Senate Bill 184, signed by Governor Strickland in June, takes effect today. Among other things, the new law provides "tweaks" to the concealed carry law, to make it easier for concealed carry holders to comply with its provisions. For example, under the new law a concealed-carry license holder in a car may carry a concealed handgun in an unlocked glove compartment or console. Under the old law, consoles were not mentioned and the glove compartment had to be locked. Also, a person carrying concealed who stays within her vehicle may drop off or pick up a child from school. Under a literal reading of prior law, a concealed-carry holder needed to park away from the school and leave her gun in her vehicle when she wished to enter school grounds. The "Castle Doctrine" has also now been enshrined in Ohio law, giving a rebuttable presumption of self-defense to a person who shoots an intruder in that person's home or occupied car. A presumption is an important concept in litigation, functioning as a "tie-breaker" if the factfinder cannot find that either side has proven its case. Over 1/2 the states now have some form of castle doctrine.
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Must be using the same source as most news stories. "concealed in the car" was mostly fixed in 2006. You're right about castle doctrine and school drop-off. This law removes park bathrooms and some other "government buildings" from the prohibited places, defines loaded gun in a motor vehicle as having ammo in either the gun or a compatible magazine (even if the gun and mag are in separate compartments) and clarifies that carrying in a grocery or similar that sells alcohol is legal.
A more complete list of changes is at http://www.ohioccw.org/content/view/3990/83/
Beautiful. I supported this bill from day one. The types of people who would elect to commit crimes against another person's well being or property, should have to fear for the worst. I love the tort reform portion of the bill. No more sad mammies suing because their "baby boy" died in he commission of a felony. "Oh, but he was such a good boy." You right, lady, "WAS" being the operative term.
Sevesteen-
Good catch! I did, in fact, quickly reference the AP news story that had the "concealed in the car" info wrong. I have deleted it from the post and added the real change in car carry — unlocked glove compartment and console carry, which was not allowed under prior law. Thanks for the close read.