As the NRA reports, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed Senate Bill 184 into law.
Sponsored by Ohio state Senator Steve Buehrer, Ohio Senate Bill 184 protects the rights of innocent victims to defend themselves from attacks by criminals, and also expands the right of Ohio’s law abiding citizens to carry a concealed firearm for self defense. The specific improvements brought by Ohio SB 184, which puts the law back on the side of the law abiding citizen, are:
- Adds a “Castle Doctrine” – if a criminal breaks into an Ohio citizen’s occupied home, temporary habitation, or occupied car, that citizen now has an initial presumption that they may act in self defense and will not be second-guessed by the State.
- Allows citizens without a concealed handgun license to legally transport firearms in an automobile for self defense.
- Allows pick up/drop off abilities for license holders in school safety zones.
- Provides mandatory legal fees for gun owners who require court orders to have firearms returned to them.
- Decriminalizes concealed carry in privately owned parking garages
- Allows concealed carry permit holders to carry a firearm in an unlocked glove compartment or center console
- Removes the written test requirement for renewal of a concealed handgun license.
Ohio is now a safer place, since the expanded concealed carry rights will help protect everyone, whether they choose to carry or not. Similarly, the elimination of gun free zones will help ensure that law abiding citizens at least have a chance to defend themselves against the mass murdering criminals that have become more and more common lately. Hopefully other states and cities will follow Ohio’s example, rather than passing senseless gun control laws that only disarm the law abiding citizens.