Concealed carry in the Buckeye State - 18 months of success

UPDATE November 4, 5:00 P.M.: Thanks to the alertness of a reader of this website, an error was discovered on the Ohio Attorney General's website with regard to CHL statistics. For the past several months, the AG's office has been offering a Quarter 2, 2005 report that inadvertantly contained totals for two quarters. That problem has now been corrected on the AG's website, and the story below has been modified to reflect the correct totals.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 3, 2005

Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro has released statistics related to the issuance of concealed handgun licenses for the third quarter of 2005. Licenses have now been available in Ohio for 18 months, and during that time this law has proven to be one of the most successful pieces
of consumer legislation in state history.

From April 2004 to September 2005, 63,597 standard licenses, and 119 temporary emergency licenses were issued to Ohio residents. On average, Ohio sheriffs are issuing approximately 118 concealed handgun licenses to law-abiding citizens per day.

Ohio CHL-holders have proven to be far more law-abiding than skeptics had predicted
they would be. Only 94 CHLs (0.14%), have been revoked in the first eighteen months for any reason, including the passing away of some licenseholders. Just 272 CHLs (0.42%), were suspended for any reason, and many of those are often reinstated later.

This level of participation sends a strong message that the right to choose armed self-defense is
in serious demand in the Buckeye State, and Ohio CHL-holders' attention on safety and following the law give every reason for legislators to ignore the shrill cries from the gun ban lobby that will no doubt be heard when testimony on Rep. Jim Aslanides' House Bill 347 begins.

Click here for links to Quarterly Statistics from the Ohio Attorney General's Office.