressly forbids cities from enforcing gun laws deemed stricter than state and federal law.

Ohioans for Concealed Carry Inc. successfully challenged the ordinance. The group took the unusual stance of supporting an appeal of a case it won.

"We feel absolutely that the Supreme Court should hear the case," said Jeff Garvis, founder of the organization. "This would solve the issue of statewide preemption and would directly impact the city of Cleveland's lawsuit."

Cleveland has challenged the latest concealed-carry law as a violation of its home-rule authority. But that Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court case could take years to work its way up to the Supreme Court.

Just last week, the high court heard arguments addressing home-rule in a separate case relating to cities' use of cameras to cite motorists for red-light and speeding violations.

The Supreme Court's decision to hear the case comes just as Ohioans for Concealed Carry is about to hold its annual picnic in a public park in Delaware County. Liberty Township also had a no-guns rule for its parks, but is not enforcing it in light of the new state law. The event's featured speaker is Gov. Ted Strickland, a gun-rights supporter.

His predecessor, Gov. Bob Taft, had vetoed House Bill 347, which wiped out about 80 local laws restricting gun ownership, possession, sale, and storage. Lawmakers responded by handing him the only veto override of his administration.

"When done properly, municipalities' constitutionally conferred powers of local self-government may be curtailed," the city of Clyde argued in urging the court to hear this appeal. "However, when not narrowly tailored to meet the test for general laws, no amount of proselytization on the part of the General Assembly can transform an otherwise nongeneral law into one with uniform application throughout the state of Ohio."

The Supreme Court had refused to hear an appeal of a 2005 case in which Bruce Beatty was convicted of openly defying a Toledo ordinance by carrying a holstered and loaded 45-caliber handgun into West Toledo's Ottawa Park. His conviction came before passage of the latest law expressly prohibiting cities from enforcing stricter gun laws.

"It's kind of ironic," said Mr. Garvis. "The conclusion was that what Beatty did was perfectly legal, but he's still guilty of a misdemeanor, and they're not going to reverse that."

Mr. Beatty said he is refusing to pay his fine. "I'm risking a contempt citation, but I've told them to bring it on."

Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com, or 614-221-0496.

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