Athens County residents are taking up their right to bear arms as Congress begins a heated debate on gun laws.
The Athens County Sheriff’s Office permitted 210 new concealed carry licenses in 2011, a significantly higher number compared to 2007, when only 87 licenses were permitted, according to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s website. In the first three quarters of 2012, 225 licenses had been permitted. Data for the fourth quarter of 2012 is not yet available.
Although gun laws have come under scrutiny and debate in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December, some Athens residents believe that bearing arms could be an answer to the problem.
“Gun control is obviously not the answer,” said Kevin Martin, chief instructor at Hilltop Gun Club. “Anyone who is tested mentally and can pass the background test on mental issues and wants to carry a gun should be allowed to.”
In most cases, shootings are stopped when a police officer or citizen takes force against the shooter, said Tom Stierhoff, an Ohio University senior studying engineering technology and management and the president of the OU Second Amendment Club.
“People should be allowed to defend themselves by using force,” Stierhoff said. “With some of the ways the carry concealed laws are, they don’t always have the opportunity.”
Ohio law prohibits carrying a concealed weapon on public university campuses, which includes Ohio University.
But Stierhoff said he believes students should be allowed to carry weapons on university campuses.
“If you’re 21 or older and you’ve gone through all of the background checks and you get your carry concealed license, you could walk into a Wal-Mart and you could carry in most movie theaters, offices, workplaces, as long as they don’t post a sign saying you can’t carry in there,” Stierhoff said. “(People) think that there’s some big line between university campus and these other places, and I just disagree with that.”
Martin said he would support legislation allowing concealed weapons to be carried on university campuses. However, he said would change the format of the 12-hour course required by the state to allow for more time spent at the gun range. He suggested eight hours of classroom instruction and four hours of gun-range practice.
“We don’t have enough time to teach people how to properly use a handgun,” Martin said.
Stierhoff, who has also instructed the concealed carry classes, said that two hours is the minimum time required by the state and that he tries to spend as much time as possible at the gun range with his students.
“If I tell you how to do something, you won’t retain as much information as if I show you, and you won’t retain as much of that unless you’re actually physically doing it,” Stierhoff said.
However, others believe that allowing concealed carry doesn’t solve gun violence.
The state has a huge responsibility to create more regulations on gun control, said Toby Hoover, executive director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence.
Ohio has been weakening concealed carry laws since 2004, she said.
“You can carry in bars now when you couldn’t before,” Hoover said. “Every year, there is less training required to get your concealed carry license.”
But Stierhoff said safety is the first priority in the concealed carry classes.
“If you can’t safely be at a gun range, then we don’t think you can safely carry a gun in a crowd of people,” he said. “We wouldn’t feel right passing a person like that.”
ls114509@ohiou.edu
