Posted on 10/11/2001 7:31:02 AM PDT by Deadeye Division
Concealed-weapons bill: Revisions gain little new support
Thursday, October 11, 2001
Lee Leonard
Dispatch Statehouse Reporter
A revised bill that would permit Ohioans to carry concealed weapons was unveiled in a House subcommittee yesterday to a torrent of abuse from both ends of the spectrum on the issue.
Rep. Ann Womer Benjamin, R-Aurora, chairwoman of the five-member panel that rewrote House Bill 274 during the past month, said the views of many interests were taken into account and balanced in the substitute version.
But the measure appears no closer than the original, sponsored by Rep. James Aslanides, R-Coshocton, to overcoming roadblocks to enactment.
Spokesmen for the Fraternal Order of Police and the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police said their groups are still opposed. Although the Buckeye State Sheriffs' Association endorsed Aslanides' bill, Gov. Bob Taft said he would not sign it unless it had the support of a majority of the law-enforcement community.
The revamped bill would permit Ohioans to carry concealed handguns if they submit to criminal background checks and electronic fingerprinting, have no recent history of mental illness, pay fees of as much as $35 and complete training courses. Sheriffs would have to issue permits to qualified applicants who have lived in Ohio for at least 45 days.
Guns would be banned in liquor establishments, on college campuses and on private property at the discretion of the owner.
Doug Joseph, executive director of the Ohio Gun Rights Coalition, presented petitions that he said contained 3,000 signatures of individuals opposed to the bill. He said the new version "does nothing to improve this bill and, in some cases, makes it much worse.''
Joseph called the proposal "slick gun control with a new wax job.'' He has said his group wants either an unrestricted conceal/carry bill or none at all.
That view was backed by Howard Davis, a Westerville firearms instructor, who called the revised bill a "bureaucratic nightmare.''
"There's nothing you could do to House Bill 274 to make me support its passage,'' he said.
Ted Celeste, a Grandview Heights real-estate agent and Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2000, led a group of conceal/carry opponents fighting the latest version.
"This sends a message to children that you need to be armed in order to defend yourself,'' Celeste said. "Carrying concealed weapons will lead to more violence.''
The lone defender of the bill to testify was William Pfeiffer of Worthington, who is confined to a wheelchair and said he would carry an unloaded gun in his car "to scare people away.''
Pfeiffer said he feels like a prisoner in his car because he cannot get out without help. He said that two years ago, he inadvertently drove into a campus-area disturbance and barely escaped unharmed. He said that if he had brandished a gun, he might have prevented his car from being rocked and nearly overturned.
John Gilchrist of the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police said the bill still contains provisions unacceptable to the group. Mike Taylor of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police said individuals could get conceal/carry permits without additional training if they had military service or hunting licenses for three consecutive years.
"We still don't think the training is enough,'' Taylor said.
Womer Benjamin, after conferring with a wide variety of interest groups, made changes aimed at satisfying both sides.
The residency requirement would be shortened from 60 days to 45 days, and Ohio would honor conceal/carry permits from other states.
Individuals with permits would be allowed to carry concealed weapons into restaurants that serve alcoholic beverages, but not into their bar areas. The restaurants would have to derive at least 60 percent of revenues from food service. Weapons in bars would be forbidden.
Concealed weapons also would be banned from law-enforcement offices, prisons, jails, airport terminals, courthouses and school zones. They would be banned from private businesses and college campuses unless locked inside motor vehicles.
Under questioning by Rep. Edward S. Jerse, D-Euclid, Womer Benjamin said the bill would permit concealed weapons on public property, including the Statehouse, public day- care centers and athletic facilities. Owners of private property, including stadiums and arenas, could forbid them, she said.
A certified training course would have to include instruction in the proper way to carry a concealed weapon and in the law of use of deadly force in Ohio. A minimum four hours of live-fire training would be required.
Electronic fingerprinting would be required, and information on permit applications would be destroyed after permits are granted.
Womer Benjamin said another hearing on the revised bill will be held next week.
House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, said hearings will be held in the full Criminal Justice Committee. He would not guarantee a floor vote this year on the proposal, which has attracted numerous co-sponsors.
"A lot depends on how it goes in committee,'' he said.
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