By Paul Lathrop | Contributing Editor
“We’ve got just tons of bills, good ones, and bad ones and probably most of those are going to die. That’s just the way it works here in Ohio.”
So said Dean Rieck, executive director of the Buckeye Firearms Association. He discussed the tidal wave of legislation during a Dec. 14 appearance on the Second Amendment Foundation’s Polite Society Podcast.
“I have never seen this many gun bills before,” Rieck stated. “It’s been a crazy year in every way and this year we have just gone over the top.”
Unlike legislative bodies in other states, Ohio’s legislature runs for a two-year period. The current session is scheduled to expire at the end of this month, Rieck explained. His interview took up the second and third segments of the podcast, which may be viewed here.
Rieck noted that the legislature was supposed to wrap up last week, but because of the continued COVID 19 pandemic and other complications lawmakers are still at it this week. They appear to be scrambling to get things done.
“It’s really just hour by hour what is happening,” he observed. “Every time I sit down at my desk I don’t know where we are. It’s a lame-duck session. This happens at the end of every two years, all the stuff that they wanted to do and never got done, it all happens in the last couple of weeks.”
Rieck discussed some of the bills currently up for consideration including multiple duty-to-retreat bills, a measure on school weapons promoted by a Bloomberg group, a notification bill, and a civil immunity bill.
While the November election was very successful for Buckeye Firearms, with the vast majority of the candidates that were endorsed by the association winning their elections, there is still much to do, Rieck indicated.
The polite Society Podcast is a weekly live broadcast on the Second Amendment Foundation’s Facebook page and YouTube Channel.
