Peoples Rights Organization v. City of Columbus

Citation925 F. Supp. 1254
Decision Date21 March 1996
Docket NumberNo. C-2-95-269.,C-2-95-269.
PartiesPEOPLES RIGHTS ORGANIZATION, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF COLUMBUS, et al., Defendants.
CourtUnited States District Courts. 6th Circuit. United States District Courts. 6th Circuit. Southern District of Ohio

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Donald Carl Brey, Chester Willcox & Saxbe, Columbus, OH, Stephen P. Halbrook, Fairfax, VA, for Peoples Rights Organization, Inc., Gerald L. Smolak, Paul Dennis Walker.

Glenn Brooks Redick, City Attorney's Office, Columbus, OH, for City of Columbus, Ronald J. O'Brien.

OPINION and ORDER

BECKWITH, District Judge.

Plaintiffs, Peoples Rights Organization and two of its members, initiated this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988 and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution by filing a Complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Plaintiffs contend that Columbus City Codes §§ 2323.11, 2323.31, and 2323.32 are unconstitutionally "vague, violate the right to due process of law, create unreasonable discriminations sic, and deny the equal protection of the laws." Complaint, ¶ 1. This matter is now before the Court on Plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction and the trial of this matter on the merits, which have been consolidated by stipulation of the parties.

1. Background

The ordinances in question prohibit the sale, transfer, possession, and acquisition of certain weapons, defined as assault weapons, and large capacity magazines. The ordinances further prescribe criminal penalties for violation of the prohibitions on sale, transfer, possession, and acquisition.

The relevant portions of the ordinances in question are as follows:

2323.11 Definitions
As used in Chapter 2323 of the Columbus City Codes:
* * * * * *
(E) "Automatic firearm" means any firearm designed or specifically adapted to fire a succession of cartridges with a single function of the trigger. "Automatic firearm" also means any semiautomatic firearm designed or specially adapted to fire more than thirty-one cartridges without reloading, other than a firearm chambering only .22 caliber short, long, or long-rifle cartridges.
(F) "Large capacity magazine" means a box, drum, clip or other container which holds more than twenty rounds of ammunition to be fed continuously into a semiautomatic firearm, except a magazine designed to hold only .22 caliber rimfire cartridges.
(G) "Assault weapon" means:
(1) any semiautomatic action, center fire rifle or carbine that accepts a detachable magazine with a capacity of 20 rounds or more;
(2) any semiautomatic shotgun with a magazine capacity of more than six rounds;
(3) any semiautomatic handgun that is:
(a) a modification of a rifle described in division (a)(1), or a modification of an automatic firearms sic; or
(b) originally designed to accept a detachable magazine with a capacity of more than 20 rounds;
(4) any firearm which may be restored to an operable assault weapon as defined in divisions (G)(1), (2) or (3) of this section;
(5) any part, or combination of parts, designed or intended to convert a firearm into an assault weapon as defined in divisions (G)(1), (2) or (3) of this section, or any combination of parts from which an assault weapon as defined in divisions (G)(1), (2) or (3) of this section, sic may be readily assembled if those parts are in the possession or under the control of the same person.
2323.31 Unlawful Possession of Assault Weapons
(A) No person shall sell, offer or display for sale, give, lend or transfer ownership of, acquire or possess any assault weapon.
(B) This section does not apply:
* * * * * *
(3) To any person who lawfully possessed an assault weapon and who registered that assault weapon pursuant to former Columbus City Code Section 2323.05 in 1989.
2323.32 Unlawful Possession of a Large Capacity Magazine
(A) No person shall knowingly possess a large capacity magazine.
* * * * * *
(B)(2) This section does not apply to a large capacity magazine which belongs to a firearm or which is possessed by the owner of a firearm which is registered with federal authorities under the National Firearms Act (26 U.S.C.A. Secs. 5801-5871), or if the large capacity magazine belongs to or is part of an assault weapon which has been registered under Section 2323.05(C) or has been rendered totally inoperable or inert and the firearm cannot be readily rendered operable or activated and which is kept as a trophy, souvenir, curio or museum piece.

