Ohio State Highway Patrol's ''plain sight'' champion on his way out

By Chad D. Baus

The Columbus Dispatch reported this week that Col. Paul D. McClellan, the current Superintendent of the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP), has announced his retirement.

The retirement of McClellan, who made Buckeye Firearms' 2006 list of Ten People Who Are Threatening Your Ohio Gun Rights, comes at an ironic time for Ohio concealed handgun license-holders. Also being retired this week, thanks to passage of HB374, is the highly unpopular, unsafe requirement that CHL-holders carry their firearms in "plain sight" while in a motor vehicle - a provision which was lobbied for heavily by McClellan's OSHP before passage of Ohio's concealed carry law in 2003.

When lobbying against HB12 in 2003, McClellan said "New legislation normally addresses a problem, either existing or potential. Fortunately, in part due to the efforts of Ohio's law enforcement officers, Ohio has not experienced an epidemic which would dictate loading our vehicles with concealed guns."

During his tenure as Superintendant of the OSHP, McClellan made other outrageous and easily disprovable statements, such as:

"There is no statistical or anecdotal evidence which supports that concealment and transportation of a weapon in a motor vehicle is effective or safe as a defensive or deterrent measure."

and

"In fact, no legitimate organization has made empirically-based claims of cause and effect between lower crime rates and concealed weapon legislation."

Perhaps it is this statement that has had the most serious of consequences:

"Because the fundamental nature of motor vehicles allows those who feel threatened to simply drive away, the argument that motorists need loaded concealed weapons is weak."

The absurdity of this claim has been proven in blood again and again and again.

In 2003, McClellan stated "We hope that officer safety is placed at the forefront of future CCW debates."

Unfortunately, when acting as a lobbyist for the OSHP, McClellan seemed largely unconcerned with citizen safety.

From the Dispatch's retirement story:

The Clintonville native, 56, plans a vagabond retirement. He and his wife intend to sell their Hilliard home and travel with their two "ankle-biters," dachshunds Max and Bailey.

They will live out of a recreational trailer while flitting from place to place to see the land.

It is my hope that McClellan has the opportunity to meet and get to know many a polite, law-abiding concealed carry license-holder on his journies across our proud nation.