(GunReports.com) — “April 8, 2012, marked the anniversary of a law that affects the lives of more than 270,000 Buckeyes,” writes Ken Hanson in The Columbus Dispatch newspaper.
Ohio’s concealed-handgun license law turned 8 years old on that Sunday afternoon. Notably absent from the festivities were blood in the streets, Wild West reenactments and an epidemic of accidental gun injuries. To understand the significance of this event and why today it seems completely unremarkable, simply Google “Ohio concealed carry 2003” and prepare to be astonished.
• “The widespread carrying of concealed handguns, however, will result in far more cases of senseless killings that occur simply because a loaded gun was readily available.” — Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, March 4, 2003.
• “Imagine your child’s class is visiting the Statehouse on the same day a group known for violence is scheduled to attend in protest.” — State Highway Patrol, March 5, 2003.
• “If 200,000 to 300,000 citizens begin carrying a concealed weapon, common sense tells us that accidents will become a daily event.” — Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, March 5, 2003.
Eight years later, we know definitively that these dire warnings were groundless.
