CCW permit changes

CCW holders, such as keeping their hands in plain sight during traffic stops.

“This would be a huge threat to public safety and peace of mind, particularly for men of color who are often impacted by these kinds of stand your ground laws,” said Jennifer Thorne, executive director of Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence. Thorne argues that a stand your ground law would embolden people to embark on vigilante justice and shoot first, ask questions later.

Meanwhile, Ohioans for Concealed Carry spokesman Jim Irvine bristles at calling it “stand your ground” legislation. “Some people may call it that. It’s an inappropriate label,” he said.

Ohioans have the right to fight a threat in their home or car but elsewhere they face a legal duty to retreat, if possible. Irvine said the vast majority of people won’t use deadly force. “It goes against our grain and against who we are.”

Lawmakers are considering bills that would let active and retired military members obtain CCW permits without taking the eight hour training class, let paramedics and EMTs assigned to SWAT teams carry firearms on the job and reduce the penalty for carrying a concealed weapon into areas that are posted as “no gun” zones from a felony to a misdemeanor.

There is also a bill pending in the Senate that would allow CCW permit holders to carry guns in the Ohio Statehouse, which is heavily guarded by the Ohio Highway Patrol.

A hearing this past week on House Bill 142 packed a Statehouse room with representatives from law enforcement, the National Rifle Association and the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence. The bill seeks to eliminate the requirement that CCW permit holders promptly disclose if they have a gun when they’re stopped by police.

Ohio Fraternal Order of Police lobbyist Mike Weinman, who is in a wheelchair, testified that the notification requirement is important for officer safety. Weinman was shot and paralyzed while on duty as a Columbus police officer.

All the requirements of CCW permit holders could be moot if House Bill 201 passes. It would eliminate the CCW permit requirement. Adults 21 and older would be allowed to carry hidden guns, without going through training or background checks. (Those barred by federal law, such as felons, would not be allowed.)

State Rep. Tom Brinkman, R-Cincinnati, has been push- ing for a bill to let adults carry concealed weapons without a permit for more than 15 years. He doesn’t hold out too much hope that the bill will pass this time around either.

“There is always a chance. It’d be one of those things that happens in lame duck,” Brinkman said, referring to the weeks between an elec-

LOOK AT PENDING GUN BILLS IN OHIO

Ohio lawmakers are considering several bills governing firearms. Here is a look:

Paramedics and others assigned to SWAT teams would be trained and permitted to carry firearms while on duty and be allowed to carry concealed weapons.

When stopped by law enforcement, concealed weapons permit holders would not be required to tell the officer that they’re carrying a firearm. Introduced March 21, its sole sponsor is state Rep. Scott Wiggam, R-Wooster.

The aim is to wipe out Ohio’s carry concealed weapons permit program and allow any adult age 21 or older to carry hidden firearms, as long as they aren’t barred from doing so under federal law. It would eliminate the requirement that people carrying weapons disclose that when they’re stopped by law enforcement. Police would not be allowed to search, seize or detain someone – no matter how temporary – based only on the fact they’re carrying a firearm. Introduced May 3, it has 24 co-sponsors. .

Ohioans would no longer have a duty to retreat when threatened – essentially permitting them to “Stand Your Ground.” Also, the prosecution would have the burden of disproving a self-defense claim – current law puts that burden on the person making it. The bill would eliminate the requirement that CCW permit holders keep their hands in plain sight during traffic stops and the requirement that property owners post ’no guns’ signs. Introduced May 16, it has 37 cosponsors, including many from the Miami Valley.

The penalty for a CCW permit holder carrying a weapon in a prohibited area, such as a government building or place of worship, would be reduced to a misdemeanor – and only if the person refused to leave when asked to do so. Currently, it is a felony. Introduced May 18, it has 51 co-sponsors, including many from the Miami Valley.

Active members of the armed forces and veterans would be allowed to get CCW permits without paying fees or going through training.

This would allow people to carry concealed weapons in the Ohio Statehouse and its grounds. tion and the end of the legislative session.

In past legislative sessions, gun issues have been attached to other bills or merged. That might happen this time around too.

House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, said, “We have a lot of bills out there. Some of them we may ultimately want to maybe merge into one bill, later down the road.”

Over the years, anti-gun violence activists have man- aged to defeat the no-permit concealed carry program and stand your ground laws in Ohio, Thorne said. “I think the (bills advancing) stand your ground and permit-less are both very concerning but you really have to keep an eye on all of them because eventually, one of them will become a Christmas tree.”

Bills sponsored by Demo- crats that seek to curb gun rights — such as requiring safe storage to keep guns out of the hands of minors or increasing background checks — are pending but not expected to pass. deployed is based on crime rates and trends, but deeper analysis is needed to truly understand how to craft the most effective police response, said Dayton police Chief Richard Biehl.

