Concealed-carry law working well, officials say

Keep this one handy for all the Anti-gun people with their fear mongoring about LTCF permit holders, wild west shoot outs BS. They have a fear based disarmament agenda, with articles like this you have the facts.

http://www.morningjournalnews.com/pa...id/502255.html

OHIO Concealed-carry law working well, officials say

LISBON — When the new state law went into effect in 2004 allowing law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed weapon, some of the more hysterical critics predicted the streets would run red with blood, as every Ohio town was transformed into a modern-day Dodge City.

Four years later and it hasn’t quite worked out that way.

“None of the blood-letting has occurred. There were no OK Corrals,” said Robert Cornwell, executive director of the Buckeye State Sheriffs Association. “The bill as it was passed has worked very well.”

The law went into effect April 2004 allowing law-abiding adults to obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun after passing a criminal background check and undergoing mandatory firearms safety training from a state-approved instructor.

Between 2004 and 2007, the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office issued 1,296 permits, with the largest number — 603 — coming the first year. The number dropped to 263 in 2005 and then 211 in 2006 and 219 last year. During the same period, 108,868 licenses were issued statewide.

Cornwell is unaware of any incident involving a permit-holder using his handgun to commit a crime, which isn’t surprising given the experience of the 40 other states that already had concealed-carry laws. None of those states saw an increase in gun violence after enacting the law, and some actually experienced a decrease.

County Sheriff David Smith, who supported the bill, said his office hasn’t had any problems with any of the permit-holders, except in two instances. One involved a Salem-area man stopped for driving drunk who was found to have his handgun improperly stored in the car visor.

The other case involved a Calcutta man charged with threatening his neighbor with his handgun. The man claimed he was acting in self-defense and the prosecution later dropped the charges after the grand jury declined to indict him for a felony offense.

“It’s worked here fine,” Smith said of the law.

That’s not to say the entire experience has been free of problems. Chief Deputy Sheriff Allen Haueter said they temporarily revoked permits in about a dozen cases where the permit-holder was charged with a crime that required the action being taken. In all but one of these cases the permits were reinstated after the magistrate denied the petition seeking a protection order.

“Other than that we haven’t had any problems,” he said.

The initial permits were for four years, and the first group of applicants have been descending on the sheriff’s office almost daily for the past six weeks seeking renewal of their permits. Smith said renewals must be treated the same, with applicants going through the entire lengthy process.

Since 2004, only five applications were rejected after the people were found to have a criminal background or other issues that prevented their being allowed to carry a concealed weapon, and all of these occurred the first year.

According to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, 1,684 applications have been rejected statewide since 2004, while another 482 were revoked.

Chief Deputy Haueter said not every permit-holder carries a handgun on a regular basis.

“A lot of people who come in say they don’t know why they’re renewing their permit, because they never use it. They just like having it,” he said.

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Originally Posted by WhiteFeather

County Sheriff David Smith, who supported the bill, said his office hasn’t had any problems with any of the permit-holders, except in two instances. One involved a Salem-area man stopped for driving drunk who was found to have his handgun improperly stored in the car visor.

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What the hell???:confused:

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Originally Posted by noofus

What the hell???:confused:

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I believe Ohio has some restrictions on how and where a firearm can be carried in a car. Iirc they are trying to fix that part of their carry laws. Very different from PA.

Now if only they would issue non-resident permits.

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Originally Posted by MikeB0

I believe Ohio has some restrictions on how and where a firearm can be carried in a car. Iirc they are trying to fix that part of their carry laws. Very different from PA.

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I was questioning keeping it in the visor. How does that work?

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Originally Posted by noofus

I was questioning keeping it in the visor. How does that work?

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Ah I was wondering after I hit submit if that was actually what you were questioning.

It doesn't say what type of gun it was. I have more than a couple of small guns that would fit in one of those pocket thingies some people attach to their visors.

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Originally Posted by noofus

I was questioning keeping it in the visor. How does that work?

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Poorly. ;)

Governor Strickland just signed a Castle Doctrine Bill which also contained provision improvements to the state's concealed carry law. The changes are more explained here: http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/5730

Ohio has had some pretty bad and stupid gun laws. Thankfully, we have a legislature and finally a gun friendly governor who are in position to fix some of these. As far as transporting in a car, there was for a big NO LEGAL WAY for an unlicensed person to transport a handgun a court ruled, which is completely absurd. With this new bill, all that needs to happen is the gun is in some sort of closed container, and no bullets in the gun or speed loaders or magazines, that's it. For valid CCW holders, under this new bill, you can transport it in a holster secured on your person, in an unlocked closed glove compartment or closed center console, in a locked box, or in a visible closed or zipped bag of some sort. We still have some stupid laws, but it finally is getting better. I'm just glad we don't have fat eddy over here, who i'm sure would veto a law like this in a heart beat should it be passed in Pennsylvania. But I can tell you that I still like PA's conceal carry law much better than in Ohio, but I do like Ohio's gun purchase law better, so I guess this is one of those cases where you can't have your cake and eat it too I guess..... I'm all for PA and OH establishing reciprocity, but I'm guessing OH has some issue, since PA seems to be pretty willing to sign on with anyone who will recognize their license.

As long as you have a license which Ohio honors, resident or non-resident of the issuing state, you are fine to carry. Just make sure you know the laws, which can be found at handgunlaw.us If you guys have any further questions, please feel free to ask me, as I will do my best to help you out.