It was a political fight that spanned multiple election cycles, three General Assemblies, tens of thousands of phone calls, hundreds of thousands of emails sent and a tidal wave of crushing political pressure that Ohio had never seen before.
But on June 13, 2022, only six years after Ohio Gun Owners started the battle, Ohio will become the 23rd Constitutional Carry state as SB215 was officially signed by Governor Mike DeWine earlier this month!
Never again will law abiding Ohioans be forced to pay a tax to the State of Ohio or add their name to a government database just to be able to exercise their God-given, Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms!
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to thank every single member of Ohio Gun Owners who supported this fight along the way.
Ohio Gun Owners isn’t funded by a national organization, and we don’t have a billionaire in New York City giving us money like the gun control groups that work in Columbus do.
No, this fight for freedom was funded exclusively by you and every proud member of Ohio Gun Owners who love the Second Amendment and who are determined to defend it for our children and our grandchildren!
So many politicians in Columbus laughed in our faces over the years as we told them that Ohio Gun Owners would pass Constitutional Carry one day; it was only a question of how many political careers would line the gutter of Ohio political history first.
Most of those politicians have been thrown out of office and you and I have made it clear to the politicians in Columbus that if they value their careers, they better not vote against the Second Amendment.
But thanks to your calls and emails, removing the requirement to get a license wasn’t the only thing in SB215.
Because OGO members so completely dominated the whole issue-space in Columbus on gun-rights, the bill also:
>>> Eliminated the “promptly notify” burden of gun owners to initiate contact with an officer to inform them you are carrying a firearm.
Instead of a “duty to notify” law, after June 13 you will only be required to notify if you are asked by an officer. Eventually, this entire section of the ORC needs to be eliminated, but this is an improvement without taking a step backwards.
>>> Eliminated the need to carry your CHL with you. SB215 makes it clear than any qualifying adult (not prohibited by the ORC or Federal law) shall be deemed to have been issued a valid concealed handgun license.
Without a doubt, the passage of Constitutional Carry law and everything that came with it has been one of the biggest advancements in Second Amendment freedom in Ohio history!
And none of this would have happened without the powerful muscle of Ohio Gun Owners’ members and supporters.
It was OGO members who funded our programs that exposed gun grabbers at election time in 2016, 2018 and 2020 with the hardest hitting radio and digital ads that gun-grabbers had ever seen — flipping the legislature in the process.
It was OGO members who were the fire wall that Ohioans needed in 2018 and 2020, blocking both John Kasich AND Mike DeWine’s attempts to pass Red-Flag Gun Confiscation for Ohio that would have obliterated due-process rights for gun owners.
It was OGO members who sent THOUSANDS of emails every single year in support of this bill, who joined me in testifying in committee for this bill year after year, who helped us work the grassroots and build support for this bill and went door-to-door with us at election time.
This session, it was OGO members who sent hundreds of thousands of emails in support of Constitutional Carry, almost shut down the legislature’s website and overloaded Governor DeWine’s public input systems until they crashed, demanding that he sign Constitutional Carry!
Simply put, this victory belongs to the members of Ohio Gun Owners, the most feared political fighting force the state of Ohio has ever seen.
Thank you for every single action you’ve taken to make Ohio a Constitutional Carry state!
But all that we’ve accomplished together here in Ohio over the last six years is being threatened like never before by Joe Biden and the radical socialists who control Congress.
While it seems unlikely that Biden can muster the votes he needs to pass a national gun registry or a national ban on the AR-15 and other semi-automatic firearms, the threats posed to our freedoms through his executive orders are just beginning.
That’s why Ohio Gun Owners has already shifted our focus to the Second Amendment Preservation Act (HB62), our bill that would destroy federal gun control or executive actions here in Ohio by requiring Ohio peace officers to only enforce state laws where our firearms, ammunition, or accessories are concerned!
Sound too good to be true? It’s not.
SAPA legislation is based on the Constitutional ‘anti-commandeering doctrine’ which states that the federal government cannot simply ‘commandeer’ a state’s police powers and make them enforce federal laws that are contrary to state law.
That’s why it’s legal to smoke marijuana in some states when federal law still says it’s a crime. That’s also how Democratic-run cities stopped President Trump from deporting criminal illegal aliens.
And if Ohio enacts HB62, Joe Biden couldn’t stop us in the courts, either, as the United States Supreme Court has ruled in favor of states rights for hundreds of years in cases like Murphy v NCAA (2018), NFIB v Sebelius (2012), Printz v United States (1997) and more.
SAPA legislation is how we can shut down Biden’s war and any future administration’s war on gun owners in ‘red’ states like Ohio, but only if the legislature takes action on HB62!
Ohio Gun Owners rejects the idea that the Ohio General Assembly doesn’t have to pass any gun bills for the next decade.
Conservatives and patriots like you and me are in a culture war with the Marxists masquerading as Democrats, and if they win, America’s decline will accelerate and our nation will rot away.
Here in Ohio, there is no excuse for that to happen unless our Republican supermajority is allowed to squander what gun owners have given them!
Passing Constitutional Carry this session was very expensive, and we won’t be able to renew our mobilization pressure in the General Assembly without your help.
Whether that’s $500 or $5 or anywhere in between, thank you, in advance, for your continued support!
For Freedom,
Chris Dorr
Executive Director
Ohio Gun Owners
P.S. Thanks to the unstoppable demands of the members of Ohio Gun Owners, the fight for Constitutional Carry has been won and Ohio will become the 23rd Constitutional Carry state on June 13th!
Thank you, so very much, for everything you’ve done to support this long battle for Second Amendment freedom! This is your victory and it wouldn’t have happened without you.
But with Joe Biden declaring war on the Second Amendment through executive orders and the biggest gun control bills that we’ve ever seen, Ohio needs the Second Amendment Preservation Act NOW!
