Taft concern for Home Rule evaporates; HB9 signed into law

By Chad D. Baus

In a surprisingly brief article (especially given how hard the media has pushed for this bill for the past two years), the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that Governor Taft has signed House Bill 9 into law.

From the story:

Substitute House Bill 9 requires that all public officials or their designees attend training programs and seminars about Ohio's public records law.

Additionally, all elected offices must adopt a public records policy and provide an explanation when a request for public records is denied.

...Another provision in the legislation allows journalists to view concealed-weapon permits granted by county sheriffs, but prohibits law enforcement officials from making photocopies of the records for reporters.

In a prepared statement, Gov. Taft said "I am pleased to sign House Bill 9, which will make state and local government officials more accountable, and I appreciate the work of the Ohio General Assembly for passing this important piece of legislation."

The following commentary was recently published in the Wilmington News Journal.

By Tim Inwood

Back in September I wrote a guest editorial about
the Sixth District Court ruling in the Bruce Beatty
case. The ruling concerned the city of Toledo
prosecuting Bruce Beatty for carrying a firearm in a
municipal
park. Toledo had prohibited carrying handguns in parks
despite the fact the State Attorney General, Jim
Petro, said it was perfectly legal to carry a handgun
in a park under Ohio law.

At the time I said it was
clear the ruling barring carrying in the parks would
not stand. As I predicted the ban has been stuck down
by the State legislature passing HB 347 which has
given us state wide preemption, among other things.
Sadly the ruling against Bruce Beatty still stands as
that is how the Court interpreted the law at the time.
The same will be true for Mr. Baskin in the recent
ruling from the State Supreme Court in Cincinnati vs.
Baskin. That case involved Cincinnati's "assault
weapons" ban, that went well beyond assault weapons.

Because of the frequent abuse of Ohio’s concealed
carry law by several cities, a move to reform the law
began. An excellent example that you all may well
recall was the many months that I did battle with
Mayor Dave Raizk of Wilmington for violating the
spirit of Ohio’s concealed carry law. His offense was
posting the Denver Williams Park and the Clinton
County Fairgrounds. It was only after Attorney General
Petro issued a written opinion on the subject that the
Mayor relented and obeyed the law by removing the
signs.

Click on 'Read More' for the entire commentary.

Buckeye Firearms Association Legislative Chair Ken Hanson recently attend Blackwater USA’s 5 day pistol/carbine class.

While attending class, Ken kept a blog of his experiences. Since most visitors to this site take training very seriously, we thought you would enjoy his ramblings.

Ken's five day experience has been published on this website on Tuesdays and Thursdays through the end of the month.

Click on 'Read More' for the fifth and final installment.