URGENT: Time running out for passage of HB450 (Armed Services 18-21 gun rights restoration)

In what has become an all too familiar story each lame duck session, it is once again necessary to ask Ohio gun owners to call their state Senators and encourage their support for a pro-gun bill that will otherwise die at the end of the legislative session on December 31, 2008.

Time is running out for Rep. Bruce Goodwin's House Bill 450, which passed the Ohio House more than six months ago with an overwhelming 90-3 vote, and your help is needed TODAY!

PROBLEM: Current Ohio law prohibits persons under the age of 21 from buying a handgun. There is an exemption for persons aged 18-20 who are properly appointed or employed as a law enforcement officer, but no such exemption exists for members of the armed services or Ohio National Guard.

"If we can't allow the military these rights, then shouldn't those rights be taken away from law enforcement on the same grounds they are being denied to the military?" Buckeye Firearms Association Legislative Chair Ken Hanson observed rhetorically.

• HB450 SOLUTION: It is our position that both active duty and reserve military personnel should have the exact same rights to buy a handgun as law enforcement.

  This bill would add an exemption for active or reserve members of the armed services or the Ohio National Guard, aged 18-20 who have received firearms training.

PROBLEM: Military are being denied CHLs based upon dubious residency objections from sheriffs.

• HB450 SOLUTION: Before HB450 passed in the House, and in response to recent questions about the residency of Ohioans who deploy to other states, and people from other states who are stationed in Ohio, an amendment was added which clarifies that persons aged 21 and over in our military, either from Ohio or stationed in Ohio, meet the residency requirements for an Ohio Concealed Carry License (CHL).

Buckeye Firearms Association has also been attempting to add two technical amendments to the bill in the Senate to address the following problems:

PROBLEM: Some ammunition is SOLD PRELOADED in stripper clips and enbloc clips, and can be considered loaded magazines or speedloaders. Transporting same can be considered a violation of the state law. This was not intended and needs to be clarified.

PROBLEM: The BATFE has begun to deny purchases to Ohio citizens on the technicality that Ohio’s restoration of rights is not a full restoration of gun rights. This technicality needs addressed NOW, before the BATFE under Obama gets a chance to expand the abuses to include charging people with Federal possession under disability charges.

"This is important legislation,” said Buckeye Firearms Association Chairman Jim Irvine. “We are talking about men and women who volunteered to lay their life on the line for their country and their fellow man. We trust them with the full might of the U.S. military. Surely we can trust them with a handgun when they return home from duty."

"These are exactly the people we want carrying guns to protect our society," Irvine continued. "They are trained to respond quickly and appropriately to violent situations."

The bill is scheduled to have a third hearing in the Senate Judiciary on Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday, December 10 at 9:00 a.m. in the Senate Building's North Hearing Room (a tentative hearing has also been planned for the same time and location on Dec. 11, if needed). Buckeye Firearms Association Leader Linda Walker will offer testimony on behalf of this political action committee.

We are calling on Ohio's gun owners to PERSONALLY CALL their state Senators TODAY and ask them to do everything in their power to see that HB450 is passed out of committee and given a floor vote before the session ends and the bill dies.

In addition to your personal phone call, please encourage your friends and family to do the same.

Download HB450 as passed by the Ohio House (16 pages)

Click here to look up your State Senators.

Senate Judiciary on Criminal Justice Committee members:

Chairman Tim Grendell: 614-644-7718
Steve Austria: 614-466-3780
Keith Faber: 614-466-7584
Tim Schaffer: 614-466-5838
Bill Seitz: 614-466-8068
Steve Stivers: 614-466-5981
Teresa Fedor: 614-466-5204
Nina Turner: 614-466-4583
Shirley Smith: 614-466-4857