Yesterday morning I testified for OGO members to the House Federalism Committee (watch the video below), Constitutional Carry has switched bill numbers, it has been referred to committee and Sponsor Testimony is coming next week!
Site, there’s a lot happening at the Statehouse, so I hope you’ll read this email, watch the short video below and then take action!
First out of the gate is Constitutional Carry.
As you know, we introduced Constitutional Carry as HB174 first with the intention of starting the committee process and amending it in committee, not wanting to wait for the updated language from the passage of HB86.
Thankfully, that updated language came much sooner than we though, so we’ve reintroduced Constitutional Carry and it is now House Bill 178!
(You can read the bill here.)
This is the official kickoff of the committee process for Constitutional Carry, and we’re excited as heck to tackle the work ahead of us!
Already things are moving fast.
Just this morning, HB178 was referred to the House Federalism Committee which is chaired by Representative John Becker.
The Federalism Committee is composed of arguably the most pro-gun members of the House of Representatives, including Reps Bill Dean, Tom Brinkman and Ron Hood.
That’s good news for gun owners because the chances for passing it out of committee without being gutted or watered down and sending it straight to the full House for a floor vote are dramatically higher than if it were to go to a committee like Criminal Justice or State and Local Government.
This afternoon, Representative Becker’s office reached out to us and notified us that HB178 by Reps Hood and Brinkman is scheduled for Sponsor Testimony next Wednesday at 9am!
(If you’re in the area, we’d love to see you there! It’s this Wednesday, April 10th at 9am in room 115 at the Statehouse in Columbus.)
The normal process for bills to follow is Introduction, Referral to committee, Sponsor Testimony, Proponent Testimony, Opponent Testimony, Interested Party Testimony (if needed) and occasionally additional testimonies, and then a vote out of committee.
VERY SOON we will have Action Center alerts for you to start directly contacting members of the committee, but right now we’re collecting physical petitions in support for Constitutional Carry.
If you haven’t already, please sign your petition right away by clicking the image below!
But as I mentioned earlier, yesterday morning I also had the opportunity to testify in front of the House Federalism Committee and introduce the pro-gun argument to the committee members.
In the video below, I outline our pro-gun position to the committee, describe the policy items we’d like to see this General Assembly pass into law, and explain our opposition to the many gun-control bills being introduced!
Click the image below to watch the prepared remarks portion of the video:
To watch the full, 1-hour and 45-minute video which includes questions and answers, click here.
As you can see, Bloomberg’s gun-control militants are out for blood. And make no mistake about it, they’re anything but reasonable!
Ohio Gun Owners is going to fight tooth and nail to make sure no gun-control passes this year, and we’re going to do everything we can to pass a huge, pro-gun bill this General Assembly.
We know we’ll fail if we don’t fight for it. So we’re going to fight like h*!!.
(Tip: we’re nearly complete on our Stand-Your-Ground law, too!)
Any bit of support you can afford to give is greatly appreciated and will immediately be put to use.
We’re proud to stand with you!
For Ohio,
Chris Dorr
Executive Director
Ohio Gun Owners