"STAND YOUR GROUND" COMING TO OHIO?

UPDATE:  12:30 PM - 50TH OHIO REP-ELECT REGGIE STOLTZFUS INPUT

STARK COUNTIANS SCHURING & HAGAN ON BOARD!

STOLTZFUS (50TH OHIO HOUSE REP-ELECT)

Reggie Stoltzfus  Today [Nov 15] at 11:17 AM
To:  Martin Olson

Hello Martin, 

I would have voted yes for this bill. We should be innocent until proven guilty, but when it comes to self defense we are guilty until proven innocent. This bill will help correct that.

Sincerely, 


Reggie Stoltzfus

ORIGINAL BLOG

In the "lame duck" session of the Ohio General Assembly (OGA) currently underway at the Statehouse the Ohio House voted to approve HB 228 (Stand Your Ground).  The measure now goes to the Ohio Senate for action.

There is no greater Stark County proponent for NRA supported gun rights than outgoing (December 31, 2018) 50th Ohio District Representative state Rep. Christina Hagan of Marlboro Township.

As indicated by one of her campaign literature pieces (see graphic above), she is a "primetime" advocate for gun owners rights.

Though she fell far short in her quest to be 16th Congressional District representative in losing by quite a margin at the hand of Cleveland area Republican Anthony Gonzalez, it had to bring joy to her heart to see the Republican leadership of the Ohio House to bring HB 228 to the House floor for a vote yesterday.

Hagan did narrowly win Stark County and adjoining Portage County but lost by 13%, more or less, to eventual November general election winner Anthony Gonzalez.

Whereas a majority of Americans want more gun control, but, general not the case for Republicans and in particular not the Ohio House of Representatives which passed HB 228 on Wednesday which loosens up gun control in Ohio.

In the main, HB 228 provides for allowing those accused of committing a crime in their use of a gun to have the defense of "Standing their ground."

Here is a summary of the topics dealt with in HB 228:

1. to modify the state preemption of local firearm regulations and related remedies; 
2. to assign to the prosecution the burden of disproving a self-defense or related claim; 
3. to expand the locations at which a person has no duty to retreat before using force under both civil and criminal law; 
4. to limit the use of the affirmative defense of self-defense, defense of another, or defense of a person's residence under both civil and criminal law; 
5. to modify the Concealed Handgun Licensing Law regarding the carrying of additional identification and a licensee's duty to keep the licensee's hands in plain sight; 
6. to modify penalties for illegally carrying a concealed firearm or improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle; 
7. to expand the offense and penalties for unlawful transactions in weapons; 
8. to repeal the required posting of warning signs regarding the possession of weapons on specified premises; 
9. to provide an affirmative defense to improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle for handguns in the vehicle without the defendant's knowledge; 
10. to generally bar any subsidized residential premises lease from requiring a tenant to agree to a restriction on a lawful firearm, a firearm component, or ammunition within the tenant's rental dwelling unit; and 
11. to exclude certain firearms from the definitions of sawed-off firearm and dangerous ordnance.

NOTE:  SOURCE OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION

LARGER TYPE ADDED FOR EMPHASIS

Here is a breakdown of the vote with the proviso that all Republicans present and voting except for Westerville Republican Anne Gonzales voted "Yes" for passage whereas all Democrats present and voting except for Bellaire Democrat Jack Cera voted "No" against passage.

A major difference between the two in terms of the courageousness of their votes is that Gonzales is term limited out of the OGA as of December 31st of this year.  However, Cera had not opposition on his successful re-election bid on November 6th.

In Stark County, a prime interest group who has prioritized opposition to HB 228 is a group name Act Together/Stark.  (ATS)

Primary members of the organization include Democrats Lauren
Friedman and Lorraine Wilburn.

Lauren ran unsuccessfully against Kirk Schuring (the 29th Ohio Senate District) in the recently concluded election whereas Lorraine ran unsuccessfully against Scott Oelslager.

Here are two excerpts from the Facebook page of ATS:

NOTE:  Post made about 7:30 a.m./11/15/2018