Ban on concealed weapons in park may not pass muster
Lisbon Journal News
3/18/2004
(Story edited for space)
SALEM — Like any new law, Ohio’s concealed-carry handgun law remains open to interpretation, and one of the gray areas in House Bill 12 may be the ability of cities to prevent permit holders from carrying weapons in parks and similar areas.
However, for now it appears the Salem Parks Department will not be able to ban handgun carriers from bringing their weapons into the city’s parks.
Following his presentation on the new handgun law at a Salem Area Chamber of Commerce business luncheon Monday, Timothy A. Dimoff of SACS Consulting and Investigative Services said the parks department, like private business, would be able to ban weapons from parks property by establishing a policy to that effect and clearly posting notices of the ban.
Since then, advocates of the concealed-carry law have pointed out Section 9 of House Bill 12, designed, among other things, to create uniformity throughout the state regarding “the authority granted” to licensed handgun carriers.
Section 9 states municipalities and townships may not pass legislation contradicting the concealed-carry law, including passage of “any ordinance or resolution that attempts to restrict the places where a person possessing a valid license to carry a concealed handgun may carry a handgun concealed.”
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Dimoff said Section 9 is a little-discussed area of the bill, which he was not aware of at the time of Monday’s presentation, but after consulting with attorneys and the state Attorney General’s Office, he said Section 9 appears to block any effort made by cities to stop people from carrying concealed weapons in those public places.
“I still think there will be debate on it and interpretation of it, but as the law reads now, it pretty much leans toward the fact that they will not be able to prevent that,” Dimoff said.
Dimoff said he would be adding the new information to his Web site to clear up any confusion or controversy which may have been created by his statements based on his prior understanding of the law.
The new law restricts gun owners from carrying their licensed weapons into any building owned or leased by the state or political subdivision in the state, meaning guns cannot be carried into city-owned or leased building.
A number of concealed carry advocacy groups already have stated their intentions to challenge anyone who tries to stretch the letter of the law, Dimhoff said.
Salem Parks Director Steven Faber did not believe his department would be acting to prohibit permitted handgun carriers from bringing their weapons into the parks, in light of the new information.
“I don’t think we have any choice. If the law prohibits it, the law prohibits it,” he said.
Faber said parks officials were looking for information about their options and said the “unknowns” created by the new law are what made officials nervous, initially.
While he did not yet know the wishes of parks commission members, Faber, speaking as parks director, said he was not interested in making Salem a testing ground for interpretation of the concealed-carry law.
“I’d rather somebody else be the test case, not us,” he said.
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