Librarians in Ohio are reminding their patrons that the state’s new law legalizing concealed handguns does not apply to state, county, or municipal buildings. H.B. 12, signed into law January 8 by Gov. Bob Taft and effective in April, eases the restrictions on obtaining a permit to carry a concealed weapon but prohibits permit-holders from taking them into public buildings, school zones, college campuses, and certain other areas.
Trustees of the Toledo–Lucas County Public Library voted February 19 to post warning signs outside the system’s branches. “We don’t allow weapons anyway—that’s always been a standard operating procedure,” Library Director Clyde Scoles said in the February 20 Toledo Blade. “This is just a continuation of what we’ve been about all these years.”
Cleveland Heights–University Heights Public Library Director Stephen Wood is also posting reminders, but he worries that patrons could overlook them, the February 15 Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. “They’re not going to say, ’Oh, I’m going to the library; I’d better leave my weapon in the car,’” he said.
Ohio Library Council Executive Director Doug Evans is recommending that all Ohio libraries put up similar signage. “I think the general public has no idea unless they’ve followed this law through this process that public libraries are exempted,” he told the Blade.
The law allows private workplaces to ban concealed weapons, but specifically allows them “in a locked motor vehicle” on the premises of “any public or private college, university, or other institution of higher education.” This provision strikes Oberlin College President Nancy Dye as illogical and dangerous. “We are a residential college where both students and their families expect to be safe,” she told the Plain Dealer.
Posted February 20, 2004.