When House Bill 201 was read into the journal last Wednesday afternoon, I’ll admit I felt a little excited!
You see, Constitutional Carry is a major pro-gun bill.
Most of the time, when politicians aren’t on the outright warpath against our gun rights, they expect gun owners like us to just be happy more of our rights aren’t being taken away.
And IF gun owners can bark loud enough, the politicians sometimes throw ‘em a bone and pass a “whittle the edges” bill, restoring rights for only a fraction of gun owners.
But Constitutional Carry isn’t that – it is a MAJOR pro-gun reform for the over 11,000,000 residents of Ohio!
It is already legal for law-abiding citizens to carry a firearm openly without permission (unless in a vehicle).
Constitutional Carry would simply allow lawful citizens to put a coat on to cover it up!
In addition, H.B.201:
➤➤ Removes the “duty to notify” an officer you’re carrying a firearm.
Imagine stopping on the side of the road at the scene of an accident to render aid, only to be forced to tell each responding officer you have a firearm!
The tense situations that arise from such scenarios happen all too often in Ohio, unfortunately.
In addition, violent criminals never flag their intentions or notify an officer they’re carrying a firearm anyway!
➤➤ Removes taxes and fees to exercise your right to bear arms.
Government shouldn’t be in the “rights regulation business.” If you want to exercise your rights without paying for the privilege, you should be free to do it!
➤➤ Keeps the current permitting system in place as “optional” for those who still wish to get one for purposes of reciprocity.
Business people, vacationers and travelers of every kind may still find it convenient to have a permit for the ever-decreasing number of states that don’t have Constitutional Carry.
If you follow gun rights on the national scale, you have probably been as excited as we are to see state after state across America restore these rights to their citizens.
But now that Constitutional Carry has been introduced, the next step is to get H.B.201 through the committee process.
We’re waiting to find out which committee it’ll be assigned to, but we should know more shortly.
Like we’ve said before, the states that have passed Constitutional Carry did so because mobilized, organized in those states rose up and demanded it.
In fact, in Iowa alone gun owners removed over 35 anti-gun incumbents before they were able to pass major pro-gun reforms!
Ohio Gun Owners is committed to working our tails off to build the statewide gun-owner engagement this battle is going to require.
If you are already a member of Ohio Gun Owners for 2017 but would like to make another contribution, I can’t thank you enough.
If you are not already a member, we would love for you to join with us and become one!
(NOTE: for the last of you who haven’t received your t-shirt from our renewal drive, we are going to be shipping the last batch out in the month of June. Our apologies, we won’t be unprepared for the number of orders again!)
Committee assignment for H.B.201 should happen in the next day or two, so stay tuned!
And if you are able, we would be grateful to have your support in this fight!
For Freedom,
Chris Dorr
Executive Director
Ohio Gun Owners
