Earlier this week Ohioans For Concealed Carry issued a cease and desist letter to the City of Independence in south-central Cuyahoga County, and on Tuesday afternoon we sent a request to the Village of Northfield in Summit County.  Independence had a two year old park ban, and Northfield outlawed 'unconcealed' carrying of firearms, a first degree misdemeanor.  These letters are just a few of many we've sent to communities all across Ohio this week seeking RC 9.68 compliance (local gun law repeals, park bans).

On Wednesday night Ohioans For Concealed Carry president Jeff Garvas addressed the Northfield Council with respect to their aggressive open carry ban.

We are pleased to announce that both cities appear to be moving in the right direction promptly.  For the past two years we've been working to get Independence to repeal their ordinance and bring down their gun ban signs in parks and along State Route 21 near their historical society. 

In the past few months we began working with Independence Councilman Jim Crooks to negotiate legislation to repeal their ordinance, eventually choosing to wait for Clyde to be decided.  Councilman Crooks is the only city official to ever communicate with us, let alone actively seek a resolution.  He introduced the emergency legislation to repeal their park ban ordinance during a special council meeting September 23rd.

That emergency ordinance passed 6-1 and the ordinance is repealed as of Tuesday night.  We are under the impression that the signs are still posted, but we have reason to believe that Mr. Crooks is going to ensure that those signs are promptly removed by city officials before the end of the week.

With respect to the Northfield Open Carry ordinance Jeff Garvas, joined by members of the organization and forums, attended Wednesday's council meeting and addressed the members just over twenty-four hours after sending a polite letter asking them to repeal their ordinance.  To the best of our knowledge Northfield does not have a park ban at all, but they did enact a ban on 'unconcealed' handguns in 2004 -- a law that had quite easily been in conflict with HB12 when the law required open carry in a vehicle or on a motorcycle.

Today, that law is in conflict with Revised Code 9.68 and to our surprise the Law Director had already begun drafting legislation to repeal Northfield's prohibition on open carry.   Unlike other cities we were welcomed by the council and engaged in lengthy discussion -- the only objections coming from a few older women in the crowd who seemed to be quite upset that we were talking about guns.  

Northfield's law director clearly seems to intend to repeal the ordinance, and the Mayor and certain council members appear to be on board.  Although they were not in a position to do so tonight, we believe they will be repealing that ordinance at their next regularly scheduled meeting.

Less than a week after winning Ohioans For Concealed Carry v. The City of Clyde we are making significant headway.