Castle Doctrine, CCW Fix Bill Set For Ohio House Vote

Updated: Wednesday, May 28, 2008, 12:03 am -- The Columbus Dispatch has a recap on the measure, supported by Gov. Ted Strickland, which moved out of an Ohio House committee on Tuesday and now comes before the full Ohio House of Representatives for a vote.

Also, read the statement from Ohioans for Concealed Carry on the measure.

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The Ohio House of Representatives is expected to vote tomorrow (Wednesday, May 28) on Amended Substitute Senate Bill 184, Castle Doctrine legislation that has had numerous "fixes" for Ohio's trouble concealed carry (CCW) law added to the mix.

The bill passed out of the Ohio House Criminal Justice Committee earlier today. It is supposed to go to the floor of the Ohio House tomorrow for a final vote, then a concurrence vote with the Ohio Senate shortly thereafter. The Ohio Senate passed the bill in April.

Go to the Buckeye Firearms Association website for more detail. Appointments today kept me away from the House committee hearing, and I have a staff meeting that is conflicting with tomorrow's floor vote.

While I would have liked to see more in this bill, and am not pleased that "No Duty To Retreat" provisions were stripped out of the final legislation, this is a decent piece of legislation that fixes many problems in Ohio CCW, AND codifies the ideal that "your home is your castle."

Morever, the umbrella group representing the county prosecutors are spitting mad at this legislation because . . . well, because they will have to work to get a conviction. Specifically, this bill, if passed into law, will require them to assume crime victims are innocent until proven guilty. They argued to keep in place an unfair system where crime victims must prove their innocence after they successfully stop a violent attack with deadly force. In the past, victims have been presumed guilty until they proved themselves innocent.

Um . . . Isn't that the way the system is supposed to work?

Call your representative in the Ohio House of Representatives ASAP and urge them to vote for SB 184!