COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A new cross-check system between separate state law enforcement agencies turned up 42 ineligible holders of Ohio concealed-carry permits deemed ineligible for a permit, Attorney General Dave Yost said Tuesday.
The system followed an analysis that Yost’s office undertook last year of a potential loophole involving the reporting of people deemed mentally incompetent to possess a firearm.
Under Ohio law, judicial rulings on such individuals are collected by the Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
But that agency didn’t have access to the list of active concealed weapons permit holders maintained by the Department of Public Safety. A new agreement allows the two departments to share information.
Yost’s office informed Ohio sheriffs in the 17 counties where the permit holders live of the discrepancy, advised them to verify the findings and to revoke the permit if the information is confirmed. The list involved 41 current permit holders and one person who had since died.
In 35 of the cases, the permit holders were found mentally incompetent after they had received a permit, but sheriffs in those counties weren’t notified. Under the new system, checks of the two databases will occur regularly, Yost said.
Although the 42 represents a fraction of Ohio’s 700,000 concealed-carry permit holders, “even one unlawful license is too many,” Yost said.