FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 24, 2003

Group says majority opinion reads like “Jim Crow”

Self-defense Advocates Plan “Visual Display” of Supreme Court Ruling Sunday

CLEVELAND - The Ohio Supreme Court’s split-decision to overturn rulings from two lower courts, which unanimously agreed that Ohio’s ban on carrying a concealed firearm is unconstitutional, highlights the necessity for legislative action.

OFCC, Ohio’s largest grassroots organization focused solely on restoring Ohioans’ right to bear arms for self-defense joined the lawsuit on behalf of its statewide membership.

The law in question subjects law-abiding citizens carrying a firearm for self-defense to arrest, prosecution and the burden of proving their innocence in court, rather than the burden being placed on the State. As Justice O'Connor pointed out in her dissent, current law "is as offensive as a statute allowing the arrest of anyone who speaks in public, but permitting the speaker to prove at trial that the speech was constitutionally protected.”

The majority opinion, authored by Justice Pfeifer, relied heavily on two early 1900’s Supreme Court rulings, including State v. Hogan (1900) and State v. Nieto (1920).

In State v. Hogan, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld (in dicta) a prohibition against carrying dangerous weapons by “tramps”.

Pfeifer somehow equated lawful concealed carry to "the annoyance and terror and danger of its citizens" referred to in Hogan, which also stated that the Ohio Bill of Rights “was never intended as a warrant for vicious persons to carry weapons with which to terrorize others.”

In State v. Nieto, dissenting Justice Wanamaker noted that Ohio’s prohibition on carrying a concealed firearm was founded in racism:

"I desire to give some special attention to some of the authorities cited,
supreme court decisions from Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Kentucky, and one
or two inferior court decisions from New York, which are given in support of
the doctrines upheld by this court. The southern states have very largely
furnished the precedents. It is only necessary to observe that the race
issue there has extremely intensified a decisive purpose to entirely disarm
the negro, and this policy is evident upon reading the opinions."

Nieto, a Hispanic, was convicted of “concealing” a firearm in his bed.

“The opinion is a marvelous tour de force of judicial activism. Adopting a myopic view of the statutes in question, the court avoided the interplay of issues raised in the lower courts, ignored the ‘strict scrutiny’ standard of constitutional rights, ignored the two-pronged precedent of constitutionality established in Benjamin v. Columbus, and ignored any obligation to address any findings of inconsistency within the current law,” said Chad Baus, spokesperson for Ohioans For Concealed Carry (OFCC). “Judge Pfeifer writes in essence, ‘That's the way it's always been, so that's the way it'll be. But if the legislature had written the statutes otherwise, then that would've been okay too.’”

"While Plessy v. Ferguson or the Jim Crow laws were viewed as well reasoned at the time, we have since, as a society, rejected such racism and bigotry," said OFCC PAC Chairman Jim Irvine. "Yet Ohio’s 144-year old concealed weapons prohibition has been upheld by the Court."

"This ruling will force those who disagree with us to face a reality they never imagined," said Jeff Garvas, OFCC President. "The Court has essentially given the legislature a choice – open carry or concealed carry."

On September 28, proponents of concealed carry reform will strap on their handguns, and march up and down the streets of north Cincinnati. The “Defense Walk” will offer Ohioans a visual display of the choice they have before them – openly armed citizens as dictated by current law, or a more subtle variety as suggested in House Bill 12. The Walk will start at 1 p.m. on Florida Avenue with a safety meeting. Other “Defense Walks” may follow in other cities.

Ohio is one of only five states that do not have a legal mechanism for law-abiding adults to carry a firearm for self-defense. The bill that left the Ohio House exceeded restrictions adopted by every state surrounding Ohio, yet the Ohio Senate continued that trend. No legislative body in the nation has enacted the extensive restrictions Governor Taft secretly convinced the Ohio Senate to add in HB12.

In her dissent, Justice O'Connor stated that the method of balance between the Ohio Revised Code and Constitution “must be determined by the legislature”. Unfortunately, the Ohio Senate’s Republican leadership has chosen to obstruct this issue and delegate that responsibility to the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Governor.

According to a report released Monday, as each month passes, the political obstruction imposed by the Ohio Senate and Governor Taft are responsible for approximately 3 murders, 18 rapes, 29 robberies, and as many as 96 aggravated assaults. University of Georgia Professor David Mustard used raw FBI data from nearly 20 years of crime reports when comprising the report, which is available at www.OhioCCW.org.

It is incumbent upon Ohio Senate President Doug White to stop his obstruction of House Bill 12, appoint conferees, and send a bill to Gov. Taft's desk.

To join Ohioans For Concealed Carry, go to www.OhioCCW.org, or call 1-866-OHIO-CCW.

Click here to download this release in a .pdf file.

11:30 a.m. Statement from Ohioans For Concealed Carry:

We are disappointed that the Ohio Supreme Court has failed on this issue and
abridged this fundamental right of Ohioans for a third time in this state's
history.

The court has contradicted itself by saying that citizens may exercise this
fundamental right by carrying openly without concerns for public safety,
but that wearing a concealed firearm is somehow unsafe to society as a whole
and must be regulated by our legislature.

There is no logic in the majority's ruling.

As dissenting Justice Maureen O'Connor pointed out, the law today "is as
offensive as a statute allowing the arrest of anyone who speaks in public,
but permitting the speaker to prove at trial that the speech was
constitutionally protected".

It is incumbent upon Ohio Senate President Doug White to stop his
obstruction of House Bill 12, appoint conferees, and send a bill to Gov.
Taft's desk.

Ohioans For Concealed Carry was a co-plaintiff in this lawsuit, and is Ohio'
s largest grassroots organization focused solely on restoring Ohioans' right
to bear arms for self-defense. A more detailed response will be issued
after we have had time to study the entire ruling.

In February, Ohio State Highway Patrol Superintendant Paul McClellan published a letter opposing concealed carry legislation on it's face.

In it, he made some outrageous and easily disprovable statements, such as "There is no statistical or anecdotal evidence which supports that concealment and transportation of a weapon in a motor vehicle is effective or safe as a defensive or deterrent measure" and "In fact, no legitimate organization has made empirically-based claims of cause and effect between lower crime rates and concealed weapon legislation." Perhaps it is this statement that has had the most serious of consequences:

"Because the fundamental nature of motor vehicles allows those who feel threatened to simply drive away, the argument that motorists need loaded concealed weapons is weak."

There are plenty more where that came from - click here to read the entire archived letter, with Commentary.

McClellan didn't stop at putting this letter on his website - he submitted it, false statements and all - to Senate President Doug White's office on March 5. OFCC quickly responded by providing the evidence that McClellan can't seem to find to Pres. White's office (we also provided a host of empirical studies from academics at major universities nationwide, and which McClellan claims in his letter are all from illegitimate sources.

The bureaucrat was undeterred - he began emailing the letter to everyone who contacted his office about his poorly crafted, deceptive position statement - and he continued to do for 8 months.

McClellan has obviously been hearing from the taxpayers who write his checks in recent days and weeks (1-877-7-PATROL), because after 8 months of trying to force-feed his false statements to legislators and the public, he has removed his letter from the website, and replaced it with a new one.

In recent weeks, we have covered the story of an Ohio Law Enforcement Summit Meeting, which will be held tomorrow, Sept. 25. The Buckete State Sheriffs Association has called McClellan and the OSHP to the table, to inform him that the language he endorses - the language he claims improves officer safety - is entirely UNSAFE. The Ohio Fraternal Order of Police agree with the Sheriffs, and have also agreed to attend the meeting.

Could this new letter be a bitter warning that McClellan will not listen to the reasoning of Ohio's two largest law enforcement organizations warnings? Could a small Ohio police force, which focuses primarily on traffic violations, and has jurisdiction only on Ohio's state highways, continue to be allowed to "write" legislation, by a Republican Senator unwilling to allow his collegues to vote their concience in a potential veto-override session? Or by a waffling Governor who claimed to have been willing to support a bill that had broad law enforcement support?

In his original letter, McClellan said "New legislation normally addresses a problem, either existing or potential. Fortunately, in part due to the efforts of Ohio's law enforcement officers, Ohio has not experienced an epidemic which would dictate loading our vehicles with concealed guns."

Tell that to Mr. Tony Gordon 's family, Spt. McClellan. Tony Gordon died trying to follow the OSHP's advice on what to do when attacked in one's car. Tell it to his two-year old daughter, or his 13 year old nephew, who was an occupant in the vehicle Tony was in when he tried to "drive away", as you suggest he do, and was shot through the heart by a carjacker, who remains at large after six weeks.

McClellan says, in his new letter, "We hope that officer safety is placed at the forefront of future CCW debates." In both letters, McClellan seems largely unconcerned with citizen safety. Ohioans For Concealed Carry, the Buckeye State Sheriffs Association, and the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police, are concerned with both.

To read Spt. McClellan's latest anti-self-defense letter, click "Read More..." link below.