MAHONING COUNTY Man files complaint after sheriff denies gun permit

The man was disqualified after a background check.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A New Middletown man wants to know why he was denied a permit to carry a concealed handgun.
Robert L. Ress of Sycamore Hill Drive filed a complaint Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court against Sheriff Randall Wellington. It says Wellington overstepped his bounds in the application process and failed to provide Ress with a detailed reason for the denial.
Wellington had not seen the complaint, but said he is familiar with Ress' case. He would not say specifically why the application was denied, however.
"He didn't meet the requirements, that's all I can say," Wellington said. "I guess it will all come out when he has