CLEVELAND, Ohio – Gun rights proponents and gun-control activists rallied feet away from each other Sunday afternoon in Public Square, in response to Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's new gun regulation legislation.

Protesters clipped gun holsters to their jeans, and slung rifles around their backs. Ben Schuster, 22, carried a pistol and sported a National Rifle Association baseball cap.

The Brunswick resident believes in gun regulation, but thinks it should be left up to the state, not the city of Cleveland.

"I don't want to see 12-year-olds playing with guns like Barbie's," he said.

Across the block, flower children carried anti-gun signs, and danced to the beat of a tambourine. A woman with the stage name of named Miss Alexandra Huntington played a portable keyboard, balanced on top of her bicycle.

"The mayor should have a right to tailor laws to the city of Cleveland to restrict gun access to minors," Ariel Clayton, 26, said.

The legislation would restrict gun owners from leaving firearms in a place accessible to minors; create a registry in the city of Cleveland that would compel convicted gun offenders to register with police once a year for four years; and limit gun purchases to one firearm per person per 90 days.

The new ordinances might also incorporate past laws including: Requiring school officials to notify police when a prohibited weapon is found on school property; allowing people to voluntarily surrender guns to police; and banning the sale and manufacture of gun replicas.

But Ohio law dictates that guns can only be regulated through state and federal statutes — and not on a municipal level, Ohioans for Concealed Carry president Jeff Garvas said.

"The United States Constitution, Ohio Constitution, state laws or federal laws are the only means by which regulation may be imposed on firearms in the state of Ohio," Garvas wrote in a letter Friday to Cleveland law director Barbara Langhenry.

The Ohio Supreme Court in 2010 affirmed state lawmakers' right to pass a uniform statewide gun law that blocked Cleveland and other cities from passing tougher laws such as assault weapons bans and handgun registration requirements.

Maureen Harper, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said the 2010 decision effectively wiped out the Cleveland's gun ordinances.

Ohioans for Concealed Carry plans to file a suit questioning the proposal's constitutionality if it passes, Legislative Director Chuck LaRosa said.

The proposal is expected to go before Cleveland City Council this week.