House Democrats Urge President to End Stonewalling on “Gunrunner”

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

On Friday, June 03, 2011, 31 U.S. House members — all Democrats — wrote to President Barack Obama, urging him to end Administration stonewalling on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ “Project Gunrunner,” and the “Fast and Furious” program under which border state dealers were encouraged to sell thousands of guns to suspicious buyers.

In the letter, spearheaded by Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., the lawmakers called the investigative tactics “extremely troubling” and found the Justice Department’s failure to provide information to congressional investigators “equally troubling.” Saying that Americans deserve “prompt and complete answers,” the letter concluded with a call for the administration to help “get to the bottom of this serious allegation of federal law enforcement misconduct.”

OH General Assembly passes SB17 (Restaurant & Car Carry Rules Fix) and HB54 (Restoration of Rights); Kasich will sign!

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

Editor’s Note: This article was updated as information became available.

The Ohio General Assembly has passed Senate Bill 17, sponsored by Senator Tim Schaffer (R), which will allow citizens who hold a valid concealed handgun license (CHL) to carry a firearm in restaurants. To do so, license holders may not consume any alcohol and must not be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. According to OpenCarry.org, 42 states (including every state that borders Ohio) allow non-drinking license holders to carry firearms in restaurants.

The bill also reduces burdensome restrictions regarding how a license holder must transport a firearm in a car. Currently, Ohio is the only state to place such complex limitations on license holders. The bill also provides a way for people who were convicted of improperly transporting a firearm under the current law to receive relief if they would have been in compliance under the law as amended in SB17.

The House passed the bill by a 56-39 vote, and because a technical amendment had been made in the House, a concurrence vote was required in the Senate. The Senate quickly took up action, and passed the bill by a 27-9 vote.

Before the bill passed, anti-gun amendments were offered in the House by Reps. Ted Celeste (D), Matt Lundy (D) (who BFA recently exposed for having lied on his 2010 candidate survey by promising to vote for the legislation in order to win a good grade and an endorsement, only to reverse course within weeks after being in office), Tom Letson (D) (whose amendment would have created an implied consent mandatory breath test for Ohioans who choose to exercise their Consitutional right to bear arms), Sandra Williams (D), Bill Patmon (D) (who mispronounced the word “militia” as “mil-a-tee-a” while reading the Second Amendment and claiming the Constitution is a “living document”). All amendments were tabled or defeated – Celeste’s by a 60-33 margin, Lundy’s 57-33, Letson’s 61-32, Williams’ 59-33, and Patmon’s 60-33.

Several House Democrats also rose with questions about or in opposition to the bill. Perhaps most egregious claim came from Rep. Clayton Luckie (D), who alleged the bill would cause licenseholders to be able to say “My drink is weak. Boom!”

The bill will now be sent to Republican Governor John Kasich. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kasich’s spokesman has now confirmed the Governor plans to sign it into law.

LIVE streaming of important debate & floor votes on Restaurant Carry TODAY!

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

Buckeye Firearms Association leaders will be on hand in the Statehouse today, Wednesday, June 15, as important debate and votes on Restaurant & Car Carry Rules Fix legislation (SB17) and Restoration of Rights legislation (HB54) are held.

Click here for more information on what to expect today.

[UPDATE 2:38pm – HB54 passed the Senate 24 – 9. Now to the Governor!

[UPDATE 2:40pm – SB17 passed the House 55 – 38. Now to the Senate!

[UPDATE 3:15pm – SB17 passed the Senate 25 – 7. Now to the Governor!

You can view the hearings LIVE by clicking here, beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the House.

The Ohio Channel is a service of Ohio’s public broadcasting stations. A new concept in public affairs programming, the Ohio Channel combines Statehouse coverage with locally produced PBS programs to give a statewide perspective on issues that affect the lives of all Ohioans.

