The following provides vital information that needs to be distributed as widely as possible - especially in Ohio.  The Ohio Senate is letting the Ohio FOP secretly re-write CCW legislation (HB274) that has been crafted over the last 18 months.  HB274 had several serious problems, but might have been salvageable.  The FOP re-write will surely load down an already seriously flawed bill with even more anti-gunrights provisions.

Please read this information, then call your friends and pass it along.

Call 614-466-8842 or 1-800-282-0253 to find your Senator's and Representative's contact information.

Call your Senator and Representative and ask them to vote against HB274 if the Senate modifies it in any way.  While HB274 has passed the House, if the Senate modifies it the bill will have to return to the House for another vote - so it's important to contact both your Senator and Representative.  Follow-up your call with a letter if you can.

###
NEWS
For Immediate Release

People's Rights Organization Calls For Ohio Lawmakers To Kill Concealed
Carry Efforts This Session

-- Already Flawed Bill About To Get Worse; Finan's Swan Song Disappointing
-- Police Union Attempting To Line Its Members' Pockets?

COLUMBUS, Ohio, November 20, 2002 - The People's Rights Organization
today urged its members to call Ohio lawmakers and tell them to drop
their efforts to pass concealed carry legislation this year following
published reports that a labor union, and the NRA, are negotiating in bad
faith on vital citizen safety measures and shutting the public out of the
process.

"Based on the timetable the Ohio General Assembly has for adjournment
this year, there will be no time for Ohioans to comment on the
legislation, good or bad. But the powers that be intend to say, 'take it
now or forget it.' If only half of what we've heard actually makes it
into the bill, Ohioans will be far worse off than they are today," says
Dennis Walker, People's Rights Organization secretary.

At issue is the 11th hour entry of a public employee labor union on the
concealed carry issue. For 18 months the union has not contributed
anything, other than to say it didn't like the current legislation. It
appears both houses of the legislature intend to roll over for the union
and push bad legislation through in order to get it off the table.

"Teamster-like tactics are being used to strong-arm lawmakers into a
position from which they feel there is no escape, and this issue smells
like a rotten fish," Walker says. "Lawmakers looking for a quick way out
of this quagmire are trying to tell everyone that all fish, or laws,
stink. All laws do not stink. But when backroom deals are being made
that could compromise the public's safety, and the Fraternal Order of
Police union, to whom many lawmakers are politically indebted, is given
carte blanche to write laws, the people lose out. What is worse is that
the Ohio House may rubber stamp whatever comes out of the Senate in an
attempt to make this highly political issue go away. Too many
compromises were made in the past. There is a time when people have to
stand up for their rights and say, ' No, this is too much.'"

The People's Rights Organization, a non-profit 2nd Amendment rights
education center and statewide advocacy group, says it is prepared to
take legal action on any law coming out of the current backroom
deal-making if it infringes on civil rights. The organization, a long
respected leader and advocate of firearms rights, particularly concealed
carry legislation, filed and won two costly federal lawsuits against the
City of Columbus in the 1990s over unconstitutional laws. It also is a
plaintiff in the thus far successful Hamilton County lawsuit now before
the Ohio Supreme Court that would overturn Ohio's antiquated prohibition
against concealed carry.

For nearly 18 months Ohio lawmakers have been working on two concealed
carry bills. Work on the issue actually stretches back seven years. As
in past years, People's Rights Organization representatives have worked
closely with state legislators to craft appropriate and reasonable
language that would afford lawful Ohioans the right to use a firearm to
protect themselves away from their homes. Currently, negotiations between
Sen. Finan, the NRA and police union are being held in secret.

The following is information the People's Rights Organization has at this
time:

PRUDENT PERSON -- The current prudent person defense, which would enable
an otherwise qualified person to be able to legally defend themselves at
a moment's notice with a firearm, even though they don't possess a
concealed carry permit, will likely be removed at the insistence of the
police union. The ramifications of such a change is that a woman who
occasionally has to work in a high crime area, but who usually doesn't
feel the need to regularly carry a firearm, might no longer have this
legal protection if she is attacked and uses a gun to defend herself."

TRAINING - The police union is demanding an increase in the amount of
training for citizens seeking a concealed carry permit. In the past, the
police union, which exists to negotiate salary and benefits contracts,
has said it wants harsh qualification restrictions and costly annual
re-qualifications for Ohioans should a concealed carry permit bill ever
pass. Most other states have a simple renewal process where a fee is
sent to the state every four or five years - just like a driver's
license.

