COLUMBUS — Some legislators say a patchwork quilt of local laws that ban different types of guns from one community to another are confusing and should be eliminated.

        They back a bill that would make Ohio the 43rd state to override local gun control ordinances and make it legal to own, possess, buy, transport or sell guns or ammunition.

        If the bill succeeds, the uniform law would reverse Cincinnati's ban on semiautomatic weapons. The city's law would be pre-empted by state law where semiautomatic weapons are legal.

        “If the law is silent, then the city has the right to legislate,” said Terry Cosgrove, Cincinnati city prosecutor. “If this is an attempt to (override) home rule ... I'd be surprised if it passed.”

        State Rep. Ronald Young, R-Painesville, sponsor of the bill, says more than 40 townships or cities have local laws banning certain types of guns.

        “With this patchwork of local laws, it's very difficult for people to go to gun shows or shooting without breaking the law,” Mr. Young said. “In driving from Athens to Cleveland, they could be a felon 10 times over.”

        Others agree, saying the variety of laws in different towns mean gun owners at times break laws they don't even know exist.

        “It's ridiculous to assume someone, anyone, would know the laws of all the communities they pass through,” Bruce Beatty told the House Civil and Commercial Law committee in testimony last week.

        Mr. Beatty, a competitive shooter and member of the National Rifle Association, told the committee recently he had to move from Toledo to Maumee, Ohio, or knowingly break the law because Toledo had stricter laws than other parts of state.

        “We need uniform laws at the state level,” Mr. Beatty said after the hearing.

        Several more hearings are expected on the bill and Mr. Young said he expects some cities will oppose it. “That's why we're so late (in taking up such a measure), we're such a strong home-rule state,” he said.

        Gun-control advocates also oppose the bill.

        Toby Hoover, director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, called the measure “just another attempt by the gun lobby to do whatever they please.”

        The bill, she added, “wants to make sure no community has restrictions on sale, possession (of weapons), they've covered about all their bases.”

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