HB263: New bill bans private gun show sales and creates gun registry

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

by Chad D. Baus

“So what’s to guarantee me that, you know, any one of the members in this chamber who hold a concealed carry wouldn’t shoot me in the head?” – Representative Tracy Maxwell Heard in floor debate over HB45, May 11, 2001

With that one ignorant statement, Rep. Tracy Heard (D-26) apparently proved to the radical gun ban lobby that she was the perfect choice to carry water for proposed legislation that would effectively end gun shows in Ohio.

And so, on Monday, June 13, Heard held a press conference to announce the introduction of House Bill 263, a bill that seeks to ban private transfers of firearms at gun shows, and which seeks to create a registry of every single person who buys or sells a firearm at a gun show.

Heard was joined at the podium by the Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman, the Ohio chairman of Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), an anti-gun rights group which has promoted this type of legislation in other states and as well as in Congress. The NRA has said such legislation “would drive gun shows out of business.”

Restaurant & Car Carry Rules Fix (SB17) and Restoration of Rights (HB54) pass House & Senate committees; Floor votes pending

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

Two pro-gun bills, one of which would make critical improvements to Ohio’s concealed carry laws, have been passed by House and Senate committees.

The House Committee on State Government and Elections, which is chaired by BFA “A” -rated Rep. Bob Mecklenborg, passed SB17 (Restaurant & Car Carry Rules Fix) with a 12 – 10 vote mostly party line vote (the only Republican to join the Democrats in opposition to the bill was Rep. Richard Hollington [R-98]. Teresa Fedor [D-47] was absent.)

SB17, sponsored by Senator Tim Schaffer (R), SB17 will allow citizens who hold a valid concealed handgun license (CHL) to carry a firearm in restaurants, and to reduce burdensome restrictions regarding how a license holder must transport a firearm in a car. By passing SB17, the committee approved a Senate amendment which provides a way for people who were convicted of improperly transporting a firearm under the current law to receive relief if they would have been in compliance under the law as amended in SB17.

The House committee also amended the bill to include the words “beer or intoxicating” before the word “liquor” throughout the bill. This amendment addressed the concerns of several Representatives who were concerned that license holders would be allowed to consume beer under the new legislation, because beer is not “liquor” as defined in the Ohio Revised Code. (Download the amendment here.)

Speaker William Batchelder has indicated the bill may receive a vote by the full House as early as tomorrow, Wednesday, June 15. If passed by the House, SB17 will be sent back to the Senate for a concurrence vote, before being Governor Kasich for his signature.

Bartenders’ irrational fear of Ohio’s law-abiding gun owners is sickening

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

by Brent Greer

The Ohio General Assembly, in the Ohio Senate and Ohio House of Representatives, have passed two different bills that — essentially — allow the carry of concealed firearms into restaurants and certain establishments that serve alcohol.

Of course, the usual suspects are waving their arms in their best Chicken Little fashion and predicting all sorts of rapturish, end-of-the-world mayhem if a combined bill is signed into law. Reportedly, officials at the Ohio Restaurant Association are pressuring Gov. John Kasich to veto the bill.

Once the versions are reconciled between the two houses, and it passes to his desk, he can either sign it into law, veto it, or let it become law without his signature.

An article in The Columbus Dispatch quotes dissenting bartenders, who wonder how they will tell which patrons are carrying guns. Which is interesting, in my opinion, considering it is common knowledge that bad guys currently carry guns into bars. I wonder how bartenders make that determination now? And how it will change?

Oh, but the difference here is that they have an irrational fear of law-abiding people, but no fear (or head in the sand?) about criminals who currently carry into their bars? That is sick and twisted and NOT in a good way!

House Speaker says SB17 (Restaurant/Car Carry Rules Fix) should get a vote in the House this week, be sent to governor

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

True to his word offered on June 2, when he promised Restaurant & Carry Carry Rules Fix legislation would receive a final vote before his chamber breaks for the summer, Speaker William Batchelder (R-Medina) is saying that his chamber plans to move the Senate’s version (SB17) as early as this Wednesday, June 15.

