It's hard to believe the Ohio Senate just voted to return us to the same
impass they created with HB274 just 6 months ago.

We have a new Senate President, and a new committee chairman. Thanks, in
part, to the efforts of the OFCC PAC, the Senate Republican caucus won a super-majority last November. Two more states have become shall-issue right-to-carry states this spring, and Alaska's legislature passed a "Vermont-style" right-to-carry bill just last week, citing success with their existing right to carry law. HB12 passed out of the House with enough votes to override a veto - a 69-28 vote.

Over the past few months, OFCC has provided Senate committee members with a
wealth of information which proved conclusively that added restrictions (the
ones they just inserted) are absolutely not necessary, and in fact that many are unsafe. The Senate committee did not adopt a single suggestion or improvement made by OFCC. Yet, they adopted every conceivable amendment suggested by anti-self-defense extremists in our state, and most Senate Republicans concurred.

One principled conservative Republican stood out as the voice of reason in yesterday's Senate hearing. Lynn Wachtmann (R, Napoleon), said that one of
the reasons he ran for office was to get to vote on a good concealed carry bill. But he told Senators a bad bill is not better than no bill. Wachtmann voted "no."

As was indicated by the announcement of our opposition to proposed changes before the vote, Ohioans For Concealed Carry agrees that no bill is better than a bad bill. The difficult question is, "what defines a bad bill?"

While that answer may be different for different people, the concensus at
Ohioans For Concealed Carry is that Am. Sub. HB12 is not a bad bill, but a
TERRIBLE bill in many respects. At a minimum, it is MORE restrictive than
current law.

For example, under current law, if you are arrested for CCW, or arrested for
CCW in a motor vehicle, the law provides several affirmative defenses that
can be used in court at trial. Under Sub HB 12, the only people that
qualify for an affirmative defense for carrying a firearm for self-defense
in a vehicle are those with a protective order against someone. All others
would require a CCW license and only then, the gun must be in plain sight,
unless you have minors in the car, then you have to lock it up. While
existing law has serious flaws, it is clearly better than giving Ohioans NO
legal option to protect themselves in a pinch.

Had lawmakers left all of the affirmative defenses in place, and also
retained the right to carry for parents who want to protect their children,
then Am. Sub. HB12 would have qualified as a bad bill, just not so terrible.

It is for these reasons which we believe House Representatives should vote
against concurrence with the Senate amendments, and send the bill to a
conference committee.

A coalition of nearly 50 businesses and tens of thousands of grassroots supporters (represented by several Ohio self-defense rights organizations and a conservative political group) endorsed HB12 as it left the House. Absolutely no self-defense rights groups in Ohio support the Senate's amendments.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for your on eleventh hour grassroots call to action.

Amended Substitute House Bill 12 has been added to the House calendar for consideration of Senate amendments. The session will be held today, June 19.

UPDATE! The session has been rescheduled for 7:30 p.m. this evening.

The purpose for Tuesday's floor action on Am. Sub. HB12 is to consider and vote on whether or not to concur with Senate amendments. A concurrent vote would send the Senate's version of bill to the governor's desk. A vote against concurrence would send the bill to a conference committee, where differences will be ironed out.

Time is short. Call your Representative NOW and ask them NOT to concur with the Senate's restrictions, which succeed only in making current Ohio law WORSE than it already is.

A much worked-over bill that would allow Ohioans to conceal weapons passed the Senate yesterday, despite lukewarm support from its backers. It may be changed more before it reaches the governor's desk.

Officials from the National Rifle Association - who until Tuesday were the bill's leading proponents - stopped short of opposing the measure but hinted that revisions must be made to win back their support.

Without true NRA support, Sen. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, called the measure "a bill in search of a constituency."

"No significant organization is calling for its passage," he said.

The bill passed 22-10, with four Republicans voting against the measure. Sen. Mark Mallory, D-Cincinnati, was one of six Democrats to oppose the bill. Cincinnati Republican Sens. Louis Blessing and Robert Schuler voted for the measure, as did Sen. Scott Nein, R-Middletown.

The media has been all over this story over the past few days. We've tried to divide the stories surrounding activities in the Senate up into before, during, and after sections.

Canton Repository

Canton Repository pro-CCW editorial

Canton Repository poll - "If legal, will you carry a concealed firearm?"

Cincinnati Enquirer