OP-ED: Let’s make Ohio a sanctuary state for law-abiding gun owners

04/27/21

With the signing of a recently passed bill by conservative Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa has become the 18th state in the union to enact constitutional concealed carry. Under these laws, citizens who are legally permitted to possess firearms may carry them concealed without obtaining the permission of government first. Ohio should quickly become the next state to pass this important legislation.

These state laws are even more important now because law-abiding gun owners are under attack from the Biden administration. And one of the most frightening of these Biden attacks is what are known as “red flag” laws.

According to Ohio Gun Owners, red flag confiscation orders can allow liberal judges to target gun owners and strip away firearms from them before they’ve been charged, tried in court or even convicted of a single crime. Under this scenario, a domestic disagreement or neighborhood or business dispute could quickly escalate into that individual going to court and obtaining a court order to confiscate your weapons without your knowledge or participation in the legal process.

Sadly, even some Republicans like Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine support these misguided proposals. Under DeWine’s “Strong Ohio” plan, which he recently attempted to slip into his 2,000-page budget proposal, he is trying to pass these same unconstitutional Biden proposals into state law here.

That’s just one of the many reasons why I support legislation to make Ohio a sanctuary state for law-abiding gun owners. Under Ohio House Bill 62, sponsored by State Reps. Mike Loychik and Diane Grendell, federal officials would be legally unable to commandeer state and local officials to carry out their unconstitutional gun control measures.

More specifically, this legislation would consider any of the following federal actions to be infringements of Ohioans’ fundamental rights under the Second Amendment:

  • Any tax, levy, fee or stamp imposed on firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition not common to all other goods and services and that might reasonably be expected to create a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;
  • Any registering or tracking of firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition that might reasonably be expected to create a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;
  • Any registering or tracking of the owners of firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition that might reasonably be expected to create a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;
  • Any act forbidding the possession, ownership or use or transfer of a firearm, firearm accessory or ammunition by law-abiding citizens; and
  • Any act ordering the confiscation of firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition from law-abiding citizens.

After eight years in Congress, I returned home, convinced that the only way to fix Washington, D.C., is by fixing our state. We must pass strong laws like this effort to make Ohio a sanctuary state for law-abiding gun owners and fundamentally strip away the federal government’s unconstitutional and unlawful encroachment over our fundamental rights.

Read article as published in Crain’s Cleveland Business here.