Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) signed a bill making it legal for state residents to carry a gun without first obtaining a state permit. With his signature, Ohio has become the 23rd state in the nation to enact constitutional carry legislation.
Senate Bill 215 allows anyone over 21, and who is legally eligible to own a firearm, to concealed carry. It also removes the requirement that citizens inform a police officer they are carrying a weapon, although they must disclose the fact if asked. The law takes effect 90 days after its signature.
Advocates say the bill more perfectly respects the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms as intended by America’s Founding Fathers. “The constitution of the U.S. does not require you to have a permit or license to exercise the rights that are prescribed in the constitution,” said State Senator Niraj Antani, a co-sponsor of the bill. “Among those rights is the second amendment which is the right to bear arms.”
The new law comes as the state capital, Columbus, became one of a dozen Democrat-controlled cities to set record-breaking homicide numbers in 2021: 204 murders, or one every 1.8 days. The city’s homicide rate had already risen by 67% in 2020 — a higher rate than Chicago.
In response, the number of concealed carry permits obtained by Ohioans surged 20% last year over 2020, to 202,920, according to the state attorney general. The state already allows the open carry of firearms.
“A person who lives, works and drives through areas that have recently exploded in violence should not have to complete government paperwork, submit to a background check, take a class, and then wait on the government to exercise a right guaranteed by the state of Ohio,” said Rob Sexton of the Buckeye Firearms Association in January.
Some law enforcement officers, such as Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey, opposed the bill, saying it would increase gun violence. But a plurality of police officers said that allowing civilians greater ability to carry concealed weapons would “have the most impact” in “preventing large scale shootings in public” in a 2013 survey.
Gun rights advocates thanked the governor for making the legislation a reality. “Gov. DeWine made a campaign promise to Buckeye Firearms Association and to Ohio’s 4 million gun owners that he would sign a Constitutional Carry bill if it was put on his desk. And he has fulfilled his promise,” said Dean Rieck, executive director of Buckeye Firearms Association.
The National Rifle Association thanked “Gov. DeWine for signing this critical bill that upholds the Second Amendment in Ohio, for the benefit of law-abiding citizens,” as well as “bill sponsor Senator Terry Johnson (R-14), Chairman Shane Wilkin of the House Government Oversight Committee, and all the other lawmakers who sent this bill to Gov. DeWine’s desk.”
This is an excerpt from The Daily Wire.
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