Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- Since 2004 one of this organization’s biggest legislative goals was to eliminate the sheer number of restaurants you could not enter while carrying a concealed handgun in Ohio.

As of midnight Friday morning we are thrilled to see this law become effective.

Since early August Ohioans For Concealed Carry, through a team of grassroots volunteers in our discussion forums, have been blanketing the State of Ohio’s law enforcement agencies with a three page document educating them on the law changes. Some agencies have literally adopted this actual document as their position, policy, or formal communication to officers on the changes. One Sheriff forwarded the letter as PDF to every single member of his office and mandated that they read and understand the document. You should print this out and read it to become familiar with the changes that are effective immediately – and consider distributing copies to your local law enforcement to re-enforce the fact that the law has changed:

http://www.ohioccw.org/files/SB17-educational-letter-v4.pdf

As of midnight the following changes became effective Ohio law:

• - Restaurant carry is now lawful for concealed carry licensees and reciprocal permits/licenses.
• - Substantial relaxed changes to the transport of a firearm in a vehicle are now effective law in Ohio.

Remember, and further teach these points to anyone you discuss this issue with:

You may not consume alcohol while carrying a firearm in a Class D facility. Its a FELONY.
Private property signs prevail as they would anywhere else.

However, when it comes to a private property business that is not a government entity, day care, school, or church – remember that you must knowingly violate a “No Guns” sign to be breaking any laws when it comes to private property.

If you discover you’ve unwittingly entered a “posted” facility simply leave, or leave and come back unarmed. Do not feel obligated to hunt down or find signs in private property businesses – they must be posted conspicously and you must KNOW that the sign is there or a policy exists.

(The belief that you must ask or hunt down a lack of a sign’s existance is a recently frequent misunderstanding of the law)

If you entered such a posted business unwittingly, you did not “knowingly” violate a law. However, once you become aware or if you are verbally advised, you must rectify the situation immediately.

What we as gun owners have accomplished with Restaurant Carry is just the beginning. We need your help to continue working on some of the bigger challenges before us:

OFCC has been working with Representative Danny Bubp on legislation to eliminate the law that some officers have used to “trip up” someone who didn’t “inform” the officer that they were armed in a “fast enough” manner. This legislation is our current priority and will hopefully become publicly introduced in very short order.

We are aggressively fighting the City of Cleveland Heights in litigation in Cuyahoga County courts over illegal gun laws and “No Guns” signs in their parks that they simply refused to take down. Once we filed a lawsuit they promptly repealed their laws, took down the signs, and now they’re trying to get out of paying our attorney’s fees as required by law. We must fight this in court now because cities are simply thumbing their nose at us until we sue them — then they immediately comply and refuse to pay our attorney’s fees. This is NOT what the legislature intended the penalty aspects of Ohio Revised Code 9.68 to do. We must pursue this to resolution.

We have other legislative efforts being drafted and worked on with a number of members of the legislature, including many items solicited from our membership via the Ohioans For Concealed Carry Forums.

As a truly grassroots organization we can’t do this without financial support. All of the people who make OFCC run it’s day to day operations, it’s websites, and all of our legislative endeavors cost us nothing because we don’t pay employees. We are all volunteers.

But volunteers incur costs to travel, to park at the Statehouse, to run websites like OhioCCW.org and OhioCCWForums.org. We need to raise money to be able to sue a city when they refuse to back down, or any other time the lawyers need to be engaged to make our point.

We need your help. If you’re not a member of Ohioans For Concealed Carry, please join the organization right now. If you are, or if you’re about to join, please consider a financial contribution in whatever amount you can afford. Your training probably cost you about $100, and your license in the neighborhood of half of that.

How much is it worth to you to have an aggressive grassroots force regularly working to improve the law?

Your support of Ohioans For Concealed Carry makes announcements like “Restaurant Carry is now LAW” possible. We’re counting on you to help us accomplish even more! To make a donation or join Ohioans For Concealed Carry visit our webstore:

http://secure.OhioCCW.org

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- WHERE: Cleveland Heights’ Forest Hills Park

WHEN: 12:30pm until about 2:30pm

WHO: You and anyone else you want to bring. Kids welcome. Its a park!

WHAT: The Open Carry picnic is similar to an open carry walk, but instead of having a walk we’ve reserved the pavilions in Cleveland Heights and we’re going to cook out hot dogs! Come join us!

ARMED: Sure. You’re welcome to come carrying OPENLY or if you prefer, concealed. Come join us for a GREAT social event and help us make a point. Local news media is expected to attend in some fashion.

RSVP: If you would, either respond to this email IF YOU ARE ATTENDING and say “I’m coming!” — or if you’re a member of our discussion forums go read this thread and vote in the poll: www.ohioccwforums.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=55255

WHY: Well ok, that is going to take more than a few words:

Ohioans For Concealed Carry began writing the City of Cleveland Heights in 2008 asking them to take down their “No Guns” signs in their parks and to repeal their illegal gun control ordinances.

We received a prompt and courteous “ok” reply from a member of council who said he’d work with the law director to resolve the problem. That individual is no longer on council, and because of the positive reply we had moved on to OTHER burning tasks on our agenda.

Fast forward to late 2010, early 2011 and it became obvious that not only did all of their anti-gun ordinances still exist, but they’ve continued to post “NO Guns” signs in the parks.

OFCC’s newest coordinator, who also serves as our media relations manager, is a resident of the city and pointed out that he had discussions with a candidate for council who promised to fix the issues. That individual is on council and wouldn’t address the issue again.

