State law could toss gun permits

SANDUSKY — Legislation awaiting the governor's signature could remove the conceal carry permit requirement for gun owners in Ohio, eliminating the need for a license to carry a firearm in public. Senate Bill 215 passed in Ohio's House of Representatives on March 2 after previously going through the state senate. The bill was brought to the floor by Republican state Sen. Terry Johnson in August. If the bill is signed by Gov. Mike DeWine, anyone 21 and older that is not prohibited by state or federal law will be able to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. Under current state gun laws, people who want to buy a firearm are subject to an eight-hour training course taught by a licensed conceal carry trainer. The class focuses on safety practices and legal stipulations for owning a weapon. The proposed law eliminates the requirement to take this training course. Brent McConnell, a conceal carry trainer at Lake Erie Arms, said the course is six hours of classroom learning and two hours of training at the range. McConnell said the focus of the class is on safety and responsibility. "Sometimes people don't understand the responsibility level of owning a firearm," McConnell said. "The laws you have to follow, the proper way to handle a gun, the proper way to store it. Our business model is to teach responsibility." Participants receive legal education, shooting fundamentals and "verbal judo" lessons, which is a form of minimizing conflict without use of a weapon. "We emphasize trying to de-escalate situations," McConnell said. "It's a tool of last resort." McConnell will continue to offer classes in the event the SB 215 is signed into law. He anticipates a possible decrease to class participation but not much. People will still have to hold permits in other states where it's required, and McConnell said people just generally find the class useful. "A lot of people want to be trained and educated," McConnell said. "We will adjust the curriculum as things ebb and flow." A section of the law also modifies how law enforcement interacts with gun carriers. As the law stands now, people who have firearms on their person are responsible to "promptly notify" officers that they have a weapon, or a conceal carry license. If the bill becomes law, a person carrying a gun is no longer required to volunteer that information to the officer. However, if asked by police, that person would have to answer truthfully. "It puts the burden on the officer to ask instead of the burden being on the civilian," Erie County Sheriff Paul Sigsworth said. County sheriffs' offices, responsible for issuing conceal-carry or "CCW" licenses, will continue to issue licenses even if the bill is signed into law. That's because Ohioans with concealed firearms will still need the license if traveling to one of the 29 U.S. states that don't have a permit-less carry law, including Pennsylvania, Indiana and Michigan. Hit to sheriffs' budgets? The license fee for a CCW in Ohio is $67. According to a fiscal note from the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, the bill could put a large cut in state sheriffs' budgets. "There will be a decrease in concealed handgun license fees retained by a county sheriff for deposit in the Sheriff's Concealed Handgun License Issuance Expense Fund that could average around $5.7 million annually statewide," the report states. The report offsets that number by predicting that a reduction of prisoned inmates and court fees could save $5.4 million a year. Buckeye Sheriffs Association executive director Robert Cornwell said problems could arise from lost revenue and possible staff cuts. "There is a concern for money lost and for employees lost," Conwell said, "It varies from county to county." In Erie County, 1,490 new licenses were issued in 2021 and another 2,126 licenses were renewed, according to the Ohio Attorney General's annual report. Sigsworth said numbers at the Erie County Sheriff's Office haven't diminished much since the bill proposal. If the bill is passed, law enforcement, including the sheriff's office will have 90 days to consult with the county prosecutor over the legislation and train deputies before the new law goes into effect. "Just like any law, we'll adapt what we do to enforce that law," Sigsworth said. "We'll train personnel to adapt to what it requires and doesn't require." Any current conceal carry license holders who may have had their license suspended or revoked due to violation of notification requirements would have the opportunity to have their charges expunged if the law is signed. Sigsworth said that is a very small portion of Erie County conceal carry owners. "A large percentage of firearm owners are responsible individuals," Sigsworth said. "Less than 1% of people that we issue licenses to have to have their licenses suspended. They are individuals that are not out looking for problems with the law." Thirty-eight licenses were revoked in Erie County last year, according to the Ohio Attorney General's annual report. Sigsworth said the people who receive charges for weapons offenses are often the people who wouldn't be seeking a conceal carry permit in the first place. "The overwhelming percentage of CHL holders want nothing more than the cooperate with us and we expect them to act the same under a new statue."