An impressive display of media bias: Associated Press bothers only to call an authoritarian gun banner for comment on new rules implemented for Ohio's concealed handgun license law...

April 27, 2004
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The state on Monday adopted instructions that courts must follow in reporting cases of involuntary hospitalization of people with mental illnesses to ensure they cannot obtain permits to carry concealed weapons.

The Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review adopted without comment the language as part of the law authorizing county sheriffs to issue permits to applicants who pass a background check.

A group opposed to the new law has filed a complaint in the Ohio Supreme Court, saying a state database only will track involuntary hospitalizations from now forward and sheriffs will have few resources to get information about people who already have been committed.

The new law bars such patients, along with felons and persons guilty of such misdemeanors as assault on an officer, from receiving permits. However, a person hospitalized only for observation could obtain a permit should he or she otherwise qualify.

The rule states that a court must notify the state's Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation within seven days of deeming someone an "involuntary patient."

But the law has a loophole concerning people involuntarily hospitalized before the law went into effect, said Toby Hoover, executive director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, which long has opposed the idea of carrying hidden guns.

"This is just for future. Any sheriff that wants to know anything that happened before April 8 still must call all 88 counties," Hoover said.

The application form asks permit seekers if they ever have been committed to a mental institution or ruled incompetent by a judge or jury. It also asks applicants to list, "to the best of your knowledge," the address of every residence since age 18. The application has room to enter nine addresses.

"Sheriffs still have the ability to go to the counties," said Kim Norris, spokeswoman for Attorney General Jim Petro, whose agency oversees BCII. "Practically speaking, it has the last ... addresses going back a number of years. Those are the most likely places you'd start."

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Gun ban lobby seeks to block Ohio Right to Carry in court

Ohio Concealed Carry Law and HIPAA - NO CONFLICT

According to Senator Randy Gardner's office, the Ohio Attorney General's office has taken a firm position when it comes to Section 9 violators.

In an email response to CCW-advocate Bruce Beatty, who is waging a fight against multiple Section 9 violations by the Toledo Mayor and City Law Director, Sen. Gardner's office said the following:

"The AG's office is under the belief that public busses are not exempted and that local ordinances can't override state law."

The Ohio Attorney General has now concurred with the opinion we've been expressing for months: