Evaluation: First 90 days with Ohio's Concealed Carry Law

The Ohio Attorney General's office has released data on the first three months of concealed handgun license issuance.

---->Concealed Carry Licensure Statistics Report - 2nd Qtr 2004 (.pdf)

OFCC's overall assessment:

Issuance:
In the first 90 days under the new law, 26,307 standard licenses, and 30 temporary emergency licenses were issued to Ohio residents.

Gun ban extremists and the liberal media have attempted to claim that because one state office made an early projection that 100,000 licenses would be issued the first six months, 26,307 in one quarter is "proof" that demand for the new law is low.

As OFCC has been reporting since the day the law took effect, restrictive appointment schedules, misapplication of the law, the
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unlawful addition of provisions by a few sheriffs not required by the General Assembly, and blatant obstinance on the part of sheriffs in a few of Ohio's most populous counties, have significantly reduced the number of applications able to be processed in the first 90 days.

The map at right depicts areas where county sheriffs are doing their jobs extremely well, and also depicts high population centers that where few applicants are able to be processed. In Cuyahoga County, for example, only 40 applicants may apply each week.

Considering the challenges applicants faced in the first 90 days (and which many still do face), the fact that 26,337 licenses were issued to Ohio residents sends a strong message that this law is, in fact, in serious demand in our state.

Thousands more applications are still being processed, and thousands more future applicants are now in training.

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

Revocation:
10 CHLs, or .038%, were revoked. OFCC has learned that several of these were revoked because license-holder died, not because of any legal infractions.

Suspension:
8 CHLs, or .030%, were suspended. OFCC has learned that several of these suspensions have since been reinstated after non-firearms-related charges against the license-holder were dropped.

By comparison, 7.00% of drivers' licenses in the State of Ohio were suspended in 2003.

Denial:
247 standard license applications, and 3 temporary emergency license applications, were denied.

In addition to proper instances of denial of disqualified applicants, OFCC has learned that some denials were as a result of individuals who showed up with training documents that were not accepted, but
which legally should have been. For example, certain sheriffs are known to have turned away individuals for having taken training from instructors who were not "approved" or "registered" with the sheriff. The law provides no such "approval" or "registration" process for instructors with sheriffs.

These individuals were forced to re-take training, and were subsequently granted a license.

OVERALL, THE SYSTEM IS WORKING TO ENSURE ONLY QUALIFIED APPLICANTS OBTAIN LICENSES.

THERE IS MUCH GOOD NEWS!