Headline: 2 Van Wert gun trainers guilty of short courses

The Lima News is reporting that two firearms instructors - one a former police chief - have pleaded guilty to criminal charges after being accused of cutting concealed handgun license classes short of the mandatory 12-hour time frame.

From the article:

Forest Gordon, 49, of Van Wert, pleaded guilty Friday to attempted conspiracy to falsification to obtain a concealed handgun license, a fifth-degree felony. Dain Stauffer, 37, of Cairo, pleaded guilty to falsification, a first-degree misdemeanor.

Both men are scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 29 in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court.

Van Wert County Sheriff Thomas Riggenbach said the Sheriff’s Office received a complaint the class was not meeting the 12-hour time frame. The class they held ran nine and a half hours, the sheriff said.

“We conducted an investigation into a class that was put on, and it didn’t meet the required 12 hours,” Riggenbach said.

The charges are only for the one class, the sheriff said. Gordon is a former police officer.

The registration process for the concealed handgun license classes for the men took place through Patriot Arms in Van Wert, Riggenbach said. Patriot Arms is a local gun shop that lists Gordon as the agent for the company.

Gordon is the former Ottawa and Kalida police chief who was convicted of two felonies in 2010 and sentenced to a year in prison, only to have the charges of two counts of theft in office overturned on appeal.

Gordon was accused of selling guns from the property room at the Ottawa Police Department as well as theft of equipment belonging to the Kalida Police Department. The appellate court ruled the sale of firearms had nothing to do with his official duties as police chief and could not be theft in office. They also said there was insufficient evidence of criminal intent.

In late August, the Ottawa Co. Sheriff's office began issuing letters regarding another instructor who allegedly issued training certificates to individuals who had not completed the course requirements required by Ohio law.

Instructors and students be advised - Ohio law still requires concealed handgun license classes to be 12 hours in length, and sheriffs are watching. If you take a class that fails to meet the required 12 hours of instruction, your certificate is not valid for purposes of obtaining an Ohio CHL. Further, if you apply for a CHL using an invalid training certificate, you could face criminal charges. Penalties could include suspension/revocation of your CHL, fines, jail, and a lifetime ban on possessing firearms.

As my friend and colleague Jim Irvine wrote recently, "There are many laws that Buckeye Firearms Association is working to change, but it is critical that we follow the laws that are on the books. It does not matter if we like or dislike a law. It does not matter if we think it's a good or a bad law. All that matters is that it is a law, and we follow it. When something like this happens, it paints all CHL holders, and all gun owners, in a bad light. It is unfortunate that the acts of a few people can damage such a large segment of society, but that is the political reality of such reckless behavior."

Ohio has a more extensive training requirement than many other states, and it is clear from these unfortunate incidents and others like them in the past, that there is demand for a class that is not so time-intensive. Ohio House Bill 203 would reduce the training requirement to obtain an Ohio CHL to a more reasonable four hours, but the Republican-led Senate has failed to act on the bill, which passed in the House nearly one year ago.

If the Senate does not act, HB 203 will die at the end of December, along with the many other pro-gun bills that are pending. If you want to see the General Assembly act on this and other important bills, call your Representative and Senator NOW and ask them when pro-gun legislation is going to move in Ohio. They want your vote in November. Tell them we want their votes too.

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.