Chris 45LC
Regular Member
A year or two ago I had a phone conversation with a gentleman at the Ohio Attorney General office. The topic was in regard to how 911 operators are trained to respond to a "man with a gun" call. We all know that open carry in Ohio is legal. However, one of the biggest problems that arises with open carry is the chance of being confronted by an officer(s) because of a 911 call. Most officers prefer citizens to conceal carry because there is less chance of them having to respond to a "man with a gun" call. The real question is, since it is legal to open carry, why are the 911 operators dispatching these calls to LEOs? In my opinion, When an Ohio 911 operator gets a caller that says that they saw a man or woman with a gun, the operator should be trained to then ask the caller what is the person doing with the firearm? Just carrying it in a holster? Brandishing it? Firing it? If the answer is, He/she has it in a holster and is just carrying it, no law has been broken and police should not be informed. To dispatch an officer just for the reason that someone is legally carrying a firearm is like an officer responding to a call of a person mowing their yard or a neighbor down the street is hanging her laundry out on the clothesline. For an LEO to respond to such a call is a waste of tax payers money, waste of the officer's time and harassment of the law-abiding citizen that is legally carrying, open or concealed. All of this could be avoided if 911 operators were properly trained to know what questions to ask in regard to a "man with a gun" call and be able to determine if a law is actually being broken before dispatching an officer. With some simple emails, letters and phone calls to reps and the Ohio Attorney General to try and get the way that 911 operators handle these calls, maybe open and conceal carry could become easier for citizens as well as law enforcement.