BB62
Accomplished Advocate
Here is the e-mail I today to Mark Donaghy, the CEO, copied the to RTA Board, the authorities, the media, and the Attorney General's office:
Mr. Donaghy,
In your December 21, 2016 e-mail, among your superfluous comments and/or inaccurate statements you made mention of irrelevant changes to Ohio firearm laws which took effect in March, 2017, suggesting that your “team” continued to work on the issue of RTA’s continued non-compliance with Ohio law. Taking my counsel’s advice, I decided not to act further until the first RTA monthly board meeting held after March 2017. Since March, TWO monthly board meetings have taken place and I still see no evidence that RTA is in compliance with Ohio law.
For instance, today I checked and downloaded your “Rules of the Road” and “Facilities Code of Conduct” (both attached), which remain unchanged – indicating that firearms are still prohibited on RTA property and buses, e.g. “including weapons carried pursuant to a valid license”.
For years, and despite RTA’s incomplete responses to my records requests, RTA has received a number of communications making it clear that RTA was not in compliance with Ohio law with respect to legal firearm carry. Such communications were either ignored or dodged, sometimes referring to RTA’s ‘policies’ – but not the law.
In November 2015 you personally went so far as to acknowledge in an internal e-mail (attached) that “It appears that from a purely legal perspective we may not have support for our position banning firearms carried by people with a concealed carry permit under the ORC.”, but concluded that “I would prefer we force someone to litigate before we roll over and encourage a change.”
In October 2016 you also contacted at least one other RTA, the Cleveland RTA, asking about how *they* handled concealed weapons (failing to recognize that *open carry* is legal in certain places and circumstances, including on RTA buses). Still, nothing changed at the Dayton RTA: your misleading and inaccurate “private property” signage remained, and your rules remain unchanged.
Last year, I was even threatened with a trespass citation for engaging in the legal act of openly carrying a holstered sidearm on RTA’s **public** property open to the public.
By now you’ve literally had YEARS to comply with Ohio law, remove your signage, change your rules, and train your employees – yet you’ve just bobbed and weaved, all the while consciously ignoring the law.
It seems that RTA’s position is that civil and/or statutory rights only apply when RTA wants something: http://www.daytondailynews.com/news...pproves-rta-bus-stops/pQOULASOSabhEbnpfgn98J/
** NOTICE **
I’ve invited legal possessors of firearms to visit the Wright Stop Plaza on May 20, 2017, at a time to be determined, openly carry holstered sidearms. Individuals who possess a valid concealed handgun license or its equivalent will be invited to ride one or more buses.
Members of the media copied into this communication are also cordially invited.
me
xxx-xxx-xxxx
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/100454047196274
Dayton media report, December 2016: http://abc22now.com/news/local/rta-challenged-for-firearms-policy-calling-bus-hub-private-propety
(PS & PPS removed)
Mr. Donaghy,
In your December 21, 2016 e-mail, among your superfluous comments and/or inaccurate statements you made mention of irrelevant changes to Ohio firearm laws which took effect in March, 2017, suggesting that your “team” continued to work on the issue of RTA’s continued non-compliance with Ohio law. Taking my counsel’s advice, I decided not to act further until the first RTA monthly board meeting held after March 2017. Since March, TWO monthly board meetings have taken place and I still see no evidence that RTA is in compliance with Ohio law.
For instance, today I checked and downloaded your “Rules of the Road” and “Facilities Code of Conduct” (both attached), which remain unchanged – indicating that firearms are still prohibited on RTA property and buses, e.g. “including weapons carried pursuant to a valid license”.
For years, and despite RTA’s incomplete responses to my records requests, RTA has received a number of communications making it clear that RTA was not in compliance with Ohio law with respect to legal firearm carry. Such communications were either ignored or dodged, sometimes referring to RTA’s ‘policies’ – but not the law.
In November 2015 you personally went so far as to acknowledge in an internal e-mail (attached) that “It appears that from a purely legal perspective we may not have support for our position banning firearms carried by people with a concealed carry permit under the ORC.”, but concluded that “I would prefer we force someone to litigate before we roll over and encourage a change.”
In October 2016 you also contacted at least one other RTA, the Cleveland RTA, asking about how *they* handled concealed weapons (failing to recognize that *open carry* is legal in certain places and circumstances, including on RTA buses). Still, nothing changed at the Dayton RTA: your misleading and inaccurate “private property” signage remained, and your rules remain unchanged.
Last year, I was even threatened with a trespass citation for engaging in the legal act of openly carrying a holstered sidearm on RTA’s **public** property open to the public.
By now you’ve literally had YEARS to comply with Ohio law, remove your signage, change your rules, and train your employees – yet you’ve just bobbed and weaved, all the while consciously ignoring the law.
It seems that RTA’s position is that civil and/or statutory rights only apply when RTA wants something: http://www.daytondailynews.com/news...pproves-rta-bus-stops/pQOULASOSabhEbnpfgn98J/
** NOTICE **
I’ve invited legal possessors of firearms to visit the Wright Stop Plaza on May 20, 2017, at a time to be determined, openly carry holstered sidearms. Individuals who possess a valid concealed handgun license or its equivalent will be invited to ride one or more buses.
Members of the media copied into this communication are also cordially invited.
me
xxx-xxx-xxxx
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/100454047196274
Dayton media report, December 2016: http://abc22now.com/news/local/rta-challenged-for-firearms-policy-calling-bus-hub-private-propety
(PS & PPS removed)