Plain Dealer: Speaker will deal to save gun bill

After the campaign waged by the Ohio Newspaper Association and various liberal editorial boards to advance Taft's latest agenda, we would've espected declarations of victory in today's headlines. Yet only the Plain Dealer is among the conspirators who informed their readers of this update, which undoubtedly indicates they were not successul in "sinking" HB12 with the public records issue.

11/26/03
Sandy Theis

Columbus - House Speaker Larry Householder said he's willing to negotiate with Gov. Bob Taft over the governor's demand for the state to disclose the names of people who are issued permits to carry concealed handguns.

Gov. Bob Taft appeared to derail the long-debated gun bill last week when he threatened to veto it unless it requires the state to disclose the name, birth date and county of residence of people who are issued a gun permit.

House and Senate leaders initially rejected Taft's demand, but Householder reversed himself yesterday.

"Let's try and work out the differences and get things settled once and for all," Householder said.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

Although he described himself as a supporter of public records, he stopped short of endorsing Taft's entire list of demands.

"It all depends on the details," he said in an interview yesterday. "I think the names of retired police officers ought to be exempt [from disclosure], for obvious reasons."

Taft spokesman Orest Holubec said the governor welcomes the speaker's willingness to negotiate, and said Taft has made his list of demands very clear.

Debate over the whether gun-permitting records should be public comes as legislators are trying to resolve differences between the House- and Senate-passed versions of legislation that would allow law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons. Both versions, however, call for exempting permitting records from public scrutiny.

Taft is arguing that the public has a right to know whether its friends, neighbors or baby-sitters have gun permits.

Opponents counter that making the records public could help gun-seeking criminals to target homes whose residents have a gun permit.

Click here to read the story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

A new survey has been added to this website, inquiring as to how Taft will respond if public records made to his liking. To vote, click here.

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