Ohioans For Concealed Carry is pleased to announce that The Carter Lumber Co. has made a decision to open its doors to Ohio concealed handgun license-holders, just as the company has done for customers in eight other concealed carry states for years.

In an email to OFCC, Carter Lumber's V.P. of Marketing, David McCafferty, stated as follows, and in part:

"The signage that was recently hung in our stores was never intended to discriminate against or offend any of our customers or members of the community.

By posting these signs, The Carter Lumber Company was following some advice based on our interpretation of the law. After investigating the situation further, we have decided to remove the signage from our stores."

We are pleased that The Carter Lumber Company management has taken the time to consider the facts and make an informed decision. As they must know from doing business in other states with concealed carry laws, there is no evidence that shows increased dangers to businesses because of concealed carry, yet many studies prove the benefits.

Please use the Carter Lumber's website to express your approval of their decision! Corporate Customer service can be reached at 330.673.6100, or by writing:

Carter Lumber
601 Tallmadge Rd.
Kent, OH 44240

To date, at least 10 major national chains and approximately 60 other businesses have removed their signs and opened their doors to Ohio Concealed Handgun License-holders.

To view the rapidly expanding list of businesses which have removed signs banning concealed handgun license-holders from their businesses, click here.

To view the list of businesses which have registered as "Safe Alternatives" - places where CCW is not only allowed, but welcomed, click here.

Related Stories:
Ohio's Carter Lumber posts discriminatory signs banning CHL-holders

Toby Hoover admits posting discriminatory signs is a ''business risk''

Beginning last week, Ohioans For Concealed Carry began learning that a number of states have announced that reciprocity agreements have been reached with Ohio regarding the recognition of concealed handgun licenses.

While encouraged by the news, we have chosen not to publicize this information, because no official announcement has yet come from the Ohio Attorney General's office. Until it comes, non-Ohio licensees will not be recognized by law enforcement in our state.

Deputy Attorney General Jonathan Fulkerson today advised OFCC as follows:

No matter what other states may put out on the Internet, we do not have an
agreement until the Attorney General has an original, signed reciprocity
contract in his physical possession. I am aware that some states have not
yet mailed back their contracts and have started making announcements.

Until we get those signed contracts, we can't say officially whether or not
a particular state will recognize Ohio CCW licenses and vice versa. Some
states may require modifications to the agreements to smooth out the
legalese. I'm very concerned about making an announcement only to have a
particular state's agreement delayed, modified or scrapped because of
contract language. The Attorney General wants to minimize any confusion on
this issue.

The Attorney General will make an official announcement as soon as we have
something in writing from each state."

Ohioans For Concealed Carry is pleased that progress is being made. We wish to urge caution: other states' announcements are subject to confirmation by the Attorney General, and these agreements are not yet official.

As with other such news, interested persons may count on Ohioans For Concealed Carry's website (www.ohioccw.org) to have the announcement early (perhaps first!), when it becomes official.

UPDATE! Deputy AG Jonathan Fulkerson has again contacted OFCC, with some excellent news!

"Florida and Washington state will be announced today on our website as
official reciprocity states as of June 29, 2004."

7/2/04 - Michigan has now been added! Click here to access the Attorney General's reciprocity website.

July 1, 2004
Cleveland Plain Dealer

Lawyer contends language inconsistent

Parts of the state's new concealed-weapons law are unconstitutional and were written by "idiots," contends a gun-rights advocate who sued the state Wednesday.

Stephen Miller, a lawyer and handgun instructor from Independence, sued in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, asking a judge to strike down the law's language governing how guns may be carried in vehicles.

The law requires that when people licensed to carry concealed weapons get into a vehicle, they lock their guns in the glove compartment or a box, or wear them holstered "in plain sight." But the law doesn't define "plain sight."

That is a huge blind spot, Miller contends. A holstered gun, even if not covered by clothing or other obstruction, can be hard for a person outside a vehicle to see on someone in the driver's seat, he said. And without a clear definition, an otherwise legally armed motorist who gets pulled over by police is at the whim of the officer's or department's interpretation.

A representative from one department told Miller police would arrest anyone whose gun isn't visible to an officer at the driver's window, Miller said, but the chief for another department said police wouldn't arrest in that situation.

"Therefore, you have an unequal application of the law and a violation of the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection," Miller said.

The ambiguity also leaves police departments vulnerable to charges of false arrest, he claims.

Ken Hanson, a lawyer for the group Ohioans for Concealed Carry Inc., said Miller's concerns are valid, and police chiefs are equally baffled over how to enforce the law.

"Most of the places I've talked to have taken the common-sense approach that if a gun is visible from any vantage point outside the car, it's OK," he said. "But several have expressed concerns."

Hanson, who lobbied for the law, said the State Highway Patrol wrote the language in question.

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

For at least the fourth time since passage of Ohio's concealed handgun license law, one of Ohio's few remaining gun control extremists has praised law-breaking as a means of opposing Ohio's new concealed carry law.

In a letter to Sidney Daily News editor Jeff Billiel, published June 30, Toby Hoover offers "congratulations" to the newspaper, which recently published the addresses of citizens who have obtained concealed handgun licenses from Shelby Co. Sheriff Kevin O'Leary. Dissemination of this private information is a felony, and a special prosecutor has been appointed to investigate.

This is far from the first time Hoover, who fronts what often appears to be a one-woman show known as the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, has praised law-breaking as a means of opposing this law.

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

June 29, 2004
Investor's Business Daily

By John R. Lott Jr. and Eli Lehrer

The gun -control movement is in trouble internationally. From Britain to Australia to Canada, promises of lower crime rates from gun control have turned into historic increases in crime.

While the normal knee-jerk solutions are to press for even more controls, once guns are banned the explanation that the laws failed simply because they didn't go far enough becomes almost humorous.

All these experiments were adopted under what gun-control advocates would argue were ideal conditions. All three countries adopted laws that applied to the entire country. Australia and Britain are surrounded by water, and thus do not have the easy smuggling problem that Canada claims to exist with regard to the U.S.

Take the United Kingdom: With new data showing violent crime soaring, Britain's home secretary announced legislation this month that would impose an outright ban on many toy guns.

Britain has already banned just about every type of weapon that a criminal might want to use. Handguns were made illegal in 1997, and nearly every other firearm (even BB guns) is now subject to a complex regulatory regime.

Twice As Dangerous

The laws didn't do what was claimed. The government just reported that gun crime in England and Wales nearly doubled in the four years from 1998-99 to 2002-03. The serious violent crime rate soared by 64%, and overall violent crime by 118%. The violent crime rate in England and Wales now stands at twice the rate of that in the U.S.

Understandably, the government wants to "do something," but it is hard to believe that the new proposals will succeed where past efforts have failed.

With the exception of the U.S., other English-speaking countries have followed Britain's lead in limiting gun ownership. Like the British, they have nothing to show for it.

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

June 28, 2004
Bennington Banner

SHAFTSBURY -- "Most people don't think of women wanting guns, but we do," says Bennington resident Jane Moffitt.
Moffitt, who hasn't used a gun in more than 20 years, wants to protect herself now that her husband has died. She decided to attend a free National Rifle Association-funded program just for women Sunday morning called "Women on Target."

Moffitt, along with 24 other women from the area, gathered at the Hale Mountain Fish and Game Club on Rod and Gun Club Road to familiarize themselves with the safety basics of pistol shooting. The course was instructed by law enforcement officers and an NRA-certified instructor.

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