July 6, 2004
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The state's concealed weapons law has not produced the number of applications that backers envisioned, but it's too soon be tinkering with it, the bill's sponsor said Tuesday.

Ohio's 88 county sheriffs, who issue the permits, have given out about 22,000 applications since the law took effect on April 8, said Robert Cornwell, executive director of the Buckeye State Sheriffs Association. That's about half as many as backers had predicted by this point.

Rep. Jim Aslanides, a Coshocton Republican who sponsored the bill, said he expected 100,000 applicants the first year. That figure is likely to be around 50,000, he said. Applicants must pass a background check and 12 hours of safety training.

The low numbers could indicate dissatisfaction with the law, but more information needs to be gathered before lawmakers revisit it, Aslanides said.

"We are gathering as much information as we can in our office and will look at possible parts of concealed-carry that we may need to address," Aslanides said. "In order to really have evidence to support the reason to make changes, you need a little bit of time."

Attorney General Jim Petro's office added a concealed weapons information page to its Web site in April. From April 1 through Monday, 4,422 people had downloaded a copy of the law from the site, while a sign for property owners to post if they forbid the carrying of weapons on their premises had been copied 783 times, Petro spokeswoman Kim Norris said.

Aslanides said it was unlikely his office would collect enough information for the Legislature to act before the current session ends at the end of the year. But opponents expect plenty of amending soon.

"Across the country, the gun lobby repeatedly comes back. They'll ask to do it all," said Toby Hoover, executive director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence. "It's those same people who had a very loud voice who convinced the legislators they had to do that."

Those who feel the law is restrictive are upset with what they see as uneven issuance of applications and processing of permits among the 88 sheriffs.

"It is a serious problem when you have sheriffs who are only taking 40 applications a week. They are restricting it to a day or two. That's why we're trying to work with the BSSA to try to end those problems," said Chad Baus, a spokesman for Ohioans for Concealed Carry. "If the sheriffs can't do that, then we'll work to get the law changed."

The sheriffs are stretching their resources in some counties to accommodate the applicants, Cornwell said. Sheriffs issue one-time permits for fireworks and other explosives, such as dynamite to clear farmland, but the concealed weapons permits require more time to process, Cornwell said.

Another area of concern to Baus' group is the information applicants must give to the sheriffs, who must release it to the media if they request it: the applicant's name, county of residence and date of birth.

Any attempt to remove that provision from the law would be vetoed by Gov. Bob Taft, who insisted on its inclusion before he signed the bill, said Taft spokesman Orest Holubec. The information assures that "the right people are getting permits and the wrong people not getting them," he said.

Some backers are working to elect enough pro-gun lawmakers to remove the threat of the veto. It takes a three-fifths majority of both the House and Senate to override.

"A few more votes and we wouldn't have had to worry about him or his veto," Baus said.

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While this story focuses on the problems with implementation of the law, click on the "Read More..." link below to read about some of the information we provided the AP on the positive developments with Ohio CHL.

Nationalreview.com

Blame Canada

By Eli Lehrer

Canada's two major parties — the long-ruling Liberals and the new Conservative Party of Canada — remained deadlocked after the polls closed last night. In all likelihood, that's bad news for gun ownership and public safety up north.

The Liberals, who have gone from a 168-seat majority in the 308-seat House of Commons to a plurality of about 135 seats, will almost certainly form a coalition with the socialist New Democratic Party (NDP) to rule Canada. The NDP peddles a watered-down form of socialism that's heavy on interest-group politics but moderate overall: The party has few major spending plans, and even proposes some tax cuts. But the NDP is dead set on taking away Canadians' guns and even reducing gun freedoms in the U.S. "We're proposing going across the border to the U.S. and actively engaging in lobbying to have gun-control laws in the U.S. strengthened," NDP leader Jack Layton explained at a May campaign rally in Winnipeg. And, given that the Liberals will almost certainly have to deal with him to join a government, more gun control — which imposes reasonably few monetary burdens — may well become reality.

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

July 2, 2004
Dayton Daily News

Clerks working alone targeted

The FBI has linked a March 5 rape and robbery at Southtown Shopping Center in Miami Twp. through forensic evidence to five of nine similar cases in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Officials believe the same suspect is attacking female clerks working in businesses at shopping centers near interstates.

Another Miami Valley attack — at a Jeffersonville Outlet Mall in January — has also been linked to the nine cases, four of which happened in Ohio.

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

July 3, 2004
Lorain Morning Journal

This is an occasional offering of short editorials on a variety of topics, some that deserve flowers and some that draw frowns. Send your comments to Letters, The Morning Journal, 1657 Broadway, Lorain, OH 44052, or e-mail to letters@morningjournal.com.

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FROWNS: Here's a new way to waste our tax money; the state has to defend itself in a lawsuit that contends Ohio's new concealed weapons law doesn't sufficiently make clear what it means when it says a gun must be holstered ''in plain view'' in a car, unless it's locked in a glove compartment. The lawyer-gun instructor who is suing contends that without specifying what ''in plain view'' means, gun-toters are at the mercy of an individual cop's interpretation and thus could suffer bruises to their 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law. He wants the plain view requirement stricken. Let's just strike the whole concealed guns law and return to a state of sanity.

Commentary:
We welcome the newspaper editors' desire to "return to a state of sanity", and we'd like to point out that the easiest way to get there is not through new legislation - it's by jumping on the 80/90 and heading west to Illinois, Kansas, Wisconsin or Nebraska - the only four states left without such self-defense laws.

We might even consider helping with gas.

On July 5, 2004, the Newark Advocate published an excellent story, written by Jim Siegel, about 2004 OFCC PAC endorsee Rob Hood.

In the article, Siegel wrote that Hood "shocked" some local Republican leaders when he won the March primary in the 91st House district, earning a chance at the seat that has been held by Speaker Larry Householder, who is term-limited. Hood beat out three challengers, including the man who had the backing of Householder.

Ron Hood was a state representative from Mahoning County from 1995 through 2000, and was part of an early coalition of legislators who sought to overturn Ohio's 150-year ban on bearing concealed firearms for self-defense.

Hood is opposed by Democrat Dan Dodd, who says he also supports CCW.

Hood is optimistic for his chances on November 2, perhaps because, as Siegel points out in his article, "the 91st District is roughly 55 percent Republican -- the most favorable district Hood has ever run in." Hood's past three victories were all in districts that leaned Democratic.

"It's very complex to run to my right," Hood told the Advocate. "And running to my left puts you out of step with the district."

For more on OFCC PAC endorsees for the Ohio House 2004, click here.