OSHP's car carry language contributes to increased potential for firearms theft

June 16, 2004

I guess you can mark me down as one of the first people for it to happen to.
I am hanging my head in shame and embarrassment as I write this.

Last Thursday evening when I got home from the store I got out of my van, hit the
door lock and went into my apartment. I do not have a visible holster or a locking glove compartment so I use a GunVault Double level lock box to keep my carry pistol locked up while I am driving.

Long story short, I had a lot on my mind and completely forgot to grab my gun out of my van before I got out.

I am now out of a Smith and Wesson
340PD .357 Scandium revolver and an expensive lock box.

I mentally beat myself up every day for forgetting my firearm in my vehicle
but what really [angers] me is the fact that my concealed carry pistol ever has to leave my pocket. This carrying visibly holstered or locked away in the car [language] needs to be corrected!

Brock
Fulton Co.

Commentary:
The Ohio State Highway Patrol's dangerous 'plain sight' car carry language has just helped put a stolen gun on the street. We warned Senators about this, and on something like this, we don't like being right.

Brock wishes he'd taken his firearm inside. But what if he didn't have that option? Had he been at a posted business or picking up his kids at daycare or in any other victim zone, this was a proper method for storing his firearm in his car while he was inside the victim zone.

Police say criminals are known to "case" their targets, watching for citizens who they see storing their firearm or other valuables before leaving their vehicles.

From purse-snatching operations in Cincinnati and Columbus, to burglaries, vandalism and car theft in movie theatre and mall parking lots, it is obvious that Gahanna Police Chief Murphy was right when he testified in the Senate last year that the safest place for a CCW-licenseholder's firearm is on the hip of it's owner.

We hope legislators remove the 'plain sight' requirements before we are proven right on our prediction that
that this ridiculous language, which was inserted to avoid a Taft veto, will also result in accidental discharges, since fulfilling the law's demands requires too much firearms handling.

Related Stories:
Dayton Daily News, June 17 - Residents urged to remove items from locked cars
FAIRBORN | Police are urging residents to remove items from their locked vehicles after more than 40 vehicles were broken into June 10 and again on Monday.

Related Story:
Business' CCW bans contribute to increased potential for firearms theft