Open Carry (courtesy thetruthaboutguns.com)

“In a CBS News News interview Sunday, at least one police official remained apprehensive about open-carry laws,” cbsnews.com reports. “Cleveland police detective and head of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association Steve Loomis called on Gov. John Kasich to ban the open-carry of guns this week while thousands descend on the city for the convention.

Loom said the group would like Kasich “to declare a state of emergency and issue and executive order to ban open carry until the end of the RNC,” saying that it’s “irresponsible” at this time to allow open carry.

“Somebody in this country has got to stand up and support the police officers,” Loomis told CBS. The group’s attorneys, he said, are drafting a letter to Kasich now.

Governor Kasich’s office immediately responded, saying no way. “Ohio governors do not have the power to arbitrarily suspend federal and state constitutional rights or state laws as suggested.”

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68 COMMENTS

    • CNN shows police union Cleveland president Loomis as stating, “I don’t care if it’s constitutional at this point or not.” I have the saved article and screen shot, just in case it disappears.

      Open carry in Ohio also needs no permit. Just don’t conceal or have the handgun loaded in a car without it.

  2. Oh, isn’t that adorable? A detective who thinks that people who want to kill cops are going to obey another law.

    • Even if he got what he wanted, an unconstitutional ban on open carry, all he would accomplish is that the cops in Cleveland would have zero idea who in the crowd was armed since then the good guys and the bad guys would be concealed carrying.

      At least with open carry the cops know who the good guys are.

  4. I guess it’s better if the hide the guns so the cops won’t know who’s armed. That will make thing safer.

    • Exactly my thought.

      Why OC the problem, but CC isn’t? I mean, do they really think an OC ban will stop someone considering murdering cops or republicans or anyone else?

      An OC ban can accomplish NOTHING. It is just security theater….like we are all dipsh1ts that think just because we can’t SEE a gun no one actually has one.

      I wonder what other Constitutional Rights in OH are suspended by “State of Emergency.” 4A?

      • JR_in_NC (and JOE MATAFOME),

        My hunch is that Officer Friendly wants to ban open carry because that would ban carry of rifles which are a much greater threat to police than handguns. Remember, cops routinely wear Level II or Level IIA ballistic vests which stop handgun rounds … and might as well be a sheet of notebook paper with respect to rifle rounds. So, if you can reduce the number of rifles in the crowd, you would reduce the lethality that said crowd represents for police.

        Caveat #1:
        I assume that Ohio’s idea of a concealed carry license only applies to handguns and does not enable carrying concealed rifles or shotguns. Therefore, since a concealed carry license does not enable concealed long guns, concealed weapon laws generally prohibit all concealed weapons except for handguns, and a ban on open carry would prohibit openly carrying a long gun, there would be no way to carry a long gun with the blessing of Ohio government.

        Caveat #2:
        Officer Friendly’s mindset assumes that a ban of visibly carried rifles would somehow stop people who intend to offensively attack police. Of course a ban on openly carried rifles would do no such thing since a determined attacker would simply conceal their rifle until they were ready to use it … or simply employ a sneak-attack from the “back” side of the demonstration zone where police would be unable to see a stealth approach.

        • Yes, the CHL (concealed handgun license) in Ohio only deals with handguns. I agree with your assessment but they would’ve been safer, in the court cases to come about after the fact, if they only called for the temporary restriction on long guns due to the increased threat to officers wearing ballistic protection. At least that had a chance of sounding reasonable in court, even if I don’t agree with it. As it stands, they have called for the restriction of a right while leaving a privilege intact. That probably wouldn’t have gone over well in an Ohio court later.

        • This is, of course, assuming they don’t grab some cheap AR pistols or krinkovs and stuff them in backpacks.

  5. Check me if Im wrong Sandy but don’t you need a REASON for a state of emergency? I don’t hear of one technically

    • The mayor of Cleavland has a lawsuit filed against the city for breaking the state preemption law by making laws about safe storage, and other BS laws that are unenforceable without violating other rights.

      This numbnut is just another of the mayor’s cronies and he’s probably been told to ask for this. Plus the mayor probably needs more money to help him fight the losing battle of the lawsuit(the 2nd of its kind, actually), which is probably why he wanted a “state of emergency” enacted.

      • Never let a good crisis go to waste. During times of crisis the people will DEMAND that you do things that they would never tolerate otherwise. If you do not have a good crisis, manufacture one.

        Paraphrasing.

        And by the way, I haven’t heard if the shooter in Dallas was open carrying before he started shooting cops. Anyone clarify that point?

