Speaker Jason Stephens

Tuesday January 30, 2024

It’s time for Speaker Jason Stephens to fish or cut bait.

Back in December, Speaker Stephens predicted that HB51 would pass by the end of 2023 – it didn’t.

On December 12th, he said that the bill was, “very important.”

But since then, there has been no vote, and no action.

As you know, the bill was passed out of the House Government Oversight Committee back on November 15th.

The next scheduled House session after the committee vote was November 29th.

However, the bill was NOT brought up for a vote on the floor that day.

Instead, it was sent BACK to committee on December 4th by a motion from Rep. Dave Dobos (R-HD10), where the emergency clause was removed from the bill on December 5th.

Then Speaker Stephens and the rest of the House Rules Committee placed HB51 on the session agenda for the December 6th meeting, but the bill was not brought up for vote then either.

In fact, the Representatives adjourned session without even addressing the bill at all!

And then, on Monday, December 11th during a ‘skeleton’ or ‘non-voting’ session of the Ohio House of Representatives, Rep. Dave Dobos made another motion to rip HB51 from the session agenda and re-refer the bill to the Rules and Reference Committee… WITHOUT a roll call vote!

(Note: these occur typically on a Monday or a Friday where usually only two members are present to introduce bills, make motions, and refer bills to committee)

On the next scheduled House session, December 13th, a group of legislators objected to the House Journal from December 11th to reverse what Dave Dobos had done and put the bill back on the floor.

But the vote failed, and the journal was approved.

If a majority of legislators had voted against approving the House Journal from December 11th, HB51 would have remained on the House calendar and would have been eligible for floor action.

Here’s the conundrum: Speaker Stephens publicly says he wants to pass SAPA, but at the same time he is allowing the bill to be stalled, blocked and railroaded by RINO members of his caucus.

That’s why our message to Speaker Stephens is this: fish or cut bait.

Joe Biden is daily on the warpath against our gun rights, and there is no guarantee of retaking the White House in 2025.

And the fact is, if Joe Biden takes the White House again, it means that we’ve likely lost the House and the Senate as well.

Guaranteeing the passage of their “Assault Weapons” ban.

That will be just the beginning.

So for today’s action item, we are urging OGO members to call Speaker Jason Stephens’ office and demand that he put the bill on the floor for an up or down vote.

Whether the vote passes or fails, gun voters deserve to know where the candidates running to represent them stand on the Second Amendment Preservation Act.

You can call his office at: (614) 466-1366

If you don’t get an answer at the above number, please try calling the following staff in Speaker Stephens’ office:

When you get someone on the line, be firm with them.

Tell him (or his staff) that gun voters deserve ACTION on our gun rights – put HB51 on the floor and CALL THE VOTE on February 7th.

For Freedom,

Chris Dorr, Director
Ohio Gun Owners

P.S. Select or click any of the phone numbers above to be taken directly to your phone’s dialer, where you can call them instantly!