Lima News
June 25, 2003

Gov. Bob Taft and Ohio Senate President Doug White stubbornly are blocking Ohioans' right to carry concealed weapons. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Criminal Justice last week altered a bill passed by the House of Representatives, and now White refuses to name conferees to iron out differences in the bills until the House and Taft resolve their differences.

So much for political leadership from the Senate.

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Although two news organizations are reporting that HB12 appears to be "dead", most others are suggesting that the legislative summer break will be used as a cool-down period, and that the matter will be readdressed when the General Assembly reconvenes.

Representatives from Governor Taft's office and the Legislature ended talks aimed at reaching a compromise Wednesday. Lawmakers are scheduled to leave the Statehouse Thursday for the summer.

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The two lawmakers in charge of getting a concealed weapons bill through the Legislature met with Governor Taft's top aides to try to work out an agreement that will satisfy all sides on the matter.

Representative Jim Aslanides, a Coshocton Republican who sponsored the bill, and Senator Steve Austria, a Beavercreek Republican who carried the bill in the Senate, met for about an hour with Taft's aides yesterday. Talks continued last night between representatives of the Senate, House, and governor’s office as lawmakers moved toward recessing for the summer.

Taft supports the Senate version of the bill, but not the House version. It's the first time Taft has supported any bill allowing Ohioans to carry hidden guns.

The Senate version would allow loaded guns in cars if they were in plain sight or locked in storage. It also would allow a person without a permit, who is charged with carrying a concealed weapon, to use as a defense that it was necessary because the person had a protective order in a case of domestic violence or another threat-related crime.

Aslanides prefers current law, which allows people charged with carrying a concealed weapon to convince a prosecutor or judge that the weapon was needed because of their job, or for their personal safety.

The State Highway Patrol opposes that idea, and Taft said the patrol's support is crucial to his own. Changes made by the Senate led the patrol to drop its opposition to the bill.

Aslanides says that the meeting went well and that another one may take place Wednesday.

He says there's a strong willingness to get work done on the bill.

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