    • My immediate thought was , “Oh, a premptive state of emergency, well that’s not a troubling precedent at all!””.

  6. I wonder if loom would support a state of emergency that restricts the first amendment?

  7. OC without a license is legal in Ohio. Since the out-of-state protesters are unlikely to have Ohio concealed carry licenses, and some in-state carriers choose not to obtain CCW licenses, “suspending” legal open carry is really an attempt to disarm otherwise legal carriers.

    IIRC, out of staters with valid permits from their home states can legally carry concealed in Ohio, but the police don’t know who they are.

    If Loomis was an honest man, he’d just admit that he’s merely trying to disarm everybody. But he’s not an honest man.

    • Most of the out-of-state protesters are probably coming from california or new york, so they won’t have a CCW, because “may issue” really means “will only issue to rich friends” in those states.

    • Ohio made a great stride not too long back in recognizing ALL permits, even if the other state won’t reciprocate. (For the longest time, they didn’t even have reciprocity with Indiana, and I have to remind coworkers they and I are legal regularly because it still hasn’t trickled down)

      They made other good strides later, such that with my OH and IN permits I can make it from here to California (well, the Nevada state line) before locking my guns up safely (ha!) in the trunk and visiting family this Christmas.

  8. Yep Kudos to Kasich. Now if Trump doesn’t weigh in(ah but he will) everything will be hunky dory…

  9. It’s a sad state of affairs when we have to start handing out awards to people who are just doing their jobs, or worse, for just not abusing the power inherent in their jobs. Nevertheless, I didn’t create this world, I just live in it.

    So I’m nominating Ohio Governor John Kasich for Gun Hero of the Day, for standing firm against insolent cries for disarmament from armed agents of the State advocating arbitrary suspension of the Constitution in Ohio.

  10. Well, Mr. Police Guy seems a bit startled to have realized that there’s a political convention coming up in his town. Being surprised out of your ignorance isn’t “an emergency.” It’s you finally getting a clue. It feels strange because, apparently getting a clue doesn’t happen to him, much.

    Getting a new clue is a normal, frequent occurrence for many people. We don’t start demanding that the government use executive powers to make the world like we used to think it was. Officer Startle Reflex might want to look into that.

    By way of factual help, national conventions for presidential elections happen every 4 years in the US. Cities vie to host these conventions. The process of this event coming to Cleveland has been going on for years. So, way to be on top of things, Officer Clueful.

    It’s worse that that – the astonishing obliviousness leading to his call for an emergency…

    “Tensions” that might bear on how this event plays out have been in an orchestrated escalation for a couple years. The city has been it’s own founded thing for about 220 years.

    These same “tensions” have been stoked and encouraged by the current federal administration, since before taking office. Call it 10 years.

    In the US the subjects of these “tensions”, you know, the substance, have been developing for decades – aggressive policing, half a century – civil rights enforcement, the war on drugs, a hundred-fifty years or so – class tensions, police corruption, capture of civic enforcement by machine politics, 400 years or so – race relations between black and white people, and forever – the intrinsic greed, differences, and cussedness that are part of the human condition.

    All of this is going to go on least until the decanting of a planned population of correctly programmed social units can be universally implemented.

    So, Officer Beaker there is suffering from the end of illusion.

    A bit more concerning is someone representing a police group being so casual about the rule of law. “Hey, it’s what we want, so just do it.”

    The timing is convenient. More convenient is how the Governor being so admonished happens to have a little bit of a name in the R-party, and of course the meme-o-sphere picked this right up. Since we don’t care about the appearance of partisan impropriety any more, there’s no point in mentioning Officer Operative With a Badge, having this to say about the R-party convention, while – surprise – there’s no similar meme-generation about the D-party convention, which have historically instigated far more rioting, violence, and destruction than those of the R’s. It’s like Journolist didn’t shut down, just moved … and expanded their membership to uniformed law enforcement.

    It’s just more agitprop. I’m sure if this political activity under color or authority causes him any job problems, there’s a place on Bloomie’s security team waiting. So, his paymaster wouldn’t even have to change.

  12. What about the ding-dong who said (on TV) that if Kasich could not legally execute such an order, “he could help us do it”? He thinks the Guv will give the police permission to break the law? That man should be summarily fired.

    • Thank you for bringing that up. I wonder what does “help us do it” mean to the guy asking.