From the Dayton Daily News:

Legislation to permit concealed carry permit holders to take guns into bars and restaurants that serve alcohol appears headed for a final vote in the Ohio House, perhaps as early as Wednesday, Mike Dittoe, spokesman for Speaker William Batchelder, R-Medina, said Monday.

On Tuesday the House State Government and Elections Committee is scheduled to consider and vote on the Senate version of the legislation, Senate Bill 17. The Senate previously approved it.

The legislation prohibits concealed carry permit holder from drinking themselves while carrying their weapons in bars or restaurants serving alcohol.

Once that happens, the full House will get the bill, perhaps on Wednesday but “at the latest next week,” said Dittoe. If approved by the House, it would go to Gov. John Kasich for his signature.

The House has already passed a nearly identical piece of legislation by a 56-40 margin, but in order to be sent to the governor, but the decision was made to use the Senate version which requires a separate vote in the House.

The Idiot Chronicles, Volume 2 : Your Elected Representative Michael Foley

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

by Ken Hanson, Esq.

“Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

While there is no definitive source for this quote (conflicting sources have it going all the way back to Napoleon), it clearly encompasses two things that are happening in the media coverage of the two Restaurant Carry bill spending in the Ohio General Assembly. The malice is coming from those opposing the law. These groups are spreading deliberate misinformation as wide and as far as possible. The stupidity is coming from those who listen to them.

A good example of this is the floor speech given May 11, 2011 by Representative Michael Foley (D-14) in opposition to H.B. 45, which would allow licensees to enter a liquor facility, so long as they are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and so long as the person does not consume alcohol while on premises. Rep. Foley felt compelled to give some examples from his District in explaining why he is opposed to this law.

I live in a district, Mr. Speaker, that’s got a lot of bars in it. On Lorain Avenue between 105th Avenue — 105th — West 105th and 182nd, I looked up, I’ve got 37 D Permit Licenses just on that one street alone. Most of them are very good bars and restaurants, respectable owners, people live in the community even folks who live in the neighborhood who care about their establishments, care about the community, care about the neighborhood. There’s a bunch that don’t, though, who are just, you know, running bars. They’re the typical what we call at least in Cleveland just basic punch palaces where there’s fights every night, police are called out all the time and they’re problematic.

Rep. Foley, what are you waiting on? You state you are opposed to H.B. 45 on the grounds that these “punch palaces” are going to be a problem if this law is passed. It sounds like they are a problem now. So why are these places still open?

Op-ed: “Guns in restaurants – another viewpoint”

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

[Editor’s Note: The following op-ed was published in the Greene County Dailies (Xenia Gazette, Fairborn Herald and Beavercreek News).]

by Larry S. Moore

The liberal mainstream media has mounted a full court press against HB45 and SB17, which will allow guns into venues that serve alcohol. Smaller media outlets, such as the Greene County Dailies, either willingly help their agenda by reprinting editorials or do so without a critical examination or knowledge of the issue.

We all agree that guns and alcohol don’t mix – just as drinking and driving don’t mix. We know some people continue to drink and drive. Some people today take guns into bars or other venues where the guns are currently prohibited. These people are breaking the law.

Somehow the concept of allowing the lawful background checked, fingerprinted concealed handgun license holder to carry into the same establishments is greeted with more screams of blood will run in the streets. The same rhetoric the liberals have pushed for years and without any basis in fact. Somehow the editorials assume that because I walk through some door my behavior changes. Either that or people cannot understand the difference between the law abiding citizen and criminal.

The new owners of the Greene County Dailies most certainly fall into this same mindset as the front door is posted with a no guns sign, even though it is questionable if their sign meets the letter of the law. Somehow I’m okay with my concealed handgun on the street outside but suddenly a threat once inside. I don’t understand their thinking.

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