Menu Content/Inhalt

What is this?

Statewide Preemption To Become Law Today? PDF Print E-mail
Written by Daniel White   
Tuesday, 12 December 2006

All signs point to the fact that we may have managed to come up with twenty or more votes in the Ohio Senate today, but we can't stop calling now.

Based on the hard work of the grassroots gun owners of the State of Ohio we feel rather confident that the Ohio Senate will override HB347 today at 1:30pm. However, with that said you need to remain vigilant and call your Senators.

You can watch the Ohio Senate session from anywhere on the Internet at www.OhioChannel.org with Real Player and watch the vote take place live. It may come later in the agenda.

We will have regular updates to this website as they become available

Today, some newspapers are calling for the death of HB347, such as the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
"The legislature's obsession with deadly weapons and its assault on the concept of home rule continues today when the Ohio Senate votes on overriding Gov. Bob Taft's veto of the legislature's latest gun bill."

"Last week, the governor rightly vetoed a bill that loosens restrictions on carrying concealed weapons and strips local governments of any meaningful ability to regulate the sale or possession of guns. Hours later, the House overwhelmingly overrode the veto."

Sadly, the Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial board is contradicting itself yet again. Just like they once called for "some form" of concealed carry only to write against passing HB274 and HB12, the editors of the Cleveland Plain Dealer clearly advocated "statewide, uniform standards" as recently as this past August of 2006, only to completely object to it in editorials leading up to today's call for it's death.
"The home-rule provision of the Ohio Constitution would seem to give cities the right to decide where guns can and cannot be carried. But the legislature would prefer more statewide consistency."

"This page continues to look skeptically on concealed carry, *but consistency in the form of statewide, uniform standards makes more sense than a confusing patchwork of local contradictions."

Going back to today's editorial from the Plain Dealer:
"A key vote in today's drama will be Sen. Marc Dann, the state's attorney general-elect.* He should resist the temptation to support his friends in the gun lobby and should side instead with the principle of giving voters in Ohio's cities, villages and townships the right to self-government."

We'll let the Plain Dealer slide on the fact that townships have never had the right to pass local gun laws, let alone most ordinances, but with that said...

Ohioans For Concealed Carry believes that with Senator Charles Wilson committing to override we've reached twenty votes in the Ohio Senate. That conclusion depends upon us not losing a single one of the 19 original 'YES' votes and puts us in a position where we truly need Senator Marc Dann to vote to override Governor Taft's Veto, and all indications point to the fact that he will do just that. You may or may not recall that Senator Marc Dann was one of the featured guests at our 2006 picnic while campaigning for Attorney General against Betty Montgomery.

If you live in Ohio's 32nd Senate District you need to call Senator Dann's office and politely let his staff know that you want an override.

When the Ohio Senate passes HB347 into law it will be attorney general-elect Marc Dann who will most likely be put in a position to defend the Legislature's intent should anyone challenge the law in court. Being one of the Senators who voted in favor of it just makes sense to us.

The telephone numbers and email addresses of every "not completely confirmed" Senator can be found in this OhioCCWForums post.

We encourage you to make last minute phone calls and emails to get the point across; Ohio needs a statewide uniform standard for gun laws just like Ohio's bike laws, predatory lending laws, seat belts, and the Ohio Driver's license.