Demand (and lawsuit?) prompt Summit Co. Sheriff to open second Ohio CHL office

Demand for Ohio concealed handgun licenses (CHLs) has been extremely heavy for over a year now, and some sheriff's offices have done better than others at accommodating the increase.

One place where citizens continue to experience significant delays is Summit County, where Cuyahoga Falls resident Thomas Jakupca II decided to file a complaint in Summit County Common Pleas Court accusing the sheriff of failing to adhere to state law, which requires sheriffs issue CCW permits to qualified applicants within 45 days of their request.

FromThe Beacon Journal in Akron:

The sheriff's office issued Jakupca's permit three days after he filed the complaint, but he said that wasn't enough. He amended the complaint April 1 and is demanding the court order the sheriff's office to demonstrate that it can comply with state law.

"I'm just looking for a little accountability from our local government," he said.

...

Jakupca said he is seeking a court order, even though he already has his permit, because "it's just a matter of principal and conscience."

"The law is only so good if people have respect for it," he said. "I was definitely appalled at the number of people who said, 'The law here doesn't work; let's go to another county.' "

Shortly after the complaint was filed, Sheriff Kandy Fatheree announced that she is opening a second license processing location in the Summit County Title Bureau in Akron to ease backlogs.

Fatheree, who took office in January, announced April 14 that she planned to open the new permit processing station by the end of the month.

Sheriff's office spokesman Troy Gawlak said plans to open the new processing site were in the works since before Jakupca filed his complaint.

This is a project that Sheriff Fatheree began working on during her first week in office when she became aware of the existing scheduling backlog for CCW applications," Gawlak said. "We have no way of measuring how many applicants are not able to make an appointment, but we know that scheduling is currently backed up for months. Simply put, the volume of demand far exceeds the capacity of one processing office at the county jail."

Gawlak said the new office will perform the same function as the current office at the Summit County Jail, where applicants must schedule appointments.

"This secondary location is more conveniently located for many residents, it will double the current CCW processing capabilities and it will offer expanded weekday and weekend hours to better accommodate working families," he said.

The sheriff's office is being allowed to use space at the title bureau at no cost, Gawlak said.

"It will consist of windowed counter space, fingerprinting hardware and a computer, and an ID printing machine," Gawlak said.

According to the sheriff's office, the new office should open within the next two to four weeks.

In response to the statewide pandemic shutdown in 2020, Buckeye Firearms Association worked to pass legislation which extended expired Concealed Handgun Licenses and removed the contiguous county requirement during the time of Ohio's "emergency order" related to the COVID virus. We will continue to monitor the situation and communicate with legislators as the expiration dates for those changes draw nearer.

In the mean-time, write to your state legislators and point out to them that these continued problems highlight the need for Ohio's (overwhelmingly Republican) legislature to finally pass Constitutional Carry in Ohio, so that problems like this will no longer prevent people from exercising their Constitutional right to bear arms for defense and security. People should not have to ask the government's permission to exercise a constitutional right in the first place, let alone have to wait months to obtain that permission.

Chad D. Baus served as Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary from 2013-2019, and continues to serve on the Board of Directors. He is co-founder of BFA-PAC, and served as its Vice Chairman for 15 years. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website, and is also an NRA-certified firearms instructor.