A bill being considered in the Ohio legislature would reform the penalties for someone carrying a concealed handgun in currently designated “gun free” zones. Penalties under existing law are extreme.
A person who inadvertently enters such a prohibited zone in Ohio is subject to a felony charge, risking a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison and a $2,500 fine. A felony conviction removes the right to vote and the right to own firearms.
But that could change if a new bill under consideration is enacted. From wcbe.org:
The Republican-sponsored bill would let concealed carry license holders take their guns into gun-free zones including restaurants, schools and courthouses as long as they’re not caught. If they are caught and if they leave immediately they won’t face criminal charges.
Luke Entelis, with Everytown for Gun Safety, says this would put the burden on business owners and school employees to confront the gun owner.
 C)(1) No person who has a valid license to carry a concealed handgun or who is a qualified military member and is discovered carrying a concealed handgun onto land or premises in violation of a sign posted pursuant to division (C)(3)(a) of section 2923.126 of the Revised Code or in violation of section 2923.12, 2923.121, 2923.122, or 2923.123 of the Revised Code shall do either of the following:
(a) Refuse or fail to leave the land or premises upon being requested to do so by the owner, lessee, or person in control of the land or premises or by the individual’s agent or employee;
(b) Return within thirty days to the same land or premises while knowingly in possession of a firearm in violation of a sign posted pursuant to division (C)(3)(a) of section 2923.126 of the Revised Code or in violation of section 2923.12, 2923.121, 2923.122, or 2923.123 of the Revised Code.
The penalties would be similar to other non-violent acts such as disturbing a lawful meeting or failure to disperse.
And so they should. Americans with concealed carry permits are, statistically, some of the most law abiding people in the country. They’re far more law abiding than the population at large and ten times more law abiding than police officers.
HB 233 has 51 co-sponsors. With the sponsor, that’s 52 votes. There are 132 votes in the general assembly. One of the co-sponsors is Speaker of the House Clifford A. Rosenberger.
There are 24 Republicans in the Senate, and nine Democrats. There are 66 Republicans in the House, and 33 Democrats. The Ohio Governor is John Kasich, who has an A rating from the National Rifle Association.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Utah doesn’t enforce Gun Free Zones. Only trespassing. Anyone wanna guess about the rivers of blood running through our streets?
The truth is that law abiding gun owners will obey GFZ signs while criminals will not.
Look, I want to take away the right to keep and bear arms more than anyone you’ll ever meet. But even I can tell you that we’ll be worse off as a nation if only criminals have guns.
Tim (The Gun Hater)
P.S. Since I titled myself a gun hater, that means I have extra credit when arguing against gun control laws. Don’t believe me? Ask Mike (The Gun Guy), the most trusted supporter of the 2A and totally not a FLAME DELETED. Saved you the trouble TTAG =)
How can so much truth and stupidity reside in the same comment. It is truly baffling.
Multiple personality disorder.
I actually pulled this off around some friends of friends who didn’t know what a gun nut I am. They were arguing about the Extreme Risk Protection Order bill in Oregon and how many lives it would save.
I said “Look, I hate guns and want to take them away from everyone. But if the only way to get these guns from suicidal people is to spread their problems around a courtroom when they’re not even there to defend themselves… won’t that make them feel helpless and like they can’t trust their family? Even I can tell you that won’t help suicidal people. Plus, the Oregon law gives them 24hrs to turn their gun in. How is taking away only one means of suicide and even then letting them keep it for a day gonna help anyone? Like I said, I want the 2A repealed and think gun owners all have tiny dicks… but even I can tell you this bill is dishonest. It increases the chances of suicide and that’s the wrong way to go about taking guns from people.
You may or may not be surprised at just how effective it was. By labeling myself anti gun, other anti gun people automatically believed me. Even though I told them their bill was dishonest and harmful and implied they were as well for supporting it.
“You may or may not be surprised at just how effective it was.”
That’s actually an intriguing tactic. I kinda like the idea of walking them into their own trap.
I’m gonna chew on that a bit…
It’s far too late for me to do this, but it sounds like it could work
People are far more open to criticism from their own side. Try the line “I just want for the gun control we DO push for to be effective. Effective gun control is what will convince the most people to join us. This has already been proven to do nothing. All it does is undermine the next thing we might suggest.”
By labeling myself anti gun, other anti gun people automatically believed me.
The reverse of “I support the second amendment, but” or “we don’t want to take your guns away”. Interesting …
Kasich may have an A-rating, but we’re replacing him next year because he doesn’t get along well with Trump. He has been good for signing gun-related stuff though. Personally I think we ought to remove all the sting of GFZ signs that are not schools or courthouses and have this law applied there.
How is Kasich an A rating? Didn’t he vote for the assault weapons ban from Clinton in 1994?
He saw that it didn’t work and changed his opinion, which is something we are constantly trying to get anti-gunners to do. He learned it the hard way, but he realized that criminals don’t follow laws to begin with and that gun control doesn’t work. Now he supports gun rights.
Since he’s been governor, he’s signed every pro-gun bill to hit his desk and has ignored gun control groups.
We’re replacing him next year because he is term locked and can’t run again, not because he doesn’t get along with Trump. If he could run again, he would win again. He beat Trump by more than 10 percentage points in the presidential primary here, so I doubt he would be taken out by a primary challenger.
Kasich only won in Ohio because a ton of idiot Bernie supporters registered as Republicans to try to “block” Trump in Ohio, but when they voted for Hillary in the actual election they lost anyway.
Hopefully we will be replacing him with Jon Husted.
Any place a criminal can carry a gun, a law abiding citizen should be allowed to carry a gun.
Signs and policies cannot protect you from people willing to do you harm.
“Luke Entelis, with Everytown for Gun Safety, says this would put the burden on business owners and school employees to confront the gun owner.”
God forbid we acknowledge that gun owners exist in our society! And even worse we have to interact with them! Oh the humanity!
We have a similar procedure never had a problem obliging a business owner and never known anyone to make trouble over such a petty request. Funny thing how gun owners value their right and don’t want to lose it over something so petty
“Luke Entelis” keep you nose in your own damn business. Or would that be a “burden”?
This seems very similar to “Don’t ask, don’t tell”. Works for me.
There’s always a struggle between the right to keep and bear arms, and the rights of private property owners. I come down on the latter’s side. Don’t like a place’s no-guns policy? Fine, then go somewhere else.
Where I might be willing to compromise is with something like this bill establishes. Keep your gun concealed and you can ignore the store’s no guns sign, but you must leave immediately if it’s discovered that you’re carrying, with no charges filed against you.
I would add something, though. Since property owners are concerned about liability if a carrier negligently discharges or otherwise commits a spontaneous crime while om their property, I would add provisions for enhanced penalties and immunity.
Whatever gun crime you commit on property with a posted no-guns preference, gets bumped up to the next level of penalty. For example, a negligent discharge im public is a class B misdemeanor (6 months im jail and/or $2,000 fine). I might be OK with carriers ignoring private property no-guns signs, BUT if you negligently discharge, it gets bumped up to a class A misdemeanor (year in jail and/or $4,000 fine).
Something along those lines, that if you really want to carry someplace against the property owner’s wishes, then go ahead, but if you screw up, we’re going to nail your balls to the wall big time.
Beyond that, total civil immunity for any patron’s gun acts for private property owners who post a no-guns sign.
Well you’ll just have to live with being WRONG. At least on property you have opened up to others. Your statist opinions do not allow you to deprive others of their Constitution.
So we must allow flag desecration on our private property?
Just do it like we do down south, stupid signs have no force of law, if a business with said sign sees your gat and they ask you to leave, you leave. If you don’t and they call the po-lice you get trespassed. If you have a CCL and are in a school zone you’re good. Just can’t go to a demonstration with one.
The personal property argument for a business is a bunch of bull crap. My body and life are My personal property and My rights don’t end at someone else doorstep. Unless they are fully prepared to protect me from all hazards they are as libel as if I get injured any other way when on their property.
And then we have the City of Baltimore, which has one of the highest firearms murder rates in the country and apparently where every member of the Bal’mer “leadership” eats a huge bowl of Frosted Stupid Flakes for breakfast each and every day. The latest bit of stupidity was unveiled today. From the Baltimore Sun: “Baltimore leaders on Friday proposed a mandatory one-year sentence for illegal gun possession within 100 yards of a school, park, church, public building or other public place of assembly within the city. The bill would prevent any part of the one-year sentence from being suspended, and preclude those with such convictions from receiving parole.”
Of course, there’s hardly a block within the city which does not contain one of the “sacrosanct” areas, so chances that you’re not within a hundred yards of one are pretty much nil. Well, just get yourself a CWP, right? The chances of the average Joe getting a CWP in Maryland are about the same as mine nailing Angelina Jolie. BTW, this is just an “interim” measure until the Maryland General Assembly passes a law giving the city what it REALLY wants – a FIVE year mandatory sentence for possession without a permit, even if you’ve not committed any other crime.
So, if you’re an otherwise law-abiding Baltimoron who is carrying a gun because the city is God-awful dangerous but the State refuses to issue you a permit, you’re doing it at the risk of doing at least a year in the slammer if caught with it, likely to be five years after the next session of the Maryland Leftistlature. No wonder the population of Bal’mer keeps shrinking.
The snowflakes on Cleveland.com are losing their minds. It’s pure poetry!
A day without tormenting anti-gun cultists is like a day without sunshine.
If you want to twist the knife even harder, throw in, “By the way, HILLARY CLINTON WILL NEVER BE PRESIDENT”.
What proportion of anti-gun cultists wanted Hillary to be President?
Walk by “No Weapons” signs everyday. The worst that can happen here is being asked to leave. A refusal to leave could get you arrested for trespass. There are a few exceptions like government buildings, school buildings and entertainment venues, but it is a rare occasion that those are a problem.
My bank put a “No Weapons” sign on their door recently, but evidently out here in the burbs no one seemed to notice. The branch manager is a CCL instructor at a local range.
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