Dayton public transit (RTA) dislikes lawfully carried guns
Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 9:07 pm
>> Dayton public transit has a problem with **lawfully carried firearms**! <<
(and they don’t care about Ohio law)
Long story, short: for a couple of years, Dayton’s RTA (Regional Transit Authority) has ignored communications from both me and my Dayton friend Albert Cowlan (and others, I suspect) regarding firearm prohibitions in RTA’s “rules”. These prohibitions can be found in the RTA “Facilities Code of Conduct” and “Rules of the Road”.
Messages would be sent, but either nothing at all, or nothing responsive was forthcoming.
Fast forward to today. I found out that RTA was having a Board of Trustees meeting this afternoon, so I drove to Dayton and attended. I signed up to speak to the board, and told them that as a political subdivision, they had to comply with ORC 9.68, and the rest of Ohio’s gun laws, including those which allow people to carry a firearm outdoors on their public property, and those with a CHL to carry a firearm on their busses. (Oh, did I mention the signage outside the transit center which claimed it was “private property”?)
The President of the Board directed me to talk to the CEO Mark Donaghy, who I spoke to after the meeting. Regarding their “rules” against firearm carry, he stated that their “position” was that they were disallowed; essentially saying “So sue us!”. He also made it clear that he had received a number of communications over the years about their non-compliance with the law, but it sounded like they were round-filed. He was extremely arrogant.
Before leaving the RTA property, I asked an RTA “security” employee to summon the Dayton police, which he did, and we met outside. The young officer decided to play the role of an arrogant uninformed opinion enforcement officer, insisting among other things that RTA was PRIVATE property. The older LAW enforcement officer suggested I call a Dayton prosecutor whose number he supplied me with rather than returning to my car to retrieve my gun, and carrying on the property. I took him up on his suggestion, but before departing, I told the younger officer that I would make sure he and RTA was straightened out.
Updates will be posted as appropriate.
Link to RTA: http://www.i-riderta.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Facilities Code of Conduct": http://www.i-riderta.org/about-rta/resources/2355.PDF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Rules of the Road": http://www.i-riderta.org/about-rta/resources/2356.PDF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(and they don’t care about Ohio law)
Long story, short: for a couple of years, Dayton’s RTA (Regional Transit Authority) has ignored communications from both me and my Dayton friend Albert Cowlan (and others, I suspect) regarding firearm prohibitions in RTA’s “rules”. These prohibitions can be found in the RTA “Facilities Code of Conduct” and “Rules of the Road”.
Messages would be sent, but either nothing at all, or nothing responsive was forthcoming.
Fast forward to today. I found out that RTA was having a Board of Trustees meeting this afternoon, so I drove to Dayton and attended. I signed up to speak to the board, and told them that as a political subdivision, they had to comply with ORC 9.68, and the rest of Ohio’s gun laws, including those which allow people to carry a firearm outdoors on their public property, and those with a CHL to carry a firearm on their busses. (Oh, did I mention the signage outside the transit center which claimed it was “private property”?)
The President of the Board directed me to talk to the CEO Mark Donaghy, who I spoke to after the meeting. Regarding their “rules” against firearm carry, he stated that their “position” was that they were disallowed; essentially saying “So sue us!”. He also made it clear that he had received a number of communications over the years about their non-compliance with the law, but it sounded like they were round-filed. He was extremely arrogant.
Before leaving the RTA property, I asked an RTA “security” employee to summon the Dayton police, which he did, and we met outside. The young officer decided to play the role of an arrogant uninformed opinion enforcement officer, insisting among other things that RTA was PRIVATE property. The older LAW enforcement officer suggested I call a Dayton prosecutor whose number he supplied me with rather than returning to my car to retrieve my gun, and carrying on the property. I took him up on his suggestion, but before departing, I told the younger officer that I would make sure he and RTA was straightened out.
Updates will be posted as appropriate.
Link to RTA: http://www.i-riderta.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Facilities Code of Conduct": http://www.i-riderta.org/about-rta/resources/2355.PDF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Rules of the Road": http://www.i-riderta.org/about-rta/resources/2356.PDF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;