| Annual CHL Report Issued |
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| Written by Jeff Garvas | |
| Wednesday, 28 February 2007 | |
Ohio law requires the Attorney General's Office to issue an annual report to the Governor, the Speaker of the House, and the Senate President, before March 1st, detailing the results of Ohio's concealed handgun laws. The 2006 annual report was release today and is available on the Attorney General's website here and it details that, as of December 31st, 2006 there were 86,832 licensed Ohioans who can carry a firearm for self-defense lawfully. Last year Ohioans For Concealed Carry began tracking estimated issued licenses on our main website. Since the 4th quarter results came out last week we've adjusted our counter's estimating rate and believe that more than 89,775 individuals will be licensed by the end of February 28th - or approximately three thousand licenses since the beginning of the year so far. 2006 was the second full calendar year in which Concealed Carry existed in Ohio and continued a steady decline in the number of net-new licensees with a total of 18,781 compared to 22,487 the year prior, and 45,497 in the first year of implementation. The first year of concealed carry consisted of just nine months since the law went into effect in April of 2004. Those who pay close attention to the numbers shouldn't be concerned with what appears to be almost a 17% decline in applicants. The fact is, every state to adopt concealed carry realizes an up front rush to obtain a concealed handgun license followed by steady decline. Based on the rate of growth so far, and the pending changes to Ohio's concealed carry law coming March 14th, the potential to exceed 100,000 licenses before any are due to be renewed in 2008 is very likely. The report also indicates license suspension and revocation numbers, but due to Ohio law, Sheriffs neither record nor report the reason for such decisions to suspend or revoke. In many cases a license could be revoked because the licensee dies, leaves the state, or has a protection order issued against them. In many cases a protection order is automatically entered against parties of a divorce, so these facts are not necessarily indicative of problems that needed to result in a license being taken away. In fact, compared to the issued licenses, less than two percent of those issued are revoked and less than one percent are suspended. Further, numbers may seem higher due to the fact that the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office revoked or suspended nearly one-hundred licenses in 2006 after discovering an instructor had conducted their classes wrong, skewing the number of suspended higher than they otherwise would have been for the 2006 calendar year. The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office actions prove that the system's checks and balances work. Those who unknowingly obtained the flawed training were given the opportunity to obtain additional training to obtain new concealed handgun licenses. Although Ohio rapidly acquired reciprocity with sixteen other states we have lulled in new additions to the list, especially with common sense agreements that should exist with states such as West Virginia. Recently West Virginia's House passed legislation to create reciprocity reform that may lay the groundwork for a future agreement. Additionally, Ohioans For Concealed Carry is working to identify other states where Attorney General Marc Dann should evaluate the potential for reciprocity agreements. A contributing factor to the dilemma is the fact that Ohio requires a mutual reciprocity agreement and many states simply do not have a process where an individual or elected official has the authority to enter into such a binding agreement. You can help increase the number of licensed Ohioans by encouraging your friends and family to take the training and get their license. Effective March 14th, 2007 licenses will increase from $44 to $55, but they'll last for five years. |