Many of you will remember when HB12 was debated and passed into law we referred to many portions of the legislation as attempted poison pills. A poison pill is an amendment to legislation intended to cause supporters to dislike their own legislation enough to kill it. Ohioans For Concealed Carry did just that in 2003 when we revoked our support for House Bill 247, when concealed carry was completely prohibited in motor vehicles.

In HB12 this included the open carry in a vehicle provision and the journalist loophole, which allows any journalist to demand the name, county of residence, and data of birth of any concealed handgun licensee. 

Today, the news media is referring to an amendment made by Rep. Tom Brinkman to HB9 that we reported on earlier as a "poison pill" amendment. That amendment makes it possible for license holders to opt-out of the open records loophole. To add insult to injury, according to the Columbus Dispatch, thirteen Democrats helped make a 51-43 vote on the amendment happen.

Then Governor Bob Taft threatened to veto the bill, proving yet again what he thinks of gun owners and their privacy. Now, the news media is facing the very frustration gun owners experienced when trying to pass concealed carry legislation. 

This Columbus Dispatch article elaborated on just how many key Democrat votes played a role in passing Brinkman's opt-out amendment. In a 51-43 tally almost every Democrat vote was needed.

Thirteen Democrats, including Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern, voted to restrict access to gun permits, helping the GOP-sponsored amendment to pass 51-43.

House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus, said that although fellow Democrats support more access to public records, those who voted to restrict gun records "also have to go home to their districts where their constituents support concealed carry."

House Speaker Jon A. Husted, R-Kettering, said he voted against the proposal in part because of Taft’s veto threat.

"I did not believe it was appropriate for an open-records bill," Husted added.

Seitz, who voted for House Bill 9 in committee, on the House floor and for the gun amendment, said he plans to find soon another piece of legislation to which he can attach changes to limit access. He wants to cut access to judicial records, documents from so-called executive or closed sessions by local governments, and deliberations about local economic development.

State Rep. James Aslanides, R-Coshocton, and author of the state’s conceal-carry law, has been wanting to eliminate public access to permit information since he started working on the law several years ago. He said the amendment wouldn’t have been necessary had newspapers not abused that access. He named five newspapers and a television station for doing so, but said The Plain Dealer in Cleveland was primarily responsible because it published lists from nearly a dozen counties.

“We still don’t have any indication that newspapers are using (information) indiscriminately,” said Frank Deaner, executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association.

Deaner also said supporters of eliminating access “conveniently overlook that in the process of issuing permits, sheriff’s departments destroy background checks. Now there is no way of checking the honesty of the process.”

Oelslager [the bill's sponsor] said he got the amendment five minutes before the vote and didn’t have time to study it. No one spoke against it.

“We’ll have the opportunity to work on it in the Senate,” Oelslager said after the vote.

Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, said he didn’t know the details of the House action, but did say he hoped to have the bill to Taft by the end of the year.