Emails from people like you to the City of Cleveland Heights were ignored.

Finally, OFCC’s Compliance Coordinator Chris Harben called the City of Cleveland Heights law director to discuss one of our recent mailings about open carry laws. When he introduced himself he was told “I know who you are” (with a chuckle). When Chris explained the issues that were on-going in Cleveland Heights he was told that the law director didn’t agree with our position, or the law — and hung up on.

Last month Ohioans For Concealed Carry sued the City of Cleveland Heights in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, pointing out that the City of Cleveland Heights was violating Ohio Revised Code 9.68 — statewide preemption of firearms laws.

FOX8 Covers OFCC’s Cleveland Heights Lawsuit

After a week or two of insisting they “never heard” from us about anything but the signs in their park in the news media Ohioans For Concealed Carry published the emails and faxes we had sent to the City of Cleveland Heights (as well as their responses) from 2008 here: Cleveland Heights, Law Director: On Notice Since 2008

The City of Cleveland Heights promptly did what we’ve been asking them to do since 2008:

• Promptly passed emergency legislation to repeal illegal gun ordinances
• Promptly REMOVED the signs in their parks that banned carrying a firearm.

But that is not all:

They filed a response with the court asking the court to DISMISS THE CASE AGAINST THEM because they had decided to finally agree with us now that we had sued them. The judge has yet to formally rule on that motion.

Ohio Revised Code calls for an entity that is found to have violated ORC 9.68 to be responsible for the attorney costs incurred by an individual or an organization such as Ohioans For Concealed Carry.

By trying to move to dismiss the case and suddenly complying with the law Cleveland Heights is trying to stiff us with our legal expenses – which we spent because they wouldn’t work with us.

• Does Cleveland Heights forgive speeding tickets if you slow down after the fact?
• Does Cleveland Heights forgive zoning ordinance violations if you agree to comply after they take you to court?
• Did the City of Cleveland Heights really not just admit they were violating the law by not only repealing the ordinances but also removing the signs in their parks ONLY AFTER being sued by an organization that was trying to work with them diplomatically?

COME JOIN US THIS SUNDAY!

HELP US SHOW THAT WE WON’T PUT UP WITH A CITY IGNORING OHIO LAW.

RSVP: If you would, either respond to this email IF YOU ARE ATTENDING and say “I’m coming!” — or if you’re a member of our discussion forums go read this thread and vote in the poll:

http://ohioccwforums.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=55255

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- Wednesday night the City of Cleveland Heights repealed their illegal laws. Earlier, they took down the illegal gun signs posted at their parks. They did this after:

1. Being advised by Ohioans for Concealed Carry in writing dating back to 2008
2. A member of their council acknowledged the problem and committed to fix it (in 2008) with the law director – but nothing ever came of those promises.
3. Representatives of Ohioans For Concealed Carry called them and were basically ignored and hung up on.
4. Co-plaintiff and resident Phillip Mulivor repeatedly approached a member of council to address the issue and was told it would be resolved – but no legislation was ever introduced.
5. Random members of the OFCC Discussion Forums were ignored, repeatedly, when they wrote emails to the City of
6. Cleveland Heights about the issue – the city clearly had no intention of complying with the law until:
7. Ohioans For Concealed Carry finally filed a lawsuit against the City of Cleveland Heights
8. The Law Director now claims we sued due to zeal – he was too busy to repeal illegal laws and take down illegal signs, and we apparently should have been more aggressive when he hung up on us.

Maybe if we just called back?

If that wasn’t enough, the City of Cleveland Heights has now filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit we brought against them in light of the fact that they decided to take down the signs and repeal their laws JUST LAST NIGHT.

Does the City of Cleveland Heights drop charges against people who suddenly come into compliance with building code violations? With people who continually ignore the city about issues related to the law? Does the City of Cleveland Heights drop speeding tickets if the driver slows down AFTER the speeding ticket is issued?

Of course not. Ohioans For Concealed Carry was forced to file a lawsuit against a City that felt they could simply ignore us and we would go away. Now they want to drop the lawsuit instead of answering the charges against them and paying attorneys fees in litigation that they forced us to file against them.

Is the act of taking down signs and repealing laws following a lawsuit not admission of guilt?

We need your help to defend your rights and send a message to other Ohio cities that this is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We will not allow the City of Cleveland Heights to try to play the Campbell, Ohio game and attempt to dismiss this lawsuit. Please consider a donation today online to help us fund the attorneys who are fighting this lawsuit in Cleveland Heights.

We deserve a court order ruling the Cleveland Heights violated Ohio Law. We deserve a court order permanently prohibiting Cleveland Heights from enacting further gun laws, and we are lawfully entitled to all attorneys costs paid by the City of Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- We have a lot going on in the Ohio Gun Rights arena and thought it might be worthy of an update.

Canton, Ohio
If you have not heard about what happened in Canton back in June you’ve got some video to watch right here: http://OhioCCW.org/CantonPD

The City of Canton has gone silent on the issue (they need to, there is likely a huge civil lawsuit headed their way). But the important thing we all need to remember is that William Bartlett remains charged with a crime.

This despite the fact that he is clearly heard on video attempting to notify. When an actual trial date is finalized Ohioans For Concealed Carry will notify AmmoLand readers and ask those of you who can do so to come fill that court room with like minded supporters.

Canton Inspired Legislation:
From a legislative standpoint we can tell you that OFCC volunteers have been drafting legislation to repeal mandatory notification based on a number of abuses of the law. At our annual Party In The Park picnic Representative Danny Bubp announced that he is working with us to introduce that legislation this fall.

You can watch Danny Bubp’s very animated address of the PITP crowd on our website here: http://ohioccw.org/201108034965/eliminate-notify-law.html (along with video of everyone else who spoke, and the Tony Gordon Memorial Award presentation to Representative Danny Bubp)

Utah Training Class:
Due to unprecedented demand we’ve scheduled a second Utah training class to follow the one that is scheduled for next Saturday. For more information, go here:

http://ohioccw.org/201107284960/second-utah-ccw-class-scheduled.html

Educating Law Enforcement – Changes to Ohio Law coming from SB17

OFCC has put together a letter for law enforcement agencies across the State of Ohio to hang up, distribute to officers, etc. The idea is to explain to as many police agencies as possible how the law is changing September 30th.

We’re using our volunteers and our discussion forums to pull this off as a grassroots endeavor. If you’re interested, please check out this story on our website:

An Open Letter To Law Enforcement Regarding Changes To Ohio Law

If you have not been reading OhioCCW.org on a regular basis please consider this an invitation to start looking at the website regularly. A number of our volunteers have started regularly contributing to the front page of our website and we’ve even started a regular opinion column!

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: www.Ohioccw.org

Governor Kasich Signs Restaurant Firearms Carry Into Law

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- Just over an hour ago I had the honor of watching Governor John Kasich sign Senate Bill 17 and House Bill 54 into law in the Cermony Signing room of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio.

I was joined today by our legislative coordinator Gary Witt, a long-time coordinator (and key HB203 architect) Mike Kinsey, and members of our legal counsel team including Mr. David Kessler, Esq. and Derek Debrosse, Esq.

Shortly after concealed carry became law in 2004 it became quite obvious that one of the biggest flaws in our law was the fact that you couldn’t walk into most restaurants. Within a year the Ohioans For Concealed Carry Board of Directors concluded that this topic was one of the most requested and sought after fixes from our supporters. We regularly tried to make this an issue that got traction, but it always fell to the side of other equally important topics – such as statewide preemption.

Finally, in 2009, we wrote our own law and started shopping the concept to various law makers. Since the day that the Legislative Services Counsel came back with our proposed legislation with virtually no changes this legislation has existed as a bill under consideration in one form or another. As you read our website today you will find a story by Gary Witt that goes into the very nitty gritty details of what it took to make this law happen over the past three years. If you appreciate the hard work and effort that went into this, help us grow our influence by signing up friends and family you see over the Fourth of July as members of Ohioans For Concealed Carry.

Finally, an article on our website by Phil Mulivor aims to explain to you exactly what is changing in Ohio law in an incredibly easy to read manner. Watch for these to appear today on our website.

It is vital that you walk away with this understanding: If the bill is filed with the Secretary of States office today (June 30th), I expect it to “go into effect” on Thursday, September 29th. If the bill isn’t considered filed until Friday (July 1st), I do not expect the bill to “go into effect” until Friday, September 30th — what this basically means is DO NOT start carrying a firearm in your vehicle or a restaurant as if these new regulations exist, because “legal day one” is not until this fall.

As of 4:55pm the Secretary of State’s office advised Ohioans For Concealed Carry they have not received the law. Once that date is absolutely finalized by the Ohio Secretary of State’s office we will publish it on our websites.

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- The Ohio House of Representatives may call for a vote on SB17 (the “restaurant carry” bill) this afternoon, June 15.

The House is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m.

Please call your representative immediately and voice your support for SB17 by going here and looking up who your Representative is – then, call their offices immediately and express your support for SB17 and tell them that you will be watching to see how they vote.

A live video stream of House proceedings will be available when the House goes into session at: www.ohiochannel.org/Index.aspx?liveStreamId=10

De ja vu?
The House already had this debate a few weeks ago when they took up HB45, so why are they debating SB17? Quite simply, both bills have passed the house that they originated in – so HB45 passed the House a few weeks ago and SB17 passed the Senate even earlier.

SB17 is the superior bill due to an amendment that was adopted in the Senate that was not adopted in HB45. Therefor, it makes more sense for the Ohio House to adopt SB17 instead of the Ohio Senate picking up HB45.

If the Ohio House passes SB17 today without any amendments it goes to the Governor for his signature. If there are amendments, the bill goes back to the Ohio Senate for a full Senate vote to concur with any amendments.

2011 Party In The Park 8 – July 30th
OFCC’s eighth annual Party In The Park is scheduled for Saturday, July 30th, 2011 at Liberty Park in Powell, Ohio. Once again, we will have great food, entertaining speakers, door prizes and even better companionship!

Scheduled speakers include Representative Danny Bubp, sponsor and primary mover of HB45, the Restaurant Carry Bill, and Kevin Coughlin, the declared candidate for the Republican primary in the Senate race against Sherrod Brown. We will also bring you up to date on pending legislation and actions which OFCC has taken and has planned.

Is your local city park banning firearms?
In the past two weeks we’ve become aware of a city actively writing rules to ban concealed carry (or firearms in general) in their city parks – and we’ve become engaged in that process. The State of Ohio is huge, so the only way WE can become involved is if YOU tell us its happening.

Use the Contact Us link at OhioCCW.org to tell us about any city owned parks that have either published rules or signs prohibiting concealed carry anywhere other than a building – so if you see one on a pavilion, the entrance to a park, the parking lots, or a building that is primarily a restroom take a photo and get in touch with us.

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- An editorial I wrote on behalf of Ohioans For Concealed Carry has been published in numerous mainstream news papers this weekend (Links more below).

When Ohioans For Concealed Carry set out to write the first restaurant carry bill in Ohio (HB203) we intentionally tried to avoid what most people consider “bars” because we knew what was inevitable from opponents. That legislation specifically stated that an establishment had to have a food service license, which we soon found out most bars likely have because they serve some kind of food – but we tried.

Its nearly impossible to write a law that differentiates a Class D license issued to a “bar” from a Class D license issued to a restaurant in Ohio. Since 2009 as support for this legislation has grown we’ve seen the opponents and the news media trumpet the same collection of lies: Guns and Alcohol don’t mix, guns and stadiums don’t mix, etc. Now they’re interviewing the staff at bars and asking them how they’ll install metal detectors and deal with armed people in a bar. Seriously?

While none of these points are relevant to the HB45 debate the media has aggressively driven these points home, turning this into a sensational misrepresentation of the legislation or the facts.

When the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote this article last week I was quoted pointing out how very hypocritical it is that police unions say “guns and alcohol don’t mix” but they snuck the very same provisions into HB347 in 2007 for every police officer in the State of Ohio, off duty or not. This caused the current Ohio FOP president to change the argument to one we heard for years during the original concealed carry debate: “We have more training.”

Jay McDonald, president of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police, said it is ridiculous to compare a trained police officer to a regular citizen who happens have a concealed carry permit.

“We are required to meet a much higher level of training and re-training for how to properly handle our weapons and we are trained to know in which situations to shoot and not to shoot,” McDonald said. “If they want to require the same level of training for CCW holders as I have to meet as a law enforcement officer, then we will drop our opposition.”

Why do we need more training to be armed in a restaurant while not drinking if the very same activity is lawful today in a place that doesn’t have a liquor license? The FOP’s position is such an absurd example of the misdirection this debate has taken, that we finally needed to respond to the critics. The news media has surprisingly obliged as a substantial number of them have published the editorial, although the Plain Dealer’s title is quite aggressive:

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Police fear-mongering at heart of Ohio’s restaurant-carry debate
Columbus Dispatch:  Distortions mar debate on gun bill
Akron Beacon Journa: Guns in Bars? Not really
Cincinnati Enquirer: ‘Restaurant-carry’ legislation not just about guns in bars
Lorain Morning Journal: Guest OP-ED — Guns in bars: No, not really
Kent Patch: Letter to the Editor: Guns in Bars: No, Not Really

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- As Ohio lawmakers debate legislation that would allow licensed citizens to carry a concealed, holstered handgun into restaurants that serve alcohol, opponents of the bill continue to reject an intellectually honest discussion of the facts.

They’ve morphed the ”restaurant carry” discussion into a campaign of fear.

This legislation simply never mixes alcohol consumption and handgun possession, period, regardless of what you’ve read or been told.

Ohio’s concealed handgun licensees already can carry into nearly any burger joint. But if they try to have a hamburger and Coke at a Max & Erma’s while armed, they commit a crime. The only difference between the lawful and criminal act is the presence of a liquor license at a particular restaurant.

That’s the simple problem that ”restaurant carry” legislation is designed to fix.

This legislation simply was never about being able to carry a gun into a bar — it’s about being able to retain your gun at a Max & Erma’s instead of leaving it in the car as an invitation to thieves and thugs.

It is already a misdemeanor to be in possession of a handgun while under the influence of alcohol. The proposed legislation increases that penalty to a felony, a year or more in jail, and the loss of one’s right to own a firearm ever again.

When you see stories implying that people will start carrying guns into bars, remember: There are more than 210,000 concealed carry licensees in Ohio. You encounter them every day as they go to and from picnics, supermarkets, weddings, barbeques, liquor stores, and homes — all of which are opportunities to consume as much alcohol as they please.

So, what keeps them from doing exactly that? The law — the same law they had to scrupulously obey in order to qualify for their concealed carry license in the first place. And the same law that will make it a felony to carry in a bar while consuming alcohol.

Fear-mongering opponents of this legislation also have scared some into thinking that the proposed law entitles citizens to carry firearms into sports stadiums. But the truth is exactly the opposite — nothing in the bill prevents sporting franchises from continuing to prohibit firearms on their premises, as they already do today.

The Ohio Ohio Fraternal Order of Police misleads you with ”guns and alcohol don’t mix,” but when you point out all law enforcement in Ohio was given this very right to be in a restaurant, off duty, without any prohibition on consumption, their current president falls back on their standard ”we have more training” red herring. They also have FOP lodges with Class D liquor permits.

Contradicting their catch phrase, the FOP now implies there is a level of training that makes mixing guns and alcohol acceptable, but only if you’re a cop.

Don’t fall for it.

Because our legislation is strictly about not drinking any alcohol their position is akin to saying a concealed handgun licensee may walk down the bread aisle of a grocery store, but only police officers may walk down the liquor aisle.

If we’re going to continue to discuss the restaurant carry bill, let’s at least ”keep it real.” That’s what honest and reasonable people deserve.

Garvas is the president of Ohioans For Concealed Carry.

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)-  Ohioans For Concealed Carry is hiring pro gun activists. Remember OFCC is a purely grassroots group of volunteers.

Toby Hoover’s organization has taken in literally hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund her virtual one-woman gun grabbing show.

In years past Hoover’s organization has filed tax returns indicating that Toby draws a salary for doing her dirty deeds against you and me — all under the guise of reducing gun violence.

Those of us behind this website, the forums, the organization’s founding fathers have been paid a combined total of $Nothing over the past decade of this endeavor, and we’ve done it with a healthy amount of people who are willing to be paid nothing to do what is right. To speak out against the people who think that a ten round magazine would have somehow prevented Tucson from happening, or to speak out against the people who think that you should “give something up” for the implied greater good of society.

We need some talent right now – are you the one to fill that gap?

Here are some of the things we’re looking for: People to become regular contributors to our showcase website on OhioCCW.org – do you consider yourself a good writer? Do you want to try to become one?

We have an editor, we need writers.

Do you have fund raising ideas to help raise badly needed funds for lawsuits and other OFCC endeavors? We need you too. Have some financial experience? Awesome.

Do you have a “customer service” attitude and a desire to become the project manager of an Ohioans For Concealed Carry endeavor? This job you can do from your home (or work if you can get away with it) and the simple ability to write emails, answer questions, manage a few third party vendors, and treat everyone with absolute professionalsim.

Are you politically savvy and interested in getting into politics? Interested in actually DOING something for the improvement of our rights? We understand and respect that some of you can’t have your employers seeing you in the limelight, and we can work around that quite often. But we’re always hiring people willing to work for free.

Is that you? If so, send your resume in PDF format to info@ohioccw.org – even if your work history doesn’t have anything to do with what you want to do for OFCC. Indicate in that letter what you think you could contribute and why you’d be someone we should trust our rights with. We’ll pass it around to a few people who have come before you and see what they think.

If you’re lucky, you might get some business cards and a case load of tasks out of the arrangement, but you’ll be able to tell your children and their children what you did to fix things instead of sitting on your hands!

We have A LOT going on right now, so do not be discouraged if we don’t reply to you immediately. We’re probably busy trying to decide what projects to give you…

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- Jeff Garvas and Toby Hoover squared off at the Cleveland City Club on February 4th and the video is now online!

You can watch the entire debate here and on YouTube and tell us what you think:

So far, the consensus online is that Toby’s arguments were based on emotion, fear, and the unattainable while Jeff Garvas handled himself well in a crowd of hostile questions.

The anti-gunners sunk to their usual lows when a supporter of Toby Hoover’s had the nerve to use her opportunity to ask a question to instead ask Jeff Garvas the “emotional tear jerker” challenge of “Will you come to a wake with us?” – this question alone makes it perfectly clear where the anti-gun gun grabbers are coming from.

Whats better is how Jeff managed to pull off the answer to the anger of the person answering it who then tried to ask it again and corner Jeff but was actually shut up by the audience.

You simply have to watch the video to see it happen.

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- Restaurant Carry: Last Tuesday Representatives Danny Bubp and Terry Johnson provided excellent sponsor testimony before the Ohio House State Government & Elections Committee.

In our effort to bring Statehouse politics to your desktop we recorded that nearly 32 minute hearing and put it on YouTube.

If you’ve never seen a hearing in Columbus before you can watch two members of the Ohio House provide the initial introduction of a bill before a committee above.

* Note, due to horrible acoustics in some House committee rooms the audio in this hearing has some echo to it and is best heard with headphones.

YOU CAN SPEAK TUESDAY:
On Tuesday February 15th at 1:30pm in the afternoon this same committee will be allowing proponents like you and me to address them and tell them why we think this bill should be passed into law. Can you make it?

If so, arrive up to thirty minutes early and be prepared to speak in favor of either the restaurant carry or handling in a motor vehicle sections of HB45. Representatives from Ohioans For Concealed Carry will be on hand to tell our elected officials why we support this bill – but you need to be there too if you can make it! Why?

Because next week our opponents will likely be there trying to KILL THIS BILL. Police officer representatives, union leadership, and many others pretending to speak on behalf of everyone in their profession will be there to say that “guns in bars” are bad — but we need to hammer home the truths.

Can you be there?

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- As released by the Ohio Supreme Court. Analysis to follow.

2009-2280. Cleveland v. State, Slip Opinion No. 2010-Ohio-6318.
Cuyahoga App. No. 92663, 185 Ohio App.3d 59, 2009-Ohio-5968. Judgment of the court of appeals reversed, and cause remanded to the court of appeals.
Lundberg Stratton, O’Connor, O’Donnell, Lanzinger, and Cupp, JJ., concur.
Brown, C.J., and Pfeifer, J., dissent.
Opinion: http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2010/2010-Ohio-6318.pdf

(Dec. 29, 2010) The Supreme Court of Ohio today upheld as constitutional a state law enacted by the General Assembly in 2006 that provides that only federal or state regulations can limit an Ohioan’s individual right to bear arms.

In a 5-2 majority opinion authored by Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, the Court held that R.C. 9.68, which displaces all local gun-control ordinances previously adopted by Ohio municipalities, does not infringe on the “home rule” powers of those municipalities under the Ohio Constitution and does not violate the separation of powers doctrine.

Enacted in December 2006 as part of Sub. H.B. 347, the statute, R.C. 9.68: 1) stated that it was the legislature’s intention in enacting the section “to provide uniform laws throughout the state regulating the ownership, possession, purchase, other acquisition, transport, carrying, sale or other transfer of firearms, their components and their ammunition,” 2) declared that “except as specifically provided by the U.S. Constitution, Ohio Constitution, state law or federal law” gun owners in Ohio may buy, sell, transfer, transport, store or keep any firearm “without further license, permission, restriction, delay or process,” and 3) directed that in any subsequent court case challenging a local gun control ordinance, state courts “shall award court costs and reasonable attorney fees to any person, group or entity that prevails in a challenge to an ordinance, rule or regulation as being in conflict with this section.”

The City of Cleveland filed a declaratory judgment action in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas challenging the constitutionality of R.C. 9.68 under the Home Rule Amendment to the Ohio Constitution. That amendment, contained in Article XVIII, Section 3, provides that municipalities within the state have the inherent authority to exercise all powers of local self-government and to adopt and enforce within their borders local police regulations to protect the safety and health of city residents, so long as such regulations do not conflict with “general laws” of the state. The city argued that R.C. 9.68 violated its home rule authority because the statute had the effect of invalidating multiple Cleveland city ordinances regulating the possession, sale and registration of firearms within the city. The state filed pleadings opposing the city’s petition for declaratory judgment and seeking summary judgment that the challenged statute was constitutional.

The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the state, citing the Supreme Court of Ohio’s 2008 decision in Ohioans for Concealed Carry v. Clyde. In that decision, the Court held that a Clyde city ordinance prohibiting the concealed carry of weapons in city parks was void and unenforceable because it was in conflict with the uniform statewide guidelines for concealed carry that had been adopted by the General Assembly as part of Sub. H.B. 347.

The city appealed. On review, the 8th District Court of Appeals held that R.C. 9.68 was unconstitutional because it violated both the Home Rule Amendment and the separation of powers doctrine. The court of appeals remanded the case to the trial court with a directive to enter summary judgment in favor of Cleveland. In its decision, the 8th District specifically found that R.C. 9.68 was not a “general law” under a four-part test set forth in the Supreme Court of Ohio’s 2002 decision in Canton v. State. The state sought and was granted Supreme Court review of the 8th District’s decision.

Writing for the Court in today’s decision, Justice Stratton noted that courts considering a constitutional challenge to a law enacted by the legislature must “presume the constitutionality of lawfully enacted legislation,” and may invalidate a challenged statute only if the challenger establishes that it is unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt.

Justice Stratton wrote that in analyzing constitutional challenges to a state law based on the Home Rule Amendment, the Court has held that “A statute takes precedence over a local ordinance when (1) the ordinance is an exercise of the police power, rather than of local self-government, (2) the statute is a general law, and (3) the ordinance is in conflict with the statute.” In this case, she noted, “The first and third parts of the analysis are not involved … The city acknowledges that its firearm ordinances are an exercise of municipal police power. Further, the city does not argue that its local firearm ordinances do not conflict with R.C. 9.68. Thus, our focus is on the second part of the home rule analysis, which involves determination of whether R.C. 9.68 is a general law.”

“In Canton v. State (2002) … this court held that to constitute a general law for purposes of home-rule analysis, a statute must ‘(1) be part of a statewide and comprehensive legislative enactment, (2) apply to all parts of the state alike and operate uniformly throughout the state, (3) set forth police, sanitary, or similar regulations, rather than purport only to grant or limit legislative power of a municipal corporation to set forth police, sanitary or similar regulations, and (4) prescribe a rule of conduct upon citizens generally.’”

While the 8th District concluded that R.C. 9.68 was not a general law because it failed the first, third and fourth prongs of the Canton test, today’s majority opinion rejected each of those findings and held that R.C. 9.68 meets all four Canton criteria and therefore qualifies as a general law that takes precedence over conflicting local ordinances.

In addressing the 8th District’s holding that R.C. 9.68 is not “part of a comprehensive statewide legislative enactment” because the specific bill in which it was enacted (H.B. 347) did not address many aspects of firearms regulation, Justice Stratton wrote: “(T)he the court of appeals erred in analyzing R.C. 9.68 in a vacuum. She pointed to a host of state and federal laws regulating firearms, and noted that “… (a) comprehensive enactment need not regulate every aspect of disputed conduct, nor must it regulate that conduct in a particularly invasive fashion. ‘omprehensive’ does not mean ‘perfect.’ … Nor does ‘comprehensive’ mean ‘exhaustive.’ And the fact that regulations of firearms appear in various code chapters does not nullify the fact that they are all part of a comprehensive enactment concerning firearms.”

“We note that when we determined in (Ohioans for Concealed Carry v.) Clyde (2008)that R.C. 9.68 is part of a statewide and comprehensive legislative enactment, we took into account that the General Assembly had ‘express its intent for statewide comprehensive handgun possession laws.’ The General Assembly indicated that its intent in enacting R.C. 9.68 was ‘to provide uniform laws throughout the state’ for firearm ownership and possession. … We reaffirm the holding that R.C. 9.68 is part of a statewide comprehensive legislative enactment.”

The majority also rejected the court of appeals’ holdings that R.C. 9.68 does not set forth police or other regulations rather than merely limiting local authority to legislate, and that the statute does not set forth a rule of conduct upon citizens generally.

Finally, the Court contradicted the 8th District’s conclusion that the provision in R.C. 9.68 awarding attorney fees to litigants successfully challenging citations under local firearm ordinances violated the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches. Justice Stratton pointed to multiple provisions of state law that expressly provide an award of attorney fees to parties who prevail in certain types of cases, including public records requests, the motor vehicle “Lemon Law,” child support contempt proceedings and violations of the state Consumer Sales Practices Act, among others. In light of those provisions, and multiple court decisions affirming their validity, Justice Stratton wrote, “(T)he General Assembly is clearly within its legislative authority to authorize the award of attorney fees and costs in R.C. 9.68.”

While reversing the judgment of the 8th District on all of the constitutional issues that court addressed, the Court remanded the case to the 8th District for review of one remaining constitutional challenge to the legislation enacting R.C. 9.68. That claim, which the 8th District dismissed as moot, alleges that H.B. 347 violated the constitutional provision limiting legislative bills to a “single subject.”

The majority opinion was joined by Justices Maureen O’Connor, Terrence O’Donnell, Judith Ann Lanzinger and Robert R. Cupp.

Justice Paul E. Pfeifer entered a dissent, joined by Chief Justice Eric Brown, in which he cited the Supreme Court’s 2006 holding in American Financial Services Assn. v. Cleveland that “‘A statement by the General Assembly of its intent to preempt a field of legislation is a statement of legislative intent … but does not trump the constitutional authority of municipalities to enact legislation pursuant to the Home Rule Amendment …’ From this, I conclude that the General Assembly is incapable of casting a preemption blanket over an entire field.”

“The key issue when analyzing whether a local ordinance is a proper subject of home rule is whether the ordinance conflicts with general laws. In Cincinnati v. Hoffman (1972), we stated that ‘in order for … a conflict to arise, the state statute must positively permit what the ordinance prohibits, or vice versa, regardless of the extent of state regulation concerning the same object.’ … It is not enough to determine that R.C. 9.68 is a general law or that R.C. 9.68 is extensive, the Cleveland ordinances must be shown to conflict with the statute. In this case, I conclude that the Cleveland ordinances do not conflict with R.C. 9.68, because they do not permit something that the statute forbids or vice versa.”

Contacts

• Benjamin C. Mizer, 614.466.8980, for the state of Ohio.
• Gary S. Singletary, 216.664.2737, for the City of Cleveland.

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Firearms Restaurant Carry Can Pass Now With Your Help

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- We are now in a “Lame Duck” session — the time between the election and the day that newly elected people take their office.

This is the time that most “controversial” gun bills in Ohio are signed.

Why? Because many people who will vote for our bill are not coming back to office, so it won’t hurt them politically.

Because many people who will vote for our bill have been re-elected for a number of years, and its politically safe to vote for our issue NOW.

The window of opportunity to get Restaurant Carry sent to the Governor and signed into law before the new General Assembly and Governor take office is incredibly short.

This is why I am asking you to click on this link, read the information, and place calls to your elected members of the Ohio House and Governor Ted Strickland’s office today, tomorrow, and every day this week:

Please Make Two Phone Calls

Two bills currently before the Ohio House of Representatives promise to have a huge positive impact on CHL holders. But we must take action now. Please take just 5 minutes now to make 2 phone calls:

1. Contact Governor Strickland’s office by voice at (614) 466-3555, or by fax at (614) 466-9354.
2. Call your legislator in the Ohio House of Representatives. Find your representative’s name and contact info here. (See “Member Quick Search” on right side of page.)

Call to voice your support for both bills:

1. Senate Bill 239. Having already passed the Ohio Senate, this bill now is before the Ohio House of Representatives. It would allow concealed carry in restaurants that serve alcohol, and also includes important reforms to the way firearms may be transported in vehicles. Full info here.
2. House Bill 571. This legislation would allow a concealed handgun licensee to have a concealed handgun in their vehicle without fear of employer retribution. Full info here.

Please call now!

…once you’ve made your phone calls, forward the link to this article to everyone you know and ask them to do the same.

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- Grassroots activism can be a lot of fun and rewarding when you see the fruits of your labor pay off in the form of legislative reform.

Today Representative Joe Uecker’s (R-Miami Township) office released a press release announcing the introduction of Ohio House Bill 571.

HB571 is legislation that would allow a concealed handgun licensee to store a firearm in a locked motor vehicle while parked on the premises of their employer — without fear of retribution from their employer for that completely lawful act.

“Employees should not be discriminated against just because they choose to exercise their second amendment right,” said Rep. Uecker.

“This legislation will prevent intrusive company policies on personal freedoms and possible dismissal simply based on the merit that management does not agree with the individual’s right.”

Under current law, many employees risk being fired if they properly store a legally owned handgun in their locked vehicles while at work. The legislation is aimed towards enabling people to protect themselves on the commute to and from work. Currently, 13 other states have enacted similar parking lot legislation, including Kentucky and Indiana.

“It’s a private property issue,” Rep. Uecker said. “Gun-free zones don’t work – they remove our most basic right as Americans to bear arms.”

Parking lots as Gun Free Criminal Protection Zones are one of OFCC’s legislative goals to resolve, and the credit in this endeavor goes to OFCC Coordinator Dave Milthaler for his relentless efforts to shop this legislation among sympathetic members of the Ohio House – as well as many of our supporters who called their elected officials and ask them to co-sponsor this bill.

Not only did he find someone to work with us to draft and introduce the bill, but Dave and Representative Uecker have brought THIRTY initial co-sponsors to the bill — nearly one third of the Ohio House has indicated support for this legislation at the onset.

We need your help to get this bill moving as the general assembly ends on December 31st. This bill could be fast tracked through the Ohio House and left with the Senate, or it could theoretically be amended into Ohio Senate Bill 239 — which languishes in the Ohio House and could be sent to the Governor for his signature.

With lawmakers not likely to take up legislation until November, our window of opportunity to succeed is narrowly defined — have you called your Representatives?

If you’re not a member of Ohioans For Concealed Carry please – join today and get involved – it is the power of grassroots activism that brings these ideas to the table and we need your support.

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Campbell Ohio --(AmmoLand.com)- Today Ohioans For Concealed Carry filed a civil lawsuit against the City of Campbell, Ohio in the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas (Case #50 2010 CV 01487) after months of attempting to convince the City Council that their gun ban ordinance violates Ohio Law.

OFCC has learned that an effort to repeal the gun ban ordinance was tabled or “sent back to committee,” supposedly at the request of the Police Chief.

Ohioans For Concealed Carry has expressed to the City of Campbell on many occasions that the precedent in this matter comes from a case we already took to the Ohio Supreme Court with another obstinate municipality: Ohioans for Concealed Carry, Inc. v. Clyde

…see the website for more details and links to various documents and related discussion forums.

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohio’s Premier Grassroots Organization Fighting to Protect, Reform and Expand Gun Rights for All Citizens since 1999

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(AmmoLand.com)- On Tuesday, January 19, Ohioans For Concealed Carry President Jeff Garvas, Vice President Bryan Torok, Executive Director Daniel White, and Legislative Coordinator Gary Witt testified before the Ohio Legislature’s Public Safety and Homeland Security committee. OFCC also brought in special guest Nicole Goeser to share her story with the committee (Further reading: Restaurant Carry hearing recap).

Garvas secured permission to record video of the testimony given, which is available on OFCC’s YouTube channel.

Click on the links below to read or watch the testimony given, listed in the order in which it was presented.

Jeff Garvas: Read testimony

Nicole Goeser: Read testimony |

Daniel White: Read testimony |

Bryan Torok: Read testimony |

Gary Witt: Read testimony |

ACTION ITEM

After you watch the compelling testimony of Nikki Goeser please contact your Representatives and Senators and ask them to watch the video and become co-sponsors of HB203.

Identify your Representative and Senator with the right side of this website using your zip code: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us
(Just enter your zip code and +4 if you know it)

Click on your Representative’s name first (if more than one show up, do this for each)
On their website is an email address. Send them an email with the subject “Please co-sponsor and pass HB203″

Send them the URL to the Nikki Goeser testimony and tell them that it took place at proponent testimony on January 19th. Describe it in your own words.
Ask them to co-sponsor HB203 and pass it out of the Ohio House ASAP

Click on your Senator’s website (if more than one show up, do this for each)
Send them the same Nikki Goeser testimony from above with your description of the testimony
Ask them to pass HB203 when it comes to the Ohio Senate

We need your help to get our elected officials to continue moving this legislation towards the Governor’s desk!

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(AmmoLand.com)- The first hearing for HB 203, the bill to allow concealed handgun licensees to carry a firearm into a restaurant that serves alcohol provided the licensee is not consuming alcohol, was held Thursday in the Public Safety and Homeland Security committee.

Ohioans For Concealed Carry Legislative Committee Coordinator Gary Witt, along with a half dozen OFCC members, was in attendance and heard the sponsor testimony by Representatives Bubp and Martin. Rep. Martin noted that 42 other states have some provision for carrying a firearm in an establishment that serves alcohol and Rep. Bubp noted that forcing a CHL holder to leave their firearm in their vehicle leaves it vulnerable to theft.

The next hearing will be proponent testimony and when it is scheduled we will post the date so those interested in supporting the bill can have their voice heard. It will likely be in December. If you’re planning on attending and don’t yet have an OFCC shirt, order yours today!

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Ohio --(AmmoLand.com)- House Bill 203, the bill Ohioans For Concealed Carry drafted in conjunction with Representatives Danny Bupb and Jarrod Martin, has been schedule for its first reading and sponsor testimony to the Public Safety and Homeland Security committee on Thursday, November 5 at 9:30am in room 114.

This important fix would add restaurants to the current exemption that covers class D retail stores provided the licensee is not consuming alcohol.The bill was cosponsored by 16 other legislators, including Representatives Adams, J., Amstutz, Blair, Combs, Hall, Huffman, Jones, Jordan, Maag, McGregor, Sears, Snitchler, Uecker, Wachtmann, Wagner, and Zehringer.

While this hearing is for sponsor testimony over (the public will get an opportunity to comment at the second and third readings), it is important that we show the committee that there is strong support for passing this legislation.

If you are able to attend this hearing, we urge you to join us. If you have one, please wear your blue OFCC shirt and khaki pants so we can show unity.

Even though we will not have an opportunity to testify, the first hearing often determines whether or not there will be a second hearing. The second hearing is proponent testimony and obviously we will want to pack the room for that one, but the first and third (opponent) hearings are important to have representation at as well.

If you are planning to attend, parking is usually available under the statehouse. Various puplic parking garages are available around the statehouse.

About:
Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots political activist organization. When founded, the primary goal of OFCC was getting concealed carry passed into law in Ohio. With that accomplished, our mission became to refine the concealed carry law and to expand and preserve the rights of all gun owners in Ohio. Visit: Ohioccw.org

Ohioans For Concealed Carry

Washington, DC - -(AmmoLand.com)- The Thune-Vitter Amendment to add National Reciprocity to the 2010 Defense Programs bill has failed by a vote of 58-39. 60 votes were required for passage.

This amendment would have mandated that all states who issue a license for or otherwise allow their own residents to carry a concealed firearm for personal protection to recognize the concealed carry permits of nonresidents.

A Senate vote tally will be posted on the OFCC website as soon as it is available.

About:
Ohioans For Concealed Carry, the premier grassroots gun rights activist organization in Ohio since 1999. 2003 NRA-ILA Volunteer Organization of the Year. Visit www.ohioccw.org