Former LEO from CCW state writes ''Ohio CCW will work!''

03/15/04
By: David Shull - OFCC supporter

The City of Stow kicked off its Neighborhood Watch program tonight (03/15/04). A special guest speaker from the City’s law department gave an overview of the new CCW law. Four Stow police officers were in attendance along with around 30 citizens.

The speaker stuck to the facts available, giving a fair and balanced presentation.

The citizens had numerous questions like:

-If I see a bank robber can I shoot him?
-Can I carry my gun in Applebee's?
-Can I carry into a convenience store?

These are all legitimate questions and concerns. Most likely all of them will be handled within the required training for the permit.

The police officers had concerns as well:

-Won't there be a rash of car break-ins when permit holders lock-up their guns outside of businesses that prohibit firearms?
-Simple verbal or physical altercations will now escalate to homicides (via handgun).
-Road Rage will turn in to rolling shoot-outs.
-My job is hard enough the way it is, now more guns will be in the public and in cars - how will that help things?
-People are going to use a gun to protect themselves only to have it taken away by the assailant.
-12 hours of training isn't enough...it should be weeks of training, not days.

All of these also are legitimate concerns coming from professionals performing a job that truly is challenging. The officers weren't being defensive or being whiners, they were just presenting their perceived challenges.

Both groups were looking into the future...into the unknown...and were making predictions. Well I have a few predictions of my own. But my predictions are not from the unknown; I have the unique and fortunate experience of having been a police officer in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I now realize that it was unique, in that, I was a police officer both before and after CCW in Arkansas.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

Before CCW, I felt much like the Stow officers do. After the years rolled by after CCW was in practice, I realized that I had not heard of a single negative incident/contact with a CCW permit holder, no simple disagreement with a permit holder had needlessly escalated to homicide, nobody was building up a cache of weapons stolen from vehicles, the vigilantes were nowhere to be found, road rage was still road rage (even in the "laid back" land of the Razorbacks we had our share of bad drivers), bystanders weren't being hit by the stray bullets of "poorly trained" permit holders, and my job was still my job.

I realized that I did not have to do my job differently on traffic stops. Every traffic stop and interview was conducted in the same manner that I had been trained to do at the police academy. I still watched hands and not eyes, I still treated people as nice as they would allow me to treat them, and I still enforced the laws that my legislature gave me to enforce.

I also realized that people were still people. When people felt that their life was threatened, they defended themselves. When people saw that another person's life was threatened, they helped out. When people saw something that wasn't any of their business or was way out of their league, they kept on walking or they called the police. When people got a CCW permit, they did not become blood-thirsty, vigilante members of society. I think the training gave them an appreciation of deadly force and the responsibilities of carrying an implement of death.

I explained my viewpoint and experience to the group. The citizens and the police both seemed a bit relieved...other people (the majority of the country actually) have been living successfully and safely with CCW laws similar to Ohio's for years...I guess we can to?

I'm proud of the Stow Police and I hope that there are more departments like it. They didn't seem to be anxious to label or to stereotype people that are going to be permit holders. They seem to be professionals that will simply enforce the laws of the land the best that they can.

So while some may wonder if CCW will work, I've been there, I've done that, and I would have the T-shirt if they ever made any!

My prediction? Ohio CCW will work!