2004 amendments to Ohio concealed handgun license law ''unlikely''

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.

Before the law was implemented, Ohioans For Concealed Carry projected that as many as 100,000 applicants could be expected in the first 12 months. Attorney General Petro suggested that number could be reached in as little as six months.

But neither Mr. Petro nor OFCC took into consideration the possibility that a number of Ohio sheriffs would intentionally not follow the law, or would make applications procedures so exceedingly difficult that only a handful of people may apply each week. Sheriffs in two of Ohio's most populous counties - Cuyahoga and Franklin - along with certain others, have slowed the process down. But they can't stop it.

Even in spite of these few Sheriffs' poor performance (some of which have taken lawsuits to attempt to correct), the number of issued licenses is 22,000 and climbing (this number does not include the thousands of applications that are still being processed). We defy anyone to show us record of a gun control turn-in/buy-out scheme that has seen numbers exceeding 22,000 in 90 days.

To state that 22,000 in 90 days is "about half as many as backers had predicted by this point" is certainly stretching the limits of the words "about" and "half". In fact, if the rate of 22,000 licenses issued in 90 days continued, over 89,000 licenses would be issued over the course of the year.

While we do not expect that initial surge rate to continue, we also do not expect the surge rate to fall as much as it has in other states, since the demand for licenses continues to be hampered by supply problems at sheriff's offices. Waiting lists are still a month long in many counties - that is certainly no indicator of a lack of interest.

OFCC has NEVER claimed that more than 1-3% of the state's population" will ever obtain CHLs. We DID claim that allowing those citizens who choose to do so to exercise their right to bear arms for self-defense would force crime rates down, just as it has in Michigan, where crime dropped 10.5% in the first two years after passage, while Ohio's rate climbed 5%.

More good news that wasn't deemed newsworthy: