Black Legislators Patmon, Barnes, Others Denounce Wild Wild West Bill For Guns In Ohio Bars And Sports Stadiums, Say It Hurts Urban Cities





Ohio State Rep Bill Patmon (D-Cleveland)


Ohio State Rep. John E. Barnes Jr. (D-Cleveland)











Ohio State Sen. Charleta Tavares (D-Columbus)

Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner (D-Cleveland)

Ohio State Sen. Shirley Smith (D-Cleveland)



Ohio State Sen. Capri Cafaro (D-Youngstown)

Ohio State Sen. Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster)

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor-n-Chief, Cleveland Urban News.Com 

(www.clevelandurbannews.com)

 (Editors Note: Since this article's debut in April 2011, the Ohio state legislature has passed Senate Bill 17, dubbed the "Wild Wild West Bill", with Gov. John Kasich then signing it into law. It was amended though and permits guns in Ohio restaurants but not in sports stadiums throughout the state)

COLUMBUS, Ohio-A bill that passed the Republican led Ohio Senate on Wednesday 24-7 and would allow Ohioans to carry holstered guns for possible shoot outs in area bars and sports stadiums is commensurate to the "Wild Wild West" days where vigilantes ruled at a whim and would heighten gun violence in predominantly Black urban cities like Cleveland and E. Cleveland, Black legislators told Cleveland Urban News.Com Thursday evening.

"I cannot believe that we are talking about allowing anyone to take a nine millimeter to a bar or a stadium," said state Rep. Bill Patmon (D-10), a Cleveland Democrat."What would a person need a gun for?"

Senate Bill 17 is vigorously opposed by law enforcement unions across Ohio, including the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, and is being pushed by the National Rifle Association and other conservative gun promoting venues.

"This is like the Wild Wild West and opens the door for shootouts at local bars, and it is not good for urban communities," said Patmon.

State Rep. John E. Barnes Jr. (D-12), also a Cleveland Democrat, was just as angry and agreed with Patmon's notion that heightening gun toting laws could allow people to take the law into their own hands and would disenfranchise the Black community by increasing gun violence in urban cities where Blacks either dominate or are a prevalent population such as Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, Dayton, Akron, E. Cleveland and Youngstown.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census Report Cleveland is 51 percent Black, Columbus and Toledo are roughly 24 percent Black, some 43 percent of the people that reside in the cities of Cincinnati, Youngstown and Dayton are Black, and 28 percent occupy Akron. E. Cleveland still remains the Blackest, with a Black population of 93 percent.

"There's an insensitivity about what happens in urban areas," said Barnes.

Sponsored by Sen. Tim Schaffer (R-31), a Lancaster Republican, the bill heads to the Republican dominated Ohio House and would become law if it passes there without any conflicting amendments and is then signed by Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich, who has not been outspoken one way or another on the controversial measure. Though little relief to those against the bill, mainly Democrats, it does require that the guns are concealed, coupled with a provision for felony prosecution if the person drinks alcohol at the bar or stadium with a gun.

State Sen. Charleta Tavares (D-15) , a Columbus Democrat who voted against the bill as did Cleveland based Senators Nina Turner(D-25) and Shirley Smith (D-21), told reporters that the proposed law does not make much sense and said that linking a felony to it if people drink liquor while carrying the guns is asking for trouble.

Republicans say the bill is okay because it simply allows trusting and law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons conveniently in permitted public and private places in Ohio without a hassle. Felons, the mentality ill and others subject to stipulations that preclude guns in general under state law could not carry them though the bill also seeks to bring the statute into compliance with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in McDonald vs. Chicago that permits residential guns for protection pursuant to the Second Amendment's constitutional right to bear arms regardless of any misdemeanor conviction of any type, absent any other disqualifying measure under the law.

Not discussed is whether it might curtail police misconduct at bars against innocent patrons in places like Cleveland's popular Warehouse District where the Cleveland NAACP has said that tensions between Blacks that go there and police that moonlight there are high, or whether it minimizes police power by giving people, cowardly types in particular, a false sense of security.

Senate Minority Leader Capri Cafaro (D-32), a White Youngstown Democrat who is usually in line with Black legislators on high profile measures that have partisan consequences, crossed partisan lines with six other Democrats to support Wednesday's passage of the bill by the Senate.

In 1998 Youngstown had the highest homicide rate per capita in the nation of Black women, data show.

Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473

Comments

Unknown said…
you are invited to follow my blog
I see you have a religious blog. I viewed it when you had some 45,000 hits and I see you have some 65,000 now. Good work. Perhaps we can join forces with others with an urban news paper out of greater Cleveland that touches Akron and elsewhere, with a religious thrust that focuses on issues dealing with urban issues like education, the legal system and politics, and national political coverage. And your articles of course.

Popular posts from this blog

Former WOIO 19 Action News Anchor in Cleveland Sharon Reed lands new anchor job, her lawyer says rumors about LeBron James fathering her baby are false, had threatened to sue on her behalf, Reed is famous for posing nude for Spenser Tunick's nude group photo shoot

Corrupt and racist University Heights Mayor Susan Infeld is booted from office by voters following claims of spending irregularities of taxpayers money, racism against Black residents, police abuse of Blacks as city safety director, and of running a theft ring of county residents homes via illegal foreclosure activity led by JPMorgan Chase Bank.....University Heights is a Cleveland suburb....Others involved in the theft ring or retaliation against homeowners who complain include corrupt common pleas judges such as Judges John O'Donnell and Carolyn Friedland, Chief County Foreclosure Magistrate and University Heights Resident Stephen Bucha, and his wife, an attorney with the law firm of Lerner Sampson and Rothfuss, who represents corrupt mortgage companies and banks, including JP Morgan Chase Bank... Others involved include racist and corrupt University Hts Police Sgt Dale Orians, former county prosecutor Bill Mason, who is a partner with Bricker and Eckler, which represents JPMorgan Chase Bank, and current County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley, who was Mason's deputy....Drunken Shaker Heights Judge KJ Montgomery, who also hears criminal cases for University Hts, has Blacks illegally prosecuted who complain of the theft of their homes, as does O'Malley..... Judge Montgomery is top in issuing excessive and illegal warrants against the Black community....All of the aforementioned are corrupt and activists want them indicted and prosecuted....This is Part 1 of a multi-part series on Cuyahoga County public corruption by Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

Chief and unfair Cuyahoga County Judge John Russo loses authority-Part 2 of a multi-part series on Cuyahoga County public corruption: New Ohio law on seeking possible removal of a municipal court judge in a case for bias or conflict via the filing of an affidavit of prejudice takes authority to decide from chief Cuyahoga County Presiding Judge John Russo, other chief common pleas judges in Ohio, and hands it to the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, who also determines affidavits of prejudice filed against common pleas, probate, juvenile, domestic relations, and state appellate court judges....Most affidavits of prejudice are denied regardless of the merits and some judges complained of will retaliate, data show... Community activists, led by Cleveland activist Kathy Wray Coleman of the Imperial Women Coalition, lobbied the Cleveland NAACP for support and asked state legislators via state Rep Bill Patmon (D-10) of Cleveland to change the law but wanted a panel of judges and others to decide when a judge in Ohio is disqualified from hearing a case for bias or conflict....Coleman says she has since been further harassed by Chief Cuyahoga County Judge John Russo, who is White and leads a racist and sexist common pleas court fueled with corruption, malicious prosecutions, excessive criminal bonds, ineffective assistance of counsel to poor and Black defendants, and the mass incarceration of the Black community....By www.clevelandurbannews.com and www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspapers....This is part 2 of a multi-part series on Cuyahoga County public corruption