Follow up article on Ohio open carry incident

As related in this post, an open carrier from Ohio was reportedly hassled by police officers from the Northwood, Ohio PD. The town's law director had promised to follow up with Ohioans for Concealed Carry (maybe they should change their name :)) upon his return. Here is OFCC's description of the follow up:

Brian Ballenger, law director for Northwood, followed through on his promise to contact us this week to continue working to resolve the Northwood Incident.

In a phone call with me yesterday, he again confirmed that his office is aware that open carry is legal, and that he has communicated that information to the Northwood Police Chief. Ballenger also reiterated that no charges were going to be filed against OFCC member Edwin Farbrother, an obvious fact since he broke no law.

However, he repeatedly stated that he advises against open carry to avoid panicking citizens who may not be aware that such an action is legal (although I pointed out that the last two people "panicking" were off-duty police officers).

Ballenger stated that a training session with the entire department would be undertaken within the next few weeks after two new hires began working. He offered to provide us with any written materials presented as part of that training. He was unable to tell me what steps would be taken in the meantime to ensure this doesn't happen again, and suggested the Chief would be the one to answer that question.

Article here. Looks like the PD should now (or soon) know that open carry is legal in Ohio. OFCC says it will follow up with the police chief, who was "very adamant that open carry is illegal in Ohio, despite not being able to quote the section of the Ohio Revised Code that supported his position", according to the earlier OFCC report.

Stuff like this shows the importance of asserting and standing up for your rights, and the need for grassroots pro-gun groups who can fight these small, but nevertheless important battles at the local level.