“The most frequent strategy or tactic in law enforcement is called ‘hot spot policing’ or it’s called cops on the dots,” he said. “Where the data aggregates — the dots appear with greater density — that’s where you deploy police officers.”

But, Biehl said, police also need to engage residents and property owners in those areas and interact with the community to achieve meaningful and sustained reductions in crime, he said.

The Dayton Police Department is about to try a new strategy to cool off the tiny crime hot spots by taking away the places criminals hang out, live, gather and meet to support their illegal activities.

Last month, Biehl discussed research that found that about 39 percent of shootings, 14 percent of robberies and 17 percent of firearms offenses in Dayton occurred in very small parts of the city, referred to as highcrime micro areas.

Put together, those tiny hot spots represent less than 0.7 square miles of space.

Taking a page out of Cin- cinnati’s playbook, the police department plans to try to reduce gun violence and criminal activity at some of the worst and most chronic hot spots through a data- driven, place-based investi- gative strategy.

The hot spots were identified using multiple years of crime data and multiple data sets and layers of analysis, police officials said.

The police department denied this newspaper’s request for records identi- fying the hot spot locations, claiming that would compromise upcoming police investigations and officer safety.

The micro areas with chronically high crime may be unclear, but it’s pretty evident that shootings are not evenly distributed throughout the city or even within individual neighborhoods, according to Montgomery County Regional Dispatch logs of shootings reported in the city in 2016.

Last year, there were 13 reported shooting calls in a compact area that is roughly framed by Germantown Street, West Stewart Street and Danner Avenue, according to the logs and police reports.

The area is near the DeSoto Bass Court public housing complex.

On Nov. 11, 21-year-old Terion Dixon was shot and killed near the 1700 block of Germantown Street.

The next day, on Nov. 12, a 22-year-old Dayton man was shot in the buttock nearby, while standing outside of his parked car on the 900 block of Danner Ave, near Stew- art Street.

The shooting victim was later arrested after hospital staff found a white powdery substance in a clear plastic bag inside his pants.

That area, in the Miami Chapel neighborhood, is low-income and has few amenities.

The closest well-known landmark is the DeSoto Bass Courts public housing project, which is operated by Greater Dayton Premier Management.

But it’s wrong to think that the crime in that area mostly occurs at DeSoto Bass or is caused by its residents, said Jennifer Heapy, GDPM executive director.

“Many reported crimes happen at adjacent locations by non-DeSoto Bass residents,” she said.

GDPM has a $300,000 yearly contract with the Dayton Police Department to patrol its housing develop- ments, and it is looking at ways to improve safety in the surrounding neighborhood.

Last year, DeSoto Bass resi- dent Jenisicia Shackleford told this newspaper she hoped to move because of the crime and violence in her neigh- borhood.

Parts of Dayton along or just off North Main Street also have struggled with gun violence.

In June, a 57-year-old man showed up at Good Samaritan Hospital after being shot in the face during what he says was a robbery. The man was parked at Ridge Avenue near North Main Street when an armed suspect climbed into his car and shot him. The bul- let passed through his right cheek and exited through a spot right below his left eye.

Two months later, a 26-year-old man told police he was shot in the right leg while walking east on Santa Clara toward North Main Street. He said he was minding his business when he heard a gunshot and felt pain in his right leg, and he never saw who shot him.

Three weeks later, a 47-year-old man who showed up at the hospital with a gunshot wound to his thigh also told police he did not see who shot him.

According to his account, he was in the area around the 1800 block of North Main Street when he heard a loud noise and realized he was hit.

Last year, there were 111 gun crimes that resulted in injuries in Dayton, according to police estimates.

Crime hot spots, of course, have always been a focus of policing strategy. Dayton police will increase presence and more heavily patrol highcrime areas.

Police will partner with property owners, landlords and other city departments to take away criminals’ comfort spaces and the places where they hang out, relax, meet, live and plan and orchestrate their criminal activities and operations, Biehl said.

Police, with the help of its partners, will focus on changing the physical environment of hot spot crime locations to eliminate conditions that allow and support criminal activities, Biehl said.

The place-based investigative strategy has been used in Cincinnati, with some promising early results in reducing crime.

Dayton leaders last month were given a presentation on the new strategy by researchers and analysts from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the University of Cincinnati Police Department and the Cincinnati Police Department.

The dispatch logs analyzed by this newspaper contain information that have limitations and can be misleading.

Last year, regional dispatch recorded 253 calls of shootings in Dayton. But sometimes, there were multiple calls — leading to multiple dispatch listings — for the same shooting incident.