Imagine the irony for readers of the Plain Dealer today who cheered when Cleveland resident Lawrence Hanson III was cleared of charges the day after he shot and killed an intruder in his home.  Today, in a follow up story to our win in the Ohio Supreme Court, the Cleveland Plain Dealer has done a story not only on the right to carry openly, but the legal struggle of Greg Llewellyn.  Llewellyn is now facing criminal charges for merely posessing a firearm in the open while doing nothing illegal.

He spent a weekend in jail for simply posessing a firearm in Cleveland, Ohio.  An act that was made completely lawful by HB347 and Ohio Revised Code 9.68.

Ohioans For Concealed Carry became aware of Llewellyn's legal dealings shortly after he was arrested and immediately began investigating the claims, including a lengthy public records request that was submitted on August 25th.  The City of Cleveland has failed to respond to that request with anything more than "we are still working on gathering the information".  To this day Mr. Llewellyn doesn't even have a receipt for his improperly (if not illegally) confiscated rare firearm.

Llewellyn, relatively new to the area, does not have a license to carry concealed.  He learned that changes in the law made it legal to carry openly, and he chose to do so.  For four straight weeks he was never hassled, until someone spotted his gun, confronted him, and called for officers on duty.  

Whomever confronted Llewellyn reportedly stated "You can't do that, I've arrested people for doing  that," and left the scene.  We are not sure if this person was an off-duty police officer or not.  Moments later police arrived and ordered everyone to the ground. Despite someone visibly seeing his firearm and calling the police he was charged with concealed carry.  Why concealed?  Probably because there is no other law to charge him with.   Interestingly, despite claims by Mayor Frank Jackson that their laws are still enforceable, he was not charged with a city ordinance preempted by ORC 9.68.

Ohioans For Concealed Carry is working with Mr. Llewellyn to help with his legal defense.  You can follow his struggle in our discussion forums here.

In discussing our win in the Ohio Supreme Court last week with a Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter we raised this case as evidence that Cleveland continues to ignore changes in state law.  The Plain Dealer showed interest and pursued the story.

Interestingly enough Ms. Toby Hoover was quoted saying "What are we teaching the next generation? Are we saying we live in a society where everyone should openly carry a gun?"  Readers of this website who have followed the fight for concealed carry will see the humor in this contradicting statement.

Since we began fighting for concealed carry Hoover has been quoted time and time again in the news media, before the legislature, and in debates telling us if we wanted to carry firearms so badly, why don't we do it in the open?

She then encourages her followers to call 911 and leave the area anytime they see someone carrying a firearm.