Privacy issue stalls gun bill
Taft, House at odds over access to conceal-carry permit lists

December 30, 2003
Lee Leonard
Columbus Dispatch

For the second December in a row, Ohioans are within an inch of being
allowed to carry concealed handguns under limited circumstances.

Standing in the way of enactment of House Bill 12, which has
overwhelming support in both chambers of the Ohio legislature, is Gov.
Bob Taft.

What’s blocking the bill is not one of the usual issues — where the guns
can be carried, safety and training requirements, or protections for
police and citizens — but a public-records dispute.

In December 2002, conceal-carry was headed toward the governor’s desk
when the two-year session expired and sponsors had to start over. Only
the opposition from the State Highway Patrol kept that bill from
reaching Taft.

The patrol’s opposition has melted since lawmakers satisfied troopers’
objections to sections dealing with the handling of weapons in motor
vehicles and gun carriers’ legal defenses in court.

Although Taft has promised to veto House Bill 12 as passed Dec. 10,
staff-level talks are taking place to rescue the bill and avoid the
embarrassment of a Republican-dominated legislature overriding the veto
of its own governor.

The key is finding a compromise between the House and the governor on
the issue of disclosing names of conceal-carry permit holders.

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