Police union aims to seize your rights
By Jim Irvine
The Ohio Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) will be holding a press conference on Wednesday to protest Ohio’s law abiding citizens' firearms rights. Date and time are yet to be announced, but they have made it clear that they will do whatever they can to prevent your rights from being restored.
While the vast majority of the rank and file officers support you and your rights, the FOP, led by their Legislative Chairman Mark Drum, does not. This extreme and out of touch organization is brow beating your legislature and Governor over an amendment that restores your rights.
How extreme is the FOP? They insist that you need a concealed carry license to transport a handgun in your car, and oppose efforts to restore the right to transport an unloaded handgun with or without a license. Consider this sentence from their letter:
Furthermore, with the proposed changes pertaining to transportation of a firearm in a motor vehicle (lines 64-67) anyone, including unlicensed persons, can transport a firearm in a motor vehicle as long as it is not on their person. (Emphasis in original)
Oh, the humanity. Unlicensed persons could transport a firearm in a car! Never mind that was how the law worked for decades before HB12 (Ohio’s concealed carry law) became effective in 2004. No one ever intended to remove the right to transport in a car, it was a drafting error that caused that problem. Even Toby Hoover has never proposed anything so crazy. These are your tax dollars at work.
Click here to download the actual FOP letter which is being pushed on your legislature.
In addition to the ridiculous insistence on a license to transport an unloaded handgun:
- The FOP is crying about the Katrina provision, aimed at stopping door to door seizures of your firearms, such as happened after hurricane Katrina. That opposition should scare the hell out of every law abiding gun owner in the country. If you have never been involved in this fight before, now is the time.
- The FOP claims that CHL’s are an officer safety issue. That is not true. Study after study have shown that concealed carry license holders are among the most law-abiding groups in our society.
- Until four years ago, business owners (including establishments where liquor was served) could carry in their business with no license; they could also grant permission to others. Now the FOP argues that even off duty officers are dangerous in such businesses, and owners should not be able to hire them for security.
The FOP is an elitist group working extremely hard to steal your rights. This labor union is not relevant to how law abiding gun owners exercise a constitutional right. We the people grant law enforcement their limited power and authority, not vice versa. Nevertheless, you will see them in the media soon (UPDATE 5/22, Columbus Dispatch editorial - Pandering isn't pretty - NRA's proposed changes to Ohio laws would be hazard to public safety). They have been talking to your legislature, and too many of them are listening to their “Chicken Little” hysteria.
You need to contact your legislature immediately and encourage them to disregard the rantings of the FOP. The FOP had their chance to have their ideas heard, but chose to remain silent. They have NEVER responded to our request for feedback. Looking at their objections, it seems they know their arguments can not be defended. Their only path to “victory” is to throw fear grenades at the last minute, knowing there is not enough time to research the truth. This tactic has worked for them in the past – don’t let it happen again.
We need you to stand with us (literally) at the Ohio Statehouse. The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, May 21 at 9:30AM in Room 121. Any gun owner who does not step up in some manor now, is enabling the anti-gunners to win. Don’t be the gun grabber’s friend.
Make sure your Representative and Senator are educated on the issue. Time is running short.
Learn who your elected officials are. Your information will NOT be sold. We may use it to contact you if we need help with your specific Representative or Senator.
If you want to leave a message for Mark Drum and the FOP, call 614-224-5700. Be polite. Treat them better than they deserve because we are better people.
- 220 reads
