Bump stock ban: If you own a bump stock in Cincinnati, you're now breaking the law

Cameron Knight | Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati City Council voted to ban owning and using bump stocks within the city limits Wednesday.

The vote passed 7-2 with Republicans Amy Murray and Jeff Pastor opposing it.

The legislation's creator, Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, said: "There comes a time when people need to decide if some perverted interpretation of the 2nd Amendment granting anyone the right to own what's basically a machine gun overrides the right of people to stay alive."

Bump stocks mount to semi-automatic rifles and can allow an increased rate of fire similar to fully-automatic weapons. The devices gained notoriety when they were allegedly found in the hotel room of Stephen Paddock after 58 people were killed in Las Vegas in October.

Massachusetts, Florida, Connecticut, Columbia, South Carolina and Denver, Colorado have all passed legislation banning bump stocks.

More: Which guns are legal in Ohio, Kentucky?

Murray did not speak out during Wednesday's council meeting against the legislation. After it passed, Pastor told his colleagues they "just voted to get the city sued while facing a $30 million deficit."

Florida was sued minutes after passing its sweeping gun reform law that also raised the age to purchase rifles and instituted a waiting period for handguns.

Pastor and other councilmembers have said the National Rifle Association may sue the city over the law.

The ordinance bans possession, sale and use of "trigger activators," defined as bump stocks, slide fire devices, trigger cranks or any other device that designed to "accelerate the rate of fire of a firearm to approximate an automatic weapon."

Violating the new ordinance is a misdemeanor. Sittenfeld said the ban takes effect immediately and Cincinnati residents who own such devices must get rid of them immediately.

Ohio Governor John Kasich and President Donald Trump have both discussed the idea of banning the devices. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which can regulate firearm accessories, has previously allowed the devices to be sold nationally. On March 23, Attorney General Jeff Sessions proposed amending the ATF rules concern bump stocks.

Slide Fire, the self-proclaimed maker of "the official bump stock," will stop taking orders for its product on May 20. "All sales are final," the announcement states. At the bottom of their website, the company has a link to an ATF letter dated June 2010 saying Slide Fire products are do not fall under the same law regulating automatic weapons.

More: Cincinnati Democrat proposes bump stock ban

The Cincinnati City Charter already bans firing guns in the city. There are permitted exceptions to the law including self-defense. In fact, this month City Council will be asked to grant the Cincinnati police a one-time exception to this rule on May 28, 2018 "for the purpose of creating a cannon sound effect for a performance of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra."

City Council also addressed a resolution Wednesday opposing the federal Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. This national law being considered in the House and Senate allow would allow people with concealed carry permits in one state to carry their weapon in any other state.

Sittenfeld also introduced this legislation. He said the standards for obtaining a permit in some other states are too low, and that the federal law would allow those permit holders to carry weapons in Ohio.

More: After Las Vegas massacre, NKY's Rep. Thomas Massie emerges as vocal, and lonely, defender of bump stocks

“I want high standards," he said.

This resolution failed with 5-4. Murray and Pastor opposed it as they did the bump stock ban. Christopher Smitherman, Tamaya Dennard, and former Cincinnati police officer Wendell Young joined the Republicans in voting it down.

Young said, “We’re dealing with people who respect the law” when it came to permit holders. He said he has a concealed carry permit and owns firearms.

Smitherman, an independent, also admitted he has his permit.

"It’s dangerous territory in my opinion when this council starts going after law-abiding citizens," Smitherman said.