More gun rights questions for Ohio AG Cordray

November 8, 10:50 AMGun Rights ExaminerDavid Codrea

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The reply I posted yesterday from Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray's Constituent Liaison ended with an invitation to me:

Thank you again for contacting our office and please let us know if you have any additional questions or thoughts about these issues.

Why, yes, thank you, I do have a few more. Two, actually.

My first question has to do with police in Ohio confronting gun owners who are open carrying-- a legal practice, but one that still results in potentially very dangerous encounters that could get someone killed. I wrote AG Cordray's predecessor about it, and documented that here and here.

Part of the problem is there is so little said about the subject coming from the AG's office. This is from the 2009 Concealed Carry Laws Booklet, found at the bottom of page 18:

How hard could it be for the state's top law enforcement officer, the AG, to write a memorandum recognizing the legality of peaceable open carrying, and send it to every police and sheriff's department in the state, as well as to the Highway Patrol? One would assume flow-down communications explaining his interpretations and positions on law enforcement issues are already established and routine.

And how hard would it be for the individual LE departments to transmit this information to their sworn personnel? Again, one would assume they all receive policy training as a condition of employment. If you're already having them sign acknowledgments such as they understand sexual harassment rules, etc., and placing that in their personnel files, how much more effort would be required to have each officer sign and date a simple acknowledgment that he or she understands open carry is lawful?

Otherwise, we are risking more dangerous encounters like what is described here. It's the duty of our public servants to minimize hazards to the public--particularly ones they've been informed about, multiple times, and ones cause by their own behaviors and documented training deficiencies.

What I'm proposing could be done with minimal cost and effort, using established channels of communication and existing record-keeping processes. So my first "additional question" is this:

Will AG Cordray make this happen, and/or communicate whatever other process he already has in place (or will implement) to minimize police encounter danger to Ohio's peaceable open-carrying firearm owners?

And my second question is about my Gun Rights Questionnaire, designed to elicit unequivocal answers to define a candidate's specific positions regarding the right to keep and bear arms. More and more political candidates are responding to it.  I'll be sending AG Cordray those questions along with links to yesterday and today's Gun Rights Examiner columns.

Will he answer them?

Because Republican candidate Dave Yost has. And that will be the focus of my next column.