Letter to the Editor: Senators disregard safety of constituents' kids

An excellent letter to the editor has been written and published by John A. Unruh of Brookfield, regarding the actions of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee members on HB12.

Click on the "Read More..." link below to read the letter.

Date July 11, 2003
Section(s) Letters

Sen. Marc Dann and his committee in the Ohio Senate erred in amending weapons measure

EDITOR:

I am writing this letter first as a constituent of the 32nd Senatorial District of the State of Ohio, secondly as a law-abiding Ohioan and finally as an American. I feel it necessary to share with my fellow constituents of the 32nd Senatorial District the lack of consideration the Honorable Senator Marc Dann has regarding an individual's right to protect his or her self or their minor children in a motor vehicle.

You see, the Honorable Senator Dann recently sat on the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, which was responsible for changing and removing language from House Bill 12 and rendering it virtually impotent. H.B. 12 is a bill that would allow all law-abiding Ohioans the opportunity to carry a concealed weapon for their personal protection provided they meet the training requirements and pass a criminal background check. In its original form, H.B 12 would have allowed a permit holder to carry their weapon on their person in their motor vehicle.

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Unfortunately, the Honorable Senator Dann and the rest of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee do not agree. They feel that it would make more sense for the individual to have to remove the weapon from their person and leave it out in plain sight leaving the potential to create a panic situation. The committee further decided that if you had minor children in the vehicle with you, it was best to lock your weapon up all together. Thus potentially allowing criminals to target motor vehicles with women drivers carrying small children, knowing that they were unable to protect themselves due to the fact they had to lock up their weapon instead of maintaining it on their person. Both scenarios create the potential for more accidents due to increased weapon handling. Where is the logic in that? Do Mr. Dann and the rest of the SCJC consider us any less worthy to protect ourselves and our small children in a motor vehicle than the people of the five states bordering Ohio that already have CCW laws in place?

The irony is that his predecessor, the honorable Tim Ryan, supported an almost identical bill to original H.B. 12 in the previous Ohio General Assembly, H.B 274. In fact, when I wrote Mr. Ryan during his time as Ohio Senator expressing my concern for the need to pass H.B 274, I received a personal letter from him expressing his support for the bill. All I got from Mr. Dann was some namby-pamby form letter via e-mail.

In closing, I strongly urge my fellow constituents of the 32nd Ohio Senatorial District and the 65th Ohio House District to take a stand make it clear to our representatives in Columbus that we need the right to personal protection restored to us regardless of where we are or what we are doing. I further ask you to urge them not to place any less of a value on the protection of our young children

JOHN A. UNRUH II
Brookfield