Legislators avoid pressing issues

Have we lost our minds? Our Statehouse representatives, faced with a serious opioid endemic, crumbling infrastructure, charter schools misusing millions of taxpayer dollars, lack of medical care for our citizens, etc., instead devote their energies to workarounds for people to bring guns where they are not wanted, and a stand-your-ground law.

Isn’t it reasonable to expect that if a person is reliable enough to be issued a permit to carry a concealed weapon, he or she should be able to respect a law that prohibits carrying it into houses of worship or other places where the property owner does not want armed individuals?

Current laws protect individuals who protect themselves or loved ones from imminent danger with deadly force. Why in the world should we have standyour-ground laws that hold individuals with eight hours of “training” to a lower standard of accountability than our law-enforcement officers, who receive months of extensive training before being allowed to carry a weapon?

I urge lawmakers to get to work on the real problems facing Ohio and stop grandstanding by finding “solutions” to problems that don’t exist.

I am not an anti-gun radical. I have owned guns since I was 13 and am a supporter of the Second Amendment. However, I do miss the days of my youth, when the National Rifle Association was dedicated to helping me learn to handle guns responsibly and hunt safely.

John Boyd Columbust