A bill in the Statehouse would end the requirement for concealed carry permit holders to tell a police officer they're carrying a gun.

Ohio law says a CCW holder must "promptly notify".

"What does 'promptly notify' mean?" said Rep. Scott Wiggam, a Wooster Republican who sponsored House Bill 142. "We don't know if you have to interrupt the officer and make sure they know in the line of their questioning."



Wiggam's bill would eliminate the responsibility to notify a police officer altogether. He said people who go through the training to get a CCW permit aren't the people police need to worry about.

"The person who is hiding it and has not gone through the steps and is doing it for a malicious reasons, that's what you have to be careful for," he said.



Wiggam said police officers already can see if someone is a CCW permit holder when they run their license plates.

"You never know in this day and age what you're walking into," said Eric Delbert, a former police officer who now runs the gun store L.E.P.D. in Northwest Columbus.

Delbert said officers want to know as much as they can when they're pulling someone over, particularly if they are armed.

"For that split second, if we were to see that firearm in plain sight and before that person had an opportunity to tell us they're a (Concealed Handgun License) holder or maybe they've chosen not to tell us, for that time period we're going to be on our highest alert," he said.

Failure to tell a police officer you have a gun is a misdemeanor. Ohio is one of only 10 states with a law like that on the books.

House Bill 142 was introduced and assigned to a committee but still is a ways away from a vote in the Statehouse.