Concealed-carry activist pleads not guilty in court

The Toledo Blade is
reporting that a Luckey, Ohio, man who challenged Toledo police to arrest him earlier this month when he carried his concealed handgun into Toledo's Ottawa Park pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a minor misdemeanor.

From the story:

Bruce Beatty, 49, appeared for a brief arraignment yesterday before Toledo Municipal Court Magistrate David Smith. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for June 3.

Mr. Beatty was cited for violating the city's park rules. A conviction on a minor misdemeanor carries a fine of up to $100.

Meanwhile, David Toska, chief of Toledo's prosecutor's office, said he will not file charges against city officials despite a police report that Mr. Beatty filed accusing city authorities of violating his civil rights by citing him in the park.

Mr. Beatty contends that the city's ban violates the state's one-year-old law that allows permit-holders to carry a concealed weapon.

The Blade story ends with a line often repeated in its stories on this subject:

The state law specifically prohibits concealed weapons in schools, government buildings, and places of worship, but does not mention parks.

Not surprisingly, the Blade fails to mention what the Ohio General Assembly did say on the subject when it enacted OhioCCW:

"It is the intent of the General Assembly…to enact laws of a general nature, and, by enacting those laws of a general nature, the state occupies and preempts the field of issuing licenses to carry a concealed handgun and the validity of licenses of that nature. No municipal corporation may adopt or continue in existence any ordinance, and no township may adopt or continue in existence any resolution, that is in conflict with those sections, including, but not limited to, any ordinance or resolution that attempts to restrict the places where a person possessing a valid license to carry a concealed handgun may carry a handgun concealed."