(Cleveland) - Ohio Senate Bill 199 took effect today. It makes a variety of changes to the law that gives gun owners with a Concealed Handgun License more flexibility to exercise their rights.
The new law expands the list of places where permit holders can carry guns, including daycare centers, private planes, and non-secure areas of airports.
Jim Irvine of the Buckeye Firearms Association believes it's a move in the right direction.
Businesses, property owners, and public or private employers can no longer ban a person who has been issued a valid CHL from transporting or storing a firearm or ammunition when the items are locked in a person's privately-owned motor vehicle on company property.
Guns remain banned on college campuses, but officials can allow certain people or groups to be armed."This is important," Irvine told Newsradio WTAM 1100, "because, previously, if a business bans guns at work, including parking lots, employees are essentially banned from having their firearm all day, and are defenseless from the time they leave home in the morning until they return home in the evening."
In addition, the new law allows CHL-holders to keep their handgun locked in a motor vehicle on school premises; allows colleges and government bodies to decide for themselves if concealed-carry should be allowed; allows CHL-holders to carry on private aircraft, in the non-secure area of airports and in day-care centers, unless the day care posts a "no-guns" sign, allows active military members who have the same or greater training than CHL holders to carry a concealed handgun without a license; and allows the sale of firearms to active duty military members without regard to their age.
Irvine continued, "For well over a decade, Ohioans with a Concealed Handgun License have shown themselves to be overwhelmingly law-abiding and trustworthy. And SB 199 makes welcome improvements that citizens deserve."
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