Cleveland RTA Buses Have No Guns? Wrong

Written by Jeff Garvas

Tuesday, 24 April 2007

Since the adoption of concealed carry in Ohio Cleveland's Regional Transit Authority, and Toledo's equivalent, have put signs on their buses and claimed that carrying a firearm on a bus was prohibited. Prior to March 14th when carrying a firearm in a motor vehicle required it to be "in plain sight" made it somewhat hard to "get away" with the act. Cities have no authority to prohibit concealed carry by the general public in a motor vehicle. They can prohibit their employees, however, through a non-criminal employer rule that risks termination. Time and time again we're asked "Why do you want to carry a gun There?" and the answer is because you simply never know when you might need a firearm to defend yourself. Last Friday, in the once "safe" suburb of Garfield Heights, an eighteen and twenty year old involved in some kind of altercation left an RTA bus near the Turney Rd. fire station, or the intersection of Turney & McCracken Rd. According to published reports the eighteen year old shot and killed the twenty year old in a nearby parking lot with a firearm he clearly had been carrying on the RTA bus the whole time. He fled the scene only to be apprehended later. Despite the fact that neither man should have had a handgun under Ohio law due to their age this case highlights the fact that no matter how safe you think an area might be the potential for deadly violence exists everywhere. Those of us who choose to be prepared to defend our lives are not paranoid, but merely taking responsibility for our own self-defense.