Ohio gun ban extremists continue attempts to derail legal self-defense
Ohio's gun ban extremists have not let up in their efforts to derail concealed carry reform legislation.
The Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence is again calling on other extremists to phone Gov. Taft and beg him to veto HB12. An email from late December, said:
"Governor Taft needs to hear from us again.
Please tell him you don’t want guns carried where you work and play.
Please ask him to honor his promise to veto.
Please thank him for standing up to the gun lobby.
Please thank him for putting our safety first by vetoing HB 12."
As we've been saying for weeks, there is still work to be done to prepare the way for final passage of this legislation.
Governor Taft's phone number is 614-466-3555.
Ohioans For Concealed Carry, the National Rifle Association and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms are calling on the Governor to sign this Act.
Following is a letter to the editor from OCAGV's executive director Toby Hoover, printed in Saturday's Columbus Dispatch.
On May 14, 2003, Toby Hoover told the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice "I don't want to help you write the bill". Apparently, she has changed her mind. As we all know, for the gun ban lobby, consistency is optional.
Comments from OFCC Volunteer Larry Moore, OFCC's Membership Coordinator, Dan White, and OFCC Spokesperson Chad Baus inserted below in blue.
January 5, 2003
Columbus Dispatch
Taft should veto dangerous gun bill
The Ohio Senate and House have passed a bill permitting Ohioans to carry hidden, loaded handguns in public. Research from John Donohue of Stanford Law School and Ian Ayres of Yale Law School shows that carrying concealed weapons likely will lead to more crime in Ohio, not less. Ohio has fewer gun murders than states that have permits to carry guns.
Baus: Read the following two stories to learn all you need to know about Donohue & Ayres:
Capital University Law School Professor responds to Donohue-will Dispatch print?
Brookings Institution tries to revive poorly researched CCW/Crime study
But the Ohio gun lobby is still pushing a dangerous piece of legislation that is shot full of holes.
• Ohioans already have two ways to carry weapons: openly and with an affirmative defense.
Baus: Both have completely and utterly failed to protect defenseless citizens from those who mean them harm. Shame on Hoover for suggesting laws which result in hundreds of additional victimizations each month (See Ohio Crime Clock at www.buckeyefirearms.org) are adequate.
• Law enforcement does not support concealed carry (neutrality is not support).
Baus: To her chagrin, neutrality is also not opposition. Neutrality means indifference. Indifference from several law enforcement groups, which were formerly opposed, has satisfied Gov. Taft.
• Permits should not be issued until databases for mentally ill and criminal records are at least 95 percent complete in Ohio.
Moore: 95% of what target? 100% is a moving goal depending on what point in time it is measured. Based on statistics from other states mentally ill and/or criminals are jumping through the hoops of background check and training.
• Reciprocity should not be given unless that state is at 95 percent on criminal, mental-health and domestic-violence records.
See above.
• Ohio should check crimes of permit holders daily and immediately revoke permits and remove the firearm (Utah does this with success.).
White: We looked into the results of concealed carry in Utah. A study lead by Jason Cash, B.S. of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah was conducted in 1999 to look at 6 year crime statistics for the state of Utah following the 1995 passage of legislation making it easier for its citizens to obtain permits to
carry concealed firearms. The results showed that murder rates decreased, assault rates decreased at an accelerated rate, rapes remained constant, robbery rates decreased at a greater rate, and (most telling) that “unintentional firearm injury rates decreased despite a
17-fold increase in permit holders, which indicates that responsible individuals carry guns.” This last finding is directly contrary to claims that an increase in firearms on the streets would lead to an increase in accidents.
• Data collection should be included in the bill and be made public, in order for people to research and assess the risks and results.
Baus: "Data collection" has been in the bill since it was introduced, in the form of annual statistics which would allow measurement of licensee's respect for the law. To avoid a veto, "data collection" has now been upgraded to allow the media access to the list of licensees. HOover has plenty of friends in the media, and will undoubtedly be able to "research and assess the risks" to her heart's content.