Plaintiffs contend that the ordinances violate their constitutional right to equal protection of the laws inasmuch as they include "grandfather" clauses, §§ 2323.31(B)(3) and 2323.32(B)(2), that irrationally discriminate against the owners of certain weapons and magazines. Complaint, ¶¶ 34, 36. They also contend that the provisions violate their right to due process of law because they "condition the fundamental constitutional right to have arms on prior compliance with an unconstitutional ordinance." Complaint, ¶ 40. Specifically, Plaintiffs assert that "persons who registered firearms pursuant to the ordinance, which was declared void by Springfield Armory, Inc. v. City of Columbus, 29 F.3d 250 (6th Cir.1994), may continue to exercise their right to keep such firearms," while "persons who did not do so ... may not continue to exercise their right to keep such firearms." Complaint, ¶ 40. Finally, Plaintiffs allege that the ordinances are unconstitutionally vague in that the manner in which they define "assault weapon" is not sufficiently clear to provide citizens a meaningful warning that their behavior is prohibited. Plaintiffs ask the Court to declare the ordinances unconstitutional and to enjoin their enforcement.

The Court has reviewed the memoranda submitted by the parties and has heard argument by counsel concerning the contested ordinances. In addition, the Court has reviewed the parties' memoranda concerning the issue of standing.

2. Standing

The requirement of standing "assures the concrete adverseness which sharpens the presentation of issues upon which the court so largely depends for illumination of difficult constitutional questions." Duke Power Company v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc., 438 U.S. 59, 72, 98 S.Ct. 2620, 2629-30, 57 L.Ed.2d 595 (1978). In Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992), the United States Supreme Court explained that the "irreducible constitutional minimum of standing" includes three elements:

(1) the plaintiff must have suffered an injury in fact, an invasion of a legally protected interest that is (a) concrete and particularized and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical;
(2) a causal connection must exist between the injury and the conduct of which the plaintiff complains; and
(3) the plaintiff must demonstrate the likelihood, and not merely the speculative possibility, that the injury will be redressed by the requested relief.

Id. at 559-60, 112 S.Ct. at 2136. "The party invoking federal jurisdiction bears the burden of establishing these elements." Id. (citing FW/PBS, Inc. v. Dallas, 493 U.S. 215, 231, 110 S.Ct. 596, 607-08, 107 L.Ed.2d 603 (1990)).

In this case, the Court concludes that the two individual Defendants, Gerald L. Smolak and Paul Dennis Walker, have established the elements of standing. Both Smolak and Walker possess weapons that may be identified as assault weapons by the ordinances in question. Smolak Affidavit, ¶ 3; Walker Affidavit, ¶ 15. Both men fear that they will be subject to prosecution under the ordinances in question. Plaintiff Walker wishes to purchase a magazine that holds thirty rounds for use with his vintage semiautomatic rifle and contends that he fears prosecution under the ordinances in question in the event that he should purchase the desired magazine. Walker Affidavit, ¶ 20.

"A plaintiff who challenges a statute prior to its enforcement against him must demonstrate a realistic danger of sustaining a direct injury as a result of the statute's operation or enforcement." Babbitt v. United Farm Workers National Union, 442 U.S. 289, 298, 99 S.Ct. 2301, 2308, 60 L.Ed.2d 895 (1979) (citing O'Shea v. Littleton, 414 U.S. 488, 494, 94 S.Ct. 669, 675, 38 L.Ed.2d 674 (1974)). "But `one does not have to await the consummation of threatened injury to obtain preventive relief. If the injury is certainly impending, that is enough.'" Id. (quoting Pennsylvania v. West Virginia, 262 U.S. 553, 593, 43 S.Ct. 658, 663-64, 67 L.Ed. 1117 (1923)). "When contesting the constitutionality of a criminal statute, `it is not necessary that the plaintiff first expose himself to actual arrest or prosecution to be entitled to challenge the statute that he claims deters the exercise of his constitutional rights." Id. (quoting Steffel v. Thompson, 415 U.S. 452, 459, 94 S.Ct. 1209, 1216, 39 L.Ed.2d 505 (1974)). "When the plaintiff has alleged an intention to engage in a course of conduct arguably affected with a constitutional interest, but proscribed by a statute, and there exists a credible threat of prosecution thereunder, he `should not be required to await and undergo criminal prosecution as the sole means of seeking relief.'" Id. (quoting Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179, 188, 93 S.Ct. 739, 745, 35 L.Ed.2d 201 (1973)).

Neither party suggests that Plaintiffs Smolak and Walker do not satisfy the second and third constitutional requirements of standing. Their alleged imminent injury, prosecution under the Columbus City Codes for possession of assault weapons and/or large capacity magazines, is causally connected to the enactment of the contested ordinances. Moreover, the requested relief would redress their injury. In Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, the United States Supreme Court observed that

when the suit is one challenging the legality of government action or inaction, the nature and extent of facts that must be averred (at the summary judgment stage) or proved (at the trial stage) in order to establish standing depends considerably upon whether the plaintiff is
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