We’ve got another very important Constitutional Carry update to share with you below, so please read this entire email and then take action.
In case you missed our update from yesterday, Rob and I have been meeting with Senators, including every Republican member of the Veterans and Public Safety committee – gathering intel and shoring up support for Constitutional Carry.
But here’s the main takeaway from our time at the Statehouse this week:
They know they have to move Constitutional Carry, or they’ll reap a whirlwind of revenge at election time if they don’t, Kathryn.
They know what you and the rest of OGO Nation did to House Republicans to get Constitutional Carry passed over there, and they don’t want to go through the same political agony.
Quite frankly, OGO doesn’t care whether Ohio Senate Republicans take the hard road or the easy road because we’ll fight like mad dogs either way – but we will not take the “no” road for an answer.
The other thing we do not know for certain is which Constitutional Carry bill it will be that gets passed out of the Senate.
In case you forgot, there are TWO Constitutional Carry bills sitting in the Ohio Senate Veterans and Public Safety Committee: HB227 and SB215.
House Bill 227 already passed the Ohio House, as you are well aware.
Senate Bill 215 by Senator Terry Johnson has stalled in the Veterans and Public Safety Committee and hasn’t had any traction in several months.
Both bills restore the rights to carry a firearm without begging government permission by booting government out of the rights regulation business.
Unlike a big, fat, juicy cut of Tomahawk-cut USDA Prime ribeye steak, gun-rights bills like Constitutional Carry do NOT get better with a little aging time.
And we dang sure do not wanting this committee to let our bill sit there like they’ve been letting SB215 sit there, or like Shane Wilkin let HB227 sit in the House Government Oversight Committee.
So OGO is going to do what we do best: we’re going to hammer on Senate Leadership and members of the Senate Veterans and Public Safety Committee and tell them to pass Constitutional Carry!
Do you want to know the best part?
By hammering on them to pass HB227 out of committee, we will either force them to pass HB227 OR SB215 – we don’t care which!!
If the Senate passes HB227, it is the win we are looking for.
If the Senate passes SB215, it is the win we are looking for.
If the Senate bill passes, it will get sent over to the Ohio House for a concurrence vote, in which the House would have to agree with the Senate version of Constitutional Carry.
Since Ohio Gun Owners and the OGO army has already paved the way in the Ohio House, OGO is happy with either outcome.
OGO has planned, prepared and executed for this possibility since the day SB215 was introduced by Senator Johnson!
Here’s the deal.
The Ohio Senate has 33 members: 25 Republicans and 8 Democrats. In order to pass this bill, we just need 17 Republicans to vote yes for Constitutional Carry to pass out of the Senate, but it will likely not be anywhere near that close.
Of the 25 Republicans in the Ohio Senate Republican caucus, we estimate only 2 Republicans will defect and vote with the Democrats:
Senator Matt Dolan (Chagrin Falls) and Stephanie Kunze (Dublin).
If you recognize those two “Republicans” as the sponsors of Mike DeWine and John Kasich’s gun-control bills, you would be correct.
And make no mistake about it – OGO will be running full-blown pressure campaigns on Matt Dolan, who is running in the Republican US Senate Primary to replace outgoing Senator Rob Portman, and Stephanie Kunze to vote yes on the bill!
But even IF those two RINOs defect, the final floor vote will likely be somewhere around 23 to 10 in favor – ABOVE the two-thirds threshold required for a veto-proof majority vote!
When OGO whipped the Ohio House vote for HB227, we thought that there would be two defectors on Constitutional Carry, but we went to work pressuring those two defectors anyway.
On the day of the Ohio House floor vote, not one single Republican defected and joined the Democrats to vote against the bill!
And now we’ve whipped the Senate. The votes are there, all Senate Leadership has to do is pass the bill out of committee and put it on the floor!
But before you start counting your ammo, it needs to get delivered, first.
In other words, none of this means the politicians are gonna just surge forward and do the right thing if we sit back and kick on the cruise control.
Brothers and sisters, we must keep hammering on the General Assembly for Constitutional Carry now more than ever!
But there’s one more thing.
After you’ve successfully taken action, you’ll be asked to make a donation to help Ohio Gun Owners FINISH THIS FIGHT and get Constitutional Carry on the books here in Ohio.
Please be generous.
I’m not sure if we can make it happen before Christmas, but a massive gift to yourselves and every gun owner in Ohio would be total passage of Constitutional Carry.
If this fight has reinforced in our minds is that the job ain’t over until the bill is signed into law, and not one single part of this fight is guaranteed.
So we’ve got to push as hard as we can between now and then.
Friend, you and I are on the cusp of a total, tremendous and beautiful victory for gun owners in this state. and it’s ours for the taking.
SO LET’S TAKE IT!
For Freedom,
Chris Dorr
Executive Director
Ohio Gun Owners