2007 Attorney General Summary on Concealed Carry

By Jim Irvine

Ohio Attorney Marc Dann (D) has posted the 2007 Annual Report on Ohio’s Concealed Handgun License law.

Concealed carry has been legal in Ohio for over four years now and over 107,000 Ohioans are licensed to carry a gun. Add to that the people who can carry in Ohio on licenses issued by 25 other states, and it is safe to say that most people cross paths with a license holder on a daily basis.

As in every other state that passed a concealed carry law, none of the fear mongering predictions came true. There have not been widespread shootouts at fender benders, blood in the streets, shootouts ala the OK coral, fist fights turning into gun fights, scared people shooting innocent bystanders (either accidentally or on purpose). Kids have not got their hands on guns being carried concealed. Road rage has not turned into high-speed shootouts. License holders have not become cowboys or vigilantes. And no police have been shot by license holders during traffic stops.

None of the predictions made by the anti-self-defense nuts have come true. Not one.

What has happened, is exactly what we said would happen. Good people have used their gun to stop or prevent crimes. Studies have shown that 95% of the time, this happens without a shot ever being fired. Unfortunately, sometimes the criminals give the victim no choice but to use deadly force to avoid injury. You can read about some of these cases here: Ohio CHL holders acting in self defense

Suspensions and revocations have remained low. Suspensions in 2007 were less than 5 out of 1,000. Revocations were less than 2 out of 1,000. And these include all suspensions and revocations for any reason, including death, moving, paperwork glitches, etc. Total numbers have increase fractionally as the CHL population grows, but revocation rates remain less than one-half of one percent of licenses ever issued, proving that we were correct when we testified that license holders would be among the most law abiding groups in society.

More telling is that denials for licenses have remained remarkably steady, from 2004 to 2007 as follows: 436, 427, 384, and 434. The system works. The right people are being issued licenses.

Download the official 2007 Annual Report: Ohio's Concealed Carry Law (.pdf).