Posted on 12/20/2002 6:38:02 AM PST by Captiva
WHAT HAPPENED TO CCW IN 2002? --------------------------------------------------------
OFCC has been flooded with emails lately asking us questions about "the new CCW law" that simply doesn't exist. This is an attempt to clarify that issue here for the thousands of you who are subscribed to ccw-alert or other lists where these alerts are posted.
In March of 2002 the Ohio House passed HB274, a license style concealed carry bill, and delivered it to the Ohio Senate. (All bills must pass both houses before being sent to the Governor). The Senate sat on the legislation for nearly eight months, doing very little to the bill in a public fashion or in committee hearings. Shortly after the election, the Senate moved forward on replacing the House's work with a severely modified "Substitute House Bill 274", an entirely legitimate move, but one that basically re-wrote HB274 into a very poor piece of legislation compared to what left the Ohio House.
OFCC immediately reviewed the legislation and opposed the changes that were made. The committee took another week to re-write the legislation even more, making it even more useless. The Senate and House leadership agreed earlier in the year to adjourn on December 6th, 2002 -- but in a last minute move to put the ball in the House's hands, the Senate decided to pass their destroyed version of HB274 on Tuesday, December 10th, 2002. House Speaker Larry Householder stated in the previous week that the House simply would not come back to vote on the modified HB274. (When the Senate chose to change the language the House passed, it became mandatory for the House to concur to those changes, or the bill simply dies)
The House Leadership was quoted in numerous newspapers indicating that what the Senate did to HB274 was quite a difference from what the Ohio House passed earlier in the year. Since the House has not, and clearly will not becoming back to vote on what the Senate did, House Bill 274 will die on December 31st, 2002.
Since the Ohio Senate decided to substitute HB274 with incredibly poor language on December 3rd, OFCC has been communicating with numerous lawmakers in both the House and the Senate. We continue to work with these lawmakers to address our concerns as to what should be in next year's version of concealed carry reform.
Many have asked how we intend to get past this happening again next year, and while we don't have a crystal ball we feel that the reason this issue was killed this year is the result of many factors. However, next year the Ohio Senate will be have a new Senate President who we feel will be more open to the issue. Both the House and Senate are already talking to OFCC about the issue! More importantly, we believe the House and Senate would rather dispose of this issue prior to the 2004 Presidential Election. Many have raised the issue of our lawsuit in Hamilton County, where concealed carry prohibitions may be declared unconstitutional on a statewide basis.
Unfortunately, we are not anticipating a ruling in the matter until sometime in early to mid 2004.
Details about this issue will occur in the next edition of OFCC's Newsletter for Members. If you're not a member, please consider joining online today at http://www.OhioCCW.org! Online memberships and renewals are discounted 25% until December 31st, 2002!
GO BUCKEYES!! TEMPE JANUARY 3, 2003
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