OHIO — Ohio’s new law allowing you to carry a concealed weapon without a permit is now in effect.
Gun rights supporters think this restores 2nd amendment rights while gun control advocates say it makes the state less safe and could lead to more shootings.
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News Center 7′s Mike Campbell spoke to people on both sides of this issue. Whether that is a good thing, or a more dangerous thing, depends on who you talk to.
Democratic candidate for Ohio governor Nan Whaley doesn’t think permit-less carry laws make Ohio residents safer anywhere.
She pointed out that the permit-less carry laws were opposed by almost every law enforcement organization in the state.
“No matter where you live in Ohio, you deserve to be safe,” Whaley said.
Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey joined Whaley for a news conference.
“We all want safe communities, we all want to know our children are safe when we spend them out the door to school in the morning,” McGuffey said.
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Dion Green, who lost his father Derek Fudge in the Oregon district mass shooting, also joined. He believes Governor DeWine was wrong to sign this proposal into law.
“We just need a governor that will fight to keep our region safer than it is now, not care about a political agenda, care about the people of Ohio,” Green said.
Many of those that believe in gun rights say people with bad intentions already carry weapons without a CCW permit.
“I think its great, we’ve turned around and gained some rights back, everything’s you put a new law into place it only hurts the gun owners who follow the law,” said Jon Zetak, who runs Oakley arms in Fairborn.
He is in favor of responsible gun owners and still wants everyone that buys a weapon from him to educate themselves about proper use and handling of a gun.
“There needs to be training, there needs to be training to it,” Zetak said.
Ohio becomes the 23rd state in the country to have permit-less carry laws.
However, you need to be careful if you have a gun and cross state lines because you could travel to a state that does require a CCW and be violating their laws if you don’t have a permit.