Posted on 12/08/2006 3:58:00 PM PST by neverdem
Move by House to revive law is first for governor
Beacon Journal Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS - For almost eight years, Gov. Bob Taft never had one of his vetoes overridden by a legislative chamber -- until Thursday.
Taft used his veto power Thursday morning to kill House Bill 347, which is legislation amending the state's concealed-carry law.
In a prepared statement, Taft said the bill ``exceeds the scope of a concealed carry corrective bill by pre-empting local gun regulations relating to owning, possessing, purchasing, selling, and transferring firearms and their ammunition.''
Taft said state lawmakers went too far by using the bill to nullify local gun ordinances passed by cities, including assault weapons bans in Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.
Successful passage of the bill also could affect Akron's law that guns must be sold with trigger locks, which are safety devices that prevent the gun from firing accidentally, said Thomas DiCaudo, the city's chief assistant prosecutor.
Summit County, the state's only charter government county, does not have its own gun laws, but county law director Karen Doty objected to the intrusion on local government.
``They are just so interested in taking away our local home rule,'' she said. ``You would think they would respect the different levels of government but they don't.'' A few hours after Taft vetoed the bill, the Ohio House voted 71-21 to override. Fourteen Democrats joined 57 Republicans to exceed the 60 votes needed in the lower chamber. All 21 votes against the override were cast by Democrats, including many who represent urban districts.
State Rep. James Aslanides, R-Coshocton, the bill's sponsor, rose on the floor to ask for the override and offered few remarks other than to say the people sent lawmakers to the Ohio House to represent their interests.
``I ask that this chamber must respectfully disagree with the governor,'' Aslanides said.
State Rep. Dan Stewart, D-Columbus, said he supports concealed carry and the original intent of Aslanides' legislation to address whether someone holding a gun needed to openly display the weapon while in a motor vehicle.
But Stewart said he supported the governor's veto because cities like Columbus, where 100 homicides have been committed this year, are trying to address serious crimes committed with assault weapons. The state should not interfere in local decisions about gun regulations, he said.
The bill was first introduced in the Ohio House so representatives took the first crack at the override. The Ohio Senate will also need to override the veto.
Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, said he was talking to senators to decide how the upper chamber will proceed.
``I continue to be proud of the work the Ohio Senate did in balancing protections for law enforcement with providing clear and consistent standards so that gun owners are better able to understand and comply with the law no matter where they choose to legally carry their weapons,'' Harris said.
Taft did lawmakers a favor by issuing the veto just eight days after the bill cleared both legislative chambers.
A governor has up to 10 days after a bill ``hits his desk'' to sign it. He also can let the legislation go into effect without his signature or use his line-item veto to strike down all or any portion of the law.
Governors have a lot of wiggle room to delay the start of the 10 days because of the ``hits the desk'' trigger. Lawmakers are scheduled to end the current legislative session in the third week of December, and Taft could have delayed the veto until the session had ended.
Taft may have had a reason for issuing the veto quickly and sending the legislation back to the Ohio General Assembly.
The governor is pushing lawmakers to pass his Ohio Core initiative to increase high school graduation standards for enrollment in most state universities. Taft would like to hold a celebratory bill-signing ceremony before leaving office in January to end his two terms on a positive note.
Dennis J. Willard can be reached at 614-224-1613 or dwillard@thebeaconjournal.com.
YES!!!! Ohioans have their rights restored to them, finally!!
Please RINO Gov Taft just go quietly into obscurity.
See comment# 1. Their Senate needs 20 votes to override the veto.
NOT YET - the senate has to override first
Didn't find any.
It appears the Columbus restrictions were designed to prohibit non-existent events.
Great news! Nice to see Taft's pitiful display of arrogant pique slapped down. Hope he lets the door hit him in the butt on the way out.
Excellent! That punk Taft thought he'd stick his thumb in the eye of gun owning Buckeyes one last time before sliming off into the sunset. Too bad it didn't work as planned.
Farewell to bad rubbish. It's a shame he's crawling back to Cincinnati. We don't want him.
GO BUCKEYES!
No wonder the Ohio GOP got slaughtered.
lol- Yep- more people died from toothbrush accidents than have died from gunshot wounds- Maybe Taft should should propose a measure to ban concealed toothbrushes- might have more success with that one! http://sacredscoop.com
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
``They are just so interested in taking away our local home rule,'' she said.
Leftists always seem to overlook the "home rule" of the home owner. Hmm.
A-hole to the very end. Goodbye Taft. Please don't bother to show up ever again anywhere.
Weren't we earlier told that the Democrat Party was changing its policy on gun control. Guess these Dems didn't get the message.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
You're right. I did purposely leave out the reference to their being urban district Democrats. It's just that I thought the Party had learned something of a lesson, i.e., urban folks too want protection, protection that often comes from possession of a firearm.
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