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