• The definition of handgun in the Ohio code and House Bill 12 will allow an assault weapon to be carried as long as it can be hidden.
Baus: Hoover doesn't provide a definition of assault weapon, so it is impossible to discern her true phobia on this point. For instance, "assaults" are committed by criminals with knives every day in Ohio. Yet HB12 does not deal with licensing hidden knives.
• House Bill 12 stops city councils from protecting public safety by pre-empting any city or local ordinances to stop hidden and loaded handguns being carried in public places.
White: Hoover seems to have forgotten the fact that just as state law does not supercede federal law, local ordinances do not take precedence over
state laws. The rights and privileges granted to all citizens of the state cannot be denied because a local politician doesn’t agree with them.
• The bill requires only 12 hours of training without adequately addressing the appropriate use of deadly force or how to react in hostile situations.
Baus: Ohio's concealed carry law will feature one of the most restrictive training requirements in the country. Neighboring states Indiana and Pennsylvania have ZERO training requirements, and have no problems.
• The bill does not give law enforcement the right to refuse permits to known alcoholics, the mentally disturbed, those with domestic problems or those who have had run-ins with the law.
Baus: Since anyone who has suffered from alcoholism will say "once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic," even after they stop drinking, I'm certain they'll be thankful they're not discriminated against when it comes to their self-defense rights. Hoover is flat-out lying when she mentions the "mentally-disturbed." Anyone found by a court to be mentally-ill would not qualify. Hoover says she wants to discriminate against those with "domestic problems", apparently hoping to make certain the defenseless victims of domestic abuse remain as such. Finally, she'd like to discrimintae against anyone who has had run-ins with the law. Once again, her definition of run-in must fit outside that of either the Federal or state government's laws about convicts' possession of firearms. Perhaps those nasty traffic tickets are what she's worried about?
• All records of background checks would be required to be destroyed in 20 days and no information could be made public for research or study about crimes committed by concealed-carry permit holders.
Baus: Information about the crimes committed by permit holders (typically less than 1%, as experienced in other states), will already be made available according to provisions in HB12. 20 days is actually too long. The Federal government requires instant destruction, and Congress is moving to highlight that point since the BATF has been keeping records for 90 days.
• Ohioans have a right to know. Carrying hidden guns denies that right.
White: The official position of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence is that current Ohio law permitting openly carrying firearms for protection is preferable to a system of allowing concealed carry. Their only justification for this stance is to claim that they have a “right to know” if someone is armed. What they fail to realize is that there is no such thing as the “right to know.” They no more have a right to know
whether someone has chosen to arm themselves for personal protection
that they have a right to know a person’s religion, sexual preference, educational background, or medical history.
Now, there is such a thing as right to privacy, and that is the true issue at hand with regards to whether the names of permit holders should be made public. The latest reason Governor Taft has given for his continual objection to HB 12 is that it does not allow for the database of permit holders to be publicly accessible. Your medical records are not public record, your driver’s license is not public record, and so
on. Whether or not you have obtained a permit to carry a concealed firearm for your own protection should not be either. It simply isn’t anyone’s business but your own.
The majority of Ohioans, including law-enforcement officers, faith communities, doctors, teachers, public-health officials, researchers, business owners, families, victims and survivors, do not support House Bill 12. Gov. Bob Taft should veto it.
TOBY HOOVER
Executive director
Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence
Toledo
White: Over 50,000 Ohio citizens have taken time out of their lives to sign a petition urging Governor Taft to sign concealed carry legislation into
law and finally repeal the draconian laws against exercising your constitutionally protected rights in private. One quarter of one million Ohioans are represented in a coalition calling on Taft to sign this bill. It is time he listened to the true voice of the people, rather than the braying of a few extremists.
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FBI: Michigan's crime rate down 10.5% with CCW law
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