  13. Those POS Shepard Smith was on Fox news today trying to basically tie open carry into what happened in Dallas and imply it somehow makes things more dangerous. Screw the MSM

  14. Since I live in the area, I can guarantee that if the suggested declaration of emergency and attempt to outlaw open carry would of happened, the nationwide shootings upto now would look like a party compared to what would happen.

  15. For me, the good news is that I’m not in Cleveland. The bad news is that I do have to work LA. It’s tough to say which one will be more violent over the next 10 days.

  16. Meanwhile in other states, a declaration of “emergency” is an open licence to carry however you like. Why, for God’s sake, would any sane person go about unarmed during a state of “emergency?”
    Nice try you jack booted jackass.

  17. On a side note, Mr. Loonies went on Fox yesterday and talked about how people can carry automatic weapons at the convention. He eats that gun grabber rhetoric right up.

    • Seems reasonable. If you have paid the extortion (tax) and obtained an (unconstitutional) NFA stamp and are willing to carry your $25k to $40k fully automatic weapon to the convention with you it would seem to be perfectly legal.

  18. While I understand how on the surface having openly carried guns may seem scary to the common man, it takes only a few brain cells to realize that making it illegal to open carry guns does nothing to stop guns from being carried at the RNC. Props to the governor for doing the right thing, even if it will be reported that he doesn’t care about the police’s safety. Hopefully the convention will be a demonstration of how peaceful people can carry guns peacefully… Unfortunately i don’t believe everyone present will be peaceful.

  20. The only rationale that approaches being reasonable here is if he were afraid that someone open carrying might be mistaken as a perp if something happened. I could see a reasonable person entertaining that fear. But as far as protecting officers? Nope. Cannot even see how it might do that

  21. I see the cops are once again the friend of the American gun owner and are interested in maintaining our rights at all times.

  22. Ridiculous. Should have called for suspention of the first amendment while they were at it.

    • I had to turn from Hannity as that doofus(who claims he’s extremely pro2A) ranted about how horrible open carry was. The same guy who calls a magazine a “clip”…duh.

    • Oh, it’s not a suspension of the first amendment, it’s just a restriction to “free speech zones!”
      Specially designated areas where the government so very graciously allows you to protest!

  24. / sarcasm on – Ban open carry, because all that takes to keep everyone safe is a piece of cloth. – /sarcasm off

  26. So according to (I hope soon to be former) Detective Loomis Open Carry of a firearm isn’t a problem this week, but suddenly next week it will be? What magical powers is he attributing to firearms that they are going to cause so many problems that they aren’t causing now?

  28. And which one of any shootings against police would have been stopped by banning oc? None. It’s times like this that you really see who supports the 2nd amendment. First urge was let’s take away their guns. Does anyone really believe someone is going to open carry in front of the convention and start shooting. The shootings have been from ambush so oc is irrelevant. Going after the inanimate object instead of the person always works right?

  29. I live in NE Ohio. Steve Loomis is a frequent guest on local radio talk shows. He and those like him are the reason why so many people who loathe Black Lies Matter have as much contempt for police unions as well.

    Police unions serve NO purpose beyond ensuring that police are not held accountable under the laws which they themselves purport to enforce.

    Black Lies Matter and the police unions are dueling bands of sociopaths, bent on creating untouchable classes of violent felons populated by their respective constituencies, wholly immune not just from the rule of law, but from any criticism.

    • The influence of police unions in the legislatures currently represents the greatest threat to the Constitution and the rule of law in what’s left of America. The police unions forced OHCC and other grassroots groups to put Duty to Inform in Ohio’s concealed carry bill.

      When it came time to pass concealed carry in Illinois ten years later, NRA state lobbyist Todd Vandermyde placed Duty to Inform w/ criminal penalties of 6 MONTHS or 1 YEAR in jail in Rep. Brandon Phelps “NRA backed” carry bill because the anti-gun police unions wanted it. The IL Chiefs of Police opposed any form of citizen carry for FORTY years, but Vandermyde bent over for the cops.

      Tim McCarthy of Orland Park was president of the IL Chiefs when Vandermyde cut the deal on DTI in 2010/2011. That’s the same Tim McCarthy who was a Secret Service agent when President Reagan was shot, and the same Tim McCarthy who promotes gun control with Jim & Sarah Brady. NRA, Inc. profits from betraying the lives of armed citizens to the criminal police state. NRA, the Brady’s and the police unions are all on the same side.

  30. Here’s Steven Loomis’s direct email address: [email protected]

    Please take the time to tell him how you feel about his statement to CNN.

    “I don’t care if it’s constitutional or not at this point,” Cleveland Police Union president Stephen Loomis told CNN.

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