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House votes to override Taft gun bill veto
Thursday, December 07, 2006
COLUMBUS — The Ohio House on Thursday afternoon voted 71-21 to override Gov. Bob Taft's veto of a gun bill Thursday morning.
Seven state representatives either were absent or opted not to vote. No debate preceded the vote.
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Sixty votes were needed in the House and 20 are needed in the Senate to override a veto. The Senate meets again on Tuesday, but it's unclear if or when it might take an override vote.
"We've made every reasonable compromise at every step of the way to avoid the veto showdown," said Ken Hanson, legislative chair for the Buckeye Firearms Association.
Toby Hoover of Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence said, "We're grateful to him (Taft) and it looks like he's leading the way to make sure home rule stays in Ohio."
The Ohio Constitution gives cities and villages "home rule" powers to self-govern as long as local laws don't conflict with the state's general laws.
This gun bill makes some modifications to the state's 3-year-old conceal-and-carry law, but it strips cities of the power to regulate firearms issues and negates 80 local laws covering issues such as banning the sale of assault weapons and holding adults liable when they allow children access to weapons.
"I think they're overreaching," Taft said Thursday morning, in a meeting with Dayton Daily News editors and reporters.
He said he was willing to work with gun advocates on fine-tuning the concealed-carry law — and in fact law enforcement was doing that — but that without any real debate and discussion the bill turned into a total preemption of all local gun laws.
"Where did this come from? What's the need for this law? ... What's the case for that? I didn't see the case for it," Taft said.
The bill would change the requirements for how a permit holder may carry a gun when in a car or truck, allowing them to keep the gun holstered or in a purse or bag. The law originally enacted requires guns in vehicles to be in plain sight.
