Akron Beacon Journal: The gun lobby takes aim at businesses

[Kolesar]

Parking heat
The gun lobby takes aim at businesses

Published on Tuesday, Sep 07, 2010

When state lawmakers invited more Ohioans to carry concealed weapons, many businesses responded by barring completely firearms from their workplaces. Now, six years later, state Rep. Joe Uecker, a Loveland Republican, has proposed legislation that calls for businesses to back off. His bill would allow workers with a concealed-carry permit to store their handguns in locked cars on company property.

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You would think state business groups would go on the offensive against the bill, defending their private-property rights against an overly broad interpretation of the Second Amendment. So far, the National Federation of Independent Business/Ohio and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce have voiced concern over an erosion of private-property rights, but have not taken an official position.
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The bill follows an equally misguided effort in the Senate. Legislation pending there would allow Ohioans with concealed-carry permits to bring their weapons into bars, restaurants and other places serving alcohol, places currently off-limits. Law enforcement agencies make the obvious point: Guns and alcohol don't mix.

Neither do guns and work. Both bills upset careful compromises in the 2004 concealed-carry law. The National Rifle Association and its allies, as they have in other states, push for exemptions, arguing that allowing concealed weapons in places such as bars and parking lots will make things safer. Employers and law enforcement agencies long ago reached the correct conclusion: The potential for violence will increase. Too bad they must fight the same battles because lawmakers bend to the gun lobby.
http://www.ohio.com/editorial/opinions/102322039.html

[Kolesar]

1. Take-your-gun-to-work bill is cynical Ohio electioneering: Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial

Take-your-gun-to-work bill is cynical Ohio electioneering: editorial
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/09/take-your-gun-to-work_bill_is.html
Published: Wednesday, September 08, 2010, 3:58 AM
The Plain Dealer Editorial Board


Ohioans could observe "Take Your Handgun to Work" day if 24 Ohio House Republicans and seven Democrats have their way with Ohio employers.

In another kowtow to the insatiable Statehouse gun lobby, a late-August bill introduced by the 31 representatives would trample private employers' property rights.

It's also a blatant election-year stunt that wastes taxpayer money since the bill has almost no chance of passage.

Among the bill's co-sponsors are Reps. Stephen Dyer of suburban Akron and Matt Patten of Strongsville, both Democrats, and Republicans Terry Boose of Norwalk (whose district includes part of Lorain County) and Todd Snitchler of suburban Canton. All four are in contested re-election races Nov. 2. Dyer and Patten occupy House seats that Republicans used to hold.

The bill would force an employer to let an employee with a concealed-handgun permit store his or her handgun in a locked personal motor vehicle parked on the employer's property. The prime sponsor of this startling anti-business, anti-safety mandate is a suburban Cincinnati Republican, Rep. Joseph Uecker.
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