As soon as we became aware of this incident, OFCC contacted both the Salem Parks Director Steve Faber, and SACS CEO/President Tim Dimoff. Mr. Faber indicated that in a subsequent meeting with a representative from the Attorney General's office, the Salem Parks Commission was informed of Section 9, and will not attempt to enact a ban on park property. We have also spoken with Mr. Dimoff, who recognized his error, and made immediate moves to correct it.

3/18/04 - The Lisbon Morning Journal has published an updated story covering the park's reversal. Ban on concealed weapons in park may not pass muster.

March 16, 2004
Salem News
and
Lisbon Morning Journal

SALEM - Any business which wishes to can prohibit customers and employees from carrying concealed handguns on its premises, according to one expert on the subject. That includes the Salem Parks Department, which hopes to keep concealed weapons out of city parks.

Timothy A. Dimoff, of Akron-based SACS Consulting & Investigative Services, discussed the details of the state's new concealed handgun law before a group of business leaders and law enforcement officials at a luncheon sponsored by the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce on Monday.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

The ink was barely dry on HB12 before Ohio newspapers, including the New Philadelphia Times-Reporter, began running stories encouraging businesses to ban CHL-holders. The Times Recorder is continuing their victim zone campaign, with the following:

March 14, 2004
New Philadelphia Times-Reporter

Law won’t allow guns everywhere

Ohioans with valid licenses to carry concealed handguns won’t be permitted to carry the weapons in a number of areas.

For instance, a valid licensee may not carry a concealed handgun into a police station, sheriff’s office or state highway patrol station when the state law goes into effect in April.

Prohibited sites include any premises controlled by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, a state correctional institution, jail, workhouse or other detention facility. Also restricted are school safety zones, courthouses or other buildings in which a courtroom is located, or any room or open air arena in which liquor is dispensed in a premises for which a D permit has been issued.

No one may carry a concealed handgun onto any premises owned or leased by any public or private college, university, or other institution of higher education, unless the handgun is in a locked motor vehicle.

Any church, synagogue, mosque or other place of worship is off limits unless the site is posted or the worship site permits otherwise.

The law also excludes concealed handguns in child day-care centers, and in Type A, B and C family day-care homes; on aircraft; buildings owned by the state or any political subdivision; and in any place in which federal law prohibits the carrying of handguns.

Sheriff Walt Wilson, who is responsible for implementing all facets of the new law in Tuscarawas County, said he is analyzing 140 pages of information provided by the Buckeye State Sheriffs’ Assn.

“I want to make sure I fully understand it and I completely comply with this, so we’re working on it right to get the system in place,” he said.

Wilson said he intended to stay in touch with BSSA because the process is something that all of the state’s 88 sheriffs will have to go through together.

“And if some sheriff develops a better idea than I have that complies with the law, I’ll certainly go with that – I want this to work as smoothly as we can,” Wilson said.

March 14, 2004
Willoughby News Herald

Lynn Whipple believes the bumper sticker on his 1986 Toyota pickup truck says it all:

"If guns kill people, then spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat."

Whipple, an 81-year-old Painesville man who wears a yellow ribbon on his sweater vest to support the troops overseas, said the concealed-weapons law that will go into effect April 8 in Ohio is a long time coming.

The law will allow gun owners who pass a background check to holster and hide handguns so long as they successfully complete 12 hours of firearms safety training, including two hours on a firing range.

"This idea that guns kill people is rather silly," said Whipple, who has been firing weapons since he was 8 years old. "You've got to defend yourself. People don't stop and think that a police officer is not going to be there holding your hand if something goes wrong. There are many instances where women have saved themselves from rape because they were armed."

Whipple, a former unarmed security guard who spent three years in the U.S. Air Force, said his own handgun is probably what saved the lives of himself, his wife and their three young children 35 years ago.

"When the kids were little, a guy broke into the house about 1 in the morning," he said. "I instructed him rather forcefully that this was not acceptable behavior. Once he was looking into the other end of that handgun, it was amazing the calming effect it had on him. I scared him enough that he was never involved in anything else afterwards. If I wouldn't have had that handgun, I'm 90 percent sure something would have happened."

Whipple is but one of thousands of people locally who plan to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

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03/15/04
By: David Shull - OFCC supporter

The City of Stow kicked off its Neighborhood Watch program tonight (03/15/04). A special guest speaker from the City’s law department gave an overview of the new CCW law. Four Stow police officers were in attendance along with around 30 citizens.

The speaker stuck to the facts available, giving a fair and balanced presentation.

The citizens had numerous questions like:

-If I see a bank robber can I shoot him?
-Can I carry my gun in Applebee's?
-Can I carry into a convenience store?

These are all legitimate questions and concerns. Most likely all of them will be handled within the required training for the permit.

The police officers had concerns as well:

-Won't there be a rash of car break-ins when permit holders lock-up their guns outside of businesses that prohibit firearms?
-Simple verbal or physical altercations will now escalate to homicides (via handgun).
-Road Rage will turn in to rolling shoot-outs.
-My job is hard enough the way it is, now more guns will be in the public and in cars - how will that help things?
-People are going to use a gun to protect themselves only to have it taken away by the assailant.
-12 hours of training isn't enough...it should be weeks of training, not days.

All of these also are legitimate concerns coming from professionals performing a job that truly is challenging. The officers weren't being defensive or being whiners, they were just presenting their perceived challenges.

Both groups were looking into the future...into the unknown...and were making predictions. Well I have a few predictions of my own. But my predictions are not from the unknown; I have the unique and fortunate experience of having been a police officer in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I now realize that it was unique, in that, I was a police officer both before and after CCW in Arkansas.

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