Associated Press headline falsely claims Ohio colleges have choice when it comes to security

An Associated Press article headlined "Ohio leaves response plans for campus shooters to colleges" hit the wires on Saturday and has been published probably hundreds of times across the country and the Internet.

The problem? The headline is a lie.

The article begins by discussing variations in active killer training in various states, then quotes Jeff Robinson, a spokesman for higher education department, as saying that "In Ohio, each university and college board of trustees is tasked with formulating a campus safety plan that works best for that particular campus."

Unfortunately, they are being asked to formulate "a campus safety plan that works" with their hands tied behind their back.

Why do I say this? Because Ohio law specifically prohibits campuses, whether public or private, from enacting a safety plan that involves arming staffers or students. In fact, colleges and universities in Ohio don't even enjoy the same choices that our primary and secondary schools do. While local boards of education have the right to chose to authorize any person who can legally possess a concealed firearm to carry it in the school, Ohio colleges and universities have no such right to choose. They are specifically and totally forbidden this right to "opt-in" - to allow concealed carry on campus.

This needs to change, and the Ohio House State Government Committee agrees.

Last June, by a vote of 9-2, the committee approved Substitute House Bill 48, sponsored by state Rep. Ron Maag (R-Lebanon). House leaders still not chosen to bring the bill to a vote.

Not only would this bill establish "opt-in" language which would to allow authorities governing college campuses and certain government buildings in the Buckeye State, it also seeks to restore Ohioans' right to carry in day-care facilities (unless they post "no-guns"), private airplanes, school safety zones, and in non-secure areas of police stations and airports.

According to a CNSNews report last year, with a single exception, every multiple-victim public shooting in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed since at least 1950 has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry their own firearms. Despite reports to the contrary, the location of the latest attack - Umpqua Community College - is also a "no-guns" victim zone.

It is time to stop enforcing these "no-guns" victim zones and give people back their constitutional right to bear arms for self-defense. As the NRA-ILA notes, the proposed revisions offered by Sub. HB 48 are nothing more than practical changes to gun laws in Ohio. The ultimate goal is to close current loopholes in the concealed carry regulations and ensure that peaceable gun owners are able to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Please write or call your state Representative TODAY and urge them to demand that House leaders bring Sub. HB 48 to a vote.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, BFA PAC Vice Chairman, and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.

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