(my emphasis)
Really? Maybe you can tell that to the fellow in a suburb of Cincinnati who was charged with inducing panic, had to hire a lawyer, and eight months later, after multiple hearings and a decent sized legal bill, and only after a judges order, got his gun back.
Then the police are acting illegally and can (and should) be sued in court for violation of civil liberties under colors. Fact is, that's why it's fine in most places in Ohio to OC. We sued the living crap out of them. If you find police in your area acting illegally, then organize OC events, force their hand, and then remedy the situation in courts. For what it's worth, you'll find cops busting people in Vermont, Kentucky, New Hampshire and Wyoming as well, but that doesn't counter the fact that these places have a legal and protected right to OC. An exception does not make the rule invalid.
Also, ORC 9.68 is very specific about who bears the burden of legal cost, and it's not the defendant if he was found innocent.
As I said on another thread: Despite the laws, the summary of Ohio's laws here, O.R.C. 9.68, the Ohio Constitution, and the United States Constitution, you may be stopped, asked for ID, and threatened with charges.
They can try. You don't have to provide anything and "threats" are meaningless unless you give in to them. Hence my advice to know your rights and stand your ground. It's a very simple drill "Am I being detained, or am I free to go". If detained, force them to articulate the crime they feel you've comitted and the reason they feel that you comitted it (while recording it on your voice recorder, mind you). I don't know what cases you've seen, but I strongly suspect that the OC'er was trying to play word games with the cops or tried to argue the law. All the cops need is one wrong word that they can twist enough to claim probable cause, then you're screwed. That's true in any state however, and applies not only to firearms but even to mundane traffic stops. I have heard of no real cases in my experience where a well trained LAC who provided the valuable answer of "silence" except for asking "am I being detained or am I free to go" and "no, I do not have to provide ID unless you're detaining me" was ever busted for anything (except people like Harlass, who are rogue loose cannons that would go off even in places like Arizona). I know it happens from time to time, don't get me wrong, but that doesn't mean that you do not have rights that are legally protected, it just means the cop(s) are acting like illegal gang members.
You can and may be charged with inducing panic, disorderly conduct, or anything else, depending on the officer and the county prosecutor (if he/she is involved).
Well, see, they can try to charge you (becoming much rarer), but the charge won't hold in court, and most of the time the threats are just that, they know (most of them) that they're blowing smoke up your rear and you'll walk away a free man if you don't back down. This isn't 1994 any longer, and the rules have changed as well as most all police departments/sheriff's being briefed on the legality and status of OC.
It's really hard for them deny the legality now, given as even the AG has printed it in no uncertain terms in the Concealed Handgun booklet that's been distributed far and wide in Ohio, and which you can find in every Sheriff's office. Page 17 or 18 I believe, years 2011 and current. Disorderly conduct/inducing panic are nearly gone as well, since the definitions are easy to look up in the ORC and all you have to do is ask which specific item you're violating (again, with voice recorder recording their answers). If they persist regardless of the law, you have such a payday ahead it's not funny.
I know - one or more of the above has happened to me, or someone I know, in the past six months - and I have open carried off and on for more than five years.
You may want to visit buckeyefirearms or Ohioans for Concealed Carry (who also deal with OC), as they tend to organize protests, OC walks and help people with lawsuits regarding this kind of thing. The gentleman who was harassed and subsequently got Harlass fired is a member of OFCC, as it happens, and posted about it on the forum.
That said, if you're prepared to deal with those eventualities, then open carry. Be an ambassador to an inquiring public while you are doing so. Dress and act like a "respectable" citizen. If you want to take part in open carry activism, then do so.
Very simply, if you don't want, and are not willing to accept the potential negative repercussions of open carry, then don't do it.
The above statement does not mean that this is the way things are going to stay, but it is the way that things are in Cincinnati and its environs for the time being.
Sure, and if nobody does anything to change it where you live, well, there you go. What I'm stating however is still true, OC is a legal and protected right in Ohio. What you're countering with is that cops don't like it and will try to charge/intimidate you. Apples and oranges if you look at it. The law is the law, and when taken to court, we consistently win and many times win the countersuit that gets the cops fired. That's legal and protected (by the legal system as a whole). Press it enough since we have the law and courts on our side, and the cops will have to stop acting illegally, as most are doing except apparently in Cincy. If it were legal but not protected, the cops could do with us what they did prior to about 2004, which is make us eat pavement and laugh with their boots on our neck and we'd have no legal remedy. We do now have a means to fight back, so if you're feeling deprived of your rights, fight it, you'll win. I thus stand by my assertion as true and based on fact. The incidents of cops even bothering to talk to us "officially" are shrinking every year, as I follow the trends and reports on the various firearms forums I'm a member of. If Cincy thinks it's a different universe, let the places I mentioned know and I'm certain we can put them on the ropes like we did with Cleveland and Canton.
BTW, have driven through Cincy before with my firearm on my side (on a motorcycle), nobody even looked at me cross eyed about it.
Now, if we can just get the OP to respond to the fact that there isn't a Lt. Cook, maybe "we" can collectively resume the conversation he started.
Indeed. Though I do wonder why people go to the police for legal advice on firearms. Seems like the last place you'd want to check, no matter what state you lived in. I suspect that if the event happened, he either misunderstood the officer's name (it can happen) or the person on the line, lied.