COLUMBUS, Ohio – A series of proposed gun laws would expand concealed weapons in Ohio by potentially allowing them in places like churches or daycares and letting certain gun owners carry concealed weapons without a permit.
READ MORE: In the Columbus Dispatch
The House State Government Committee heard initial testimony on several proposals Wednesday afternoon with advocates invoking the Bible and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
If approved, four new proposals by Republican lawmakers would allow Ohioans to carry concealed handguns without a permit, bring them to college campus, churches, daycare facilities and government buildings, and make it harder for law enforcement to seize weapons.
Sponsors of the bills included Rep. Ron Maag (R-Lebanon), chairman of the House State Government Committee where they were heard. Maag said Ohio needs to make additional changes in state law to “facilitate responsible gun ownership and enable Ohioans to protect themselves.”
House Bill 48, Maag’s proposal, would eliminate what he called “victim zones” in churches, daycare centers, private aircraft, government buildings and college campuses where weapons are not permitted under current law. His measure would allow concealed weapons in such locations as long as written authorization permitting the concealed carry of handguns is in place.
Asked about the limits of the right to bears firearms, Maag defined it as “something you can carry.”
A sweeping proposal came from Rep. Ron Hood (R-Ashville) who advocated what he called “constitutional carry” or “permit-less carry.” It would allow people to carry concealed weapons without obtaining a permit, a practice now allowed in Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Kansas, Vermont and Wyoming.
“If bearing arms is a right, it is not the job of government to require law-abiding citizens to jump through one of the most burdensome processes in the country to exercise,” Hood said of the need to eliminate permits.
Rep. John Becker, a Cincinnati-area Republican, quoted from the Bible where Jesus tells his disciples, “if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one,” in asking sponsors if gun ownership is a “God-given right.”