People's Rights Organization also has heard police union leaders comment
that the union would like to see a requirement for as much as 40 hours of
initial training. Every state surrounding Ohio has concealed carry, with
Michigan requiring the most training at eight hours. Why does the police
union, the NRA, and the Ohio General Assembly all believe that the people
of Ohio are so untrustworthy that we require as much as five times as
much training as the people of Michigan? The People's Rights Organization
believes the leadership of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action might
also be considering turning its back on its cadre of NRA trained and certified
instructors in order to claim that it has single-handedly achieved right-to-carry
in Ohio.

"Training for concealed carry should be reasonable and appropriate,"
Walker says. "We fully understand the importance and purpose of firearms
training. The training being demanded by the police union is far beyond
reasonable. At 20 hours, or 40 hours, it is vastly more than required by
any other state in the area."

Finally, People's Rights also is concerned that the police union may be
attempting to craft legislation that will only permit police to teach
concealed carry classes. If this is true, it is a bold attempt by the
police union to give its retired members a reason to continue as
dues-paying members of the union. While the police union may be looking
for ways to provide new income opportunities for its members, People's
Rights Organization's non-profit safety education arm, PRO-Training, is
staffed by more than 25 female and male, -certified firearm and crime
avoidance instructors - all volunteers -- who donate their time as a
community service.

GUN REGISTRATION -- One of the police union's demands in the past, in
return for concealed carry support, is for Ohioans to prove their
proficiency with the specific firearm they intend to carry. The only way
to track this is to record serial numbers from firearms, which is
tantamount to gun control.

"This is de-facto gun registration, a measure the Ohio General Assembly
has historically worked long and hard to avoid," Walker noted. "We urge
People's Rights Organization members in every county of Ohio to contact
their Senators and demand that the police union get out of this process.
We also urge them to contact their district lawmaker in the Ohio House of
Representatives, in case a new bill crafted by the police union makes it
out of the Senate. Legislators and organizations that support any such
dangerous registration schemes will be well publicized to Ohioans."

The police union also has previously indicated that it believes Ohioans
permit holders should be forced to buy a costly insurance bond in case
the individual either accidentally shoots someone or shoots the wrong
person. In addition, due to the current political climate following the
Washington D.C.-area shootings, there is an outside chance that the
police union may suggest that sample cartridge casings and fired bullets
from permit holders' carry sidearm be collected and put on file with
authorities. This is a camel's nose under the tent. How long would it
be before all guns sold in Ohio are required to be "ballistic
fingerprinted?" In the few states that have such requirements, the
result has been an increase the cost of firearms, restrictions on their
availability, a soaking up of valuable police resources and finances, and
yet not one crime has been solved.

"The question is why a public employee labor union is telling Ohio
lawmakers how law-abiding people may protect themselves," Walker notes,
"and why the NRA is so willing to go along?"

"We are sorely disappointed that a highly respected lawmaker like Senate
President Richard Finan would indenture himself to the police union and
NRA, trash 18 months of work in the Ohio House, and push highly
questionable legislation when he is about to leave office due to term
limits. This is nothing more than a hijacking of the process on a long
overdue public safety measure. We call on the Ohio Senate and Ohio House
to represent the People of Ohio and not cave into a single powerful
public employee union."

HB 274 has already been described by every pro-concealed carry
organization in Ohio - with the exception of the National Rifle
Association - as a bad bill. The changes proposed and suggested in the
past, if implemented, will only make it worse. HB 274, which passed the
Ohio House of Representatives in March, has been on hold in the Senate
while the Ohio Supreme Court hears arguments on a Hamilton County lawsuit
that temporarily overturned the state's antiquated prohibition against
concealed carry. Contrary to published reports, the Supreme Court is
moving on this matter and written arguments in the case, in which the
People's Rights Organization is a co-plaintiff, are being filed with the
Court this month.

ABOUT PRO
The People's Rights Organization (PRO) is Ohio's most active grassroots
group in the fields of Education, Legislation and Litigation. PRO is a
leading non-profit provider of instruction in the defensive use of
firearms for private citizens, having taught monthly courses on Personal
Protection with a firearm to women and men since 1989. PRO teaches
firearm safety, personal protection, provides crime avoidance
instruction, and youth gun accident prevention programs. Since its
founding in 1989, the non-profit, non-partisan organization has spent
significant resources to educate Ohioans about their rights, promote
safety strategies for women and men, most important of which is safe gun
handling, personal protection training and personal safety strategy
development. During the past seven years, more than 1,500 Ohioans have
learned safe gun handling, home firearm safety, basic marksmanship and
Ohio law regarding self-defense through monthly PRO-Training classes.

###
For more information, EDITORS please contact:
Dennis Walker
Secretary
The People's Rights Organization
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 614.348.5566
Tel: 614.268.0122