Senate Bill 215, Ohio's permitless carry bill, had no shortage of left-wing opponents, and chief among them was the Ohio news media.
The editorials (sometimes masquerading as news articles) written in opposition are too numerous to name here. And the attacks didn't stop when the bill was signed.
Four days after Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bill into law, the Columbus Dispatch published an op-ed written by Ohio Legislative Black Caucus executive director John Meacham, entitled "Guns in unskilled hands 'a recipe for disaster.'' The op-ed contained some interesting quotes.
For example, Meacham claims that "untrained citizens handling guns in a heightened situation with the police can be a recipe for disaster. The police are not in support of this legislation, as it puts the lives of law enforcement officers in harm’s way."
Given the lack of trust of law enforcement exhibited by groups like Black Lives Matter, it is surprising that Meacham chose to play a "Back the Blue" card here.
Meacham goes on to claim that "eliminating the requirement of an eight-hour course that provides basic firearm training and safety can be detrimental to households, neighborhoods, and communities," while providing no proof to his claim, or explanation for why these detrimental affects are not already happening in other states with Constitutional Carry laws.
Meacham ends his op-ed by saying, "It is important to remember that the American justice system and lax gun laws seldomly work in favor of Black people."
This one is quite interesting, since, very early in his op-ed, he admitted that the new Permitless Carry law might in fact help the very people he and other Democrats claim to be representing in the Statehouse:
Though the bill was largely unpopular with Democratic members of the legislature, passing entirely along party lines without support from Democrats, it may have some beneficial advantages for their constituency.
This bill does nothing to repair the relationship between law enforcement and the Black community; however, it may deter law enforcement from unduly searching people of color for weapons in hopes that they don’t possess a concealed handgun license.
Thanks to an investigation by The Cincinnati Enquirer and USA TODAY Network Ohio, we have proof that this is EXACTLY what is happening.
From an article entitled "Who was affected most by Ohio's concealed carry rules? Black residents charged more often":
…The Enquirer and USA TODAY Network Ohio bureau dug into court data to get some more concrete predictions about what life with permitless carry will look like. It's impossible to know if there will be more homicides, but it is possible to know how many people might avoid a court case and who will be most affected by that.
The answer is hundreds in Hamilton County alone, many of whom are young Black men. The smaller suburban Delaware County has likely dozens of cases a year, and about 60% of the cases involve Black people while Black residents make up only 11% of the county's population.
Looking at cases that only involve offenses that will be legal under the new law, it is clear that hundreds of people will be spared the penalties, expense and inconvenience of a criminal charge. People charged with any other offense in the same case were not included in the tally.
The data also showed a significant racial disparity. Over 80% of the cases involved Black people, compared to the population of Hamilton County, which is about 23% Black. More than half of the people who were charged were in their 20s.
Got that? This Enquirer/USA Today study shows that Ohio's Permitless Carry law stands to prevent hundreds of black people from being charged with the crime of carrying a concealed handgun or improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle each year. And that's in just one of Ohio's 88 counties!
For her part, Niki Clum of the Ohio Public Defender's office is quoted as saying that black men being charged with gun possession more often isn't surprising.
"We know that they have more contact with police," Clum said. "They're more likely to be pulled over. They're more likely to pulled out of the car. They're more likely to be searched. So in that way I'm not surprised at all."
Those who testified and lobbied for permitless carry tended to be middle-age white men, she said. "I would love to get their thoughts on that because I'm guessing that's not what they were picturing in their minds. But I would hope that they're supportive of everybody's right to possess a firearm and they would think that's great," Clum said.
Actually, Niki, this is exactly what we have in mind. Buckeye Firearms Association fights for the rights of ALL law-abiding Ohio citizens to own and use firearms for all legal activities, including self-defense, hunting, competition, and recreation.
And you can hear it from from our executive director, one of those middle-aged white men you wanted thoughts from:
Dean Rieck of the Buckeye Firearms Association: "It has been interpreted that criminals will now be allowed to carry guns. That's not true."
When presented with the data from Hamilton County, he said the laws criminalizing carrying without a license were a "status crime" similar to driving without a license or possessing marijuana.
"It's not that they are doing something dangerous or that puts people in harm's way," he said, adding that the previous laws were simply unjust.
"I don't want people charged for silly crimes, what I call status crimes," he said. "The qualifications of who can carry aren't changing."
However, the number of people who will be charged and brought to court will change.
Change it will, and if the results from Hamilton County are representative of the entire state (hint: they are), the people who will most benefit from this change will be Ohio's many black gun owners.
Another win for Permitless Carry (a law that every single one of the Democrats who claim to represent this voting block voted against!)
Chad D. Baus served as Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary from 2013-2019, and continues to serve on the Board of Directors. He is co-founder of BFA-PAC, and served as its Vice Chairman for 15 years. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website, and is also an NRA-certified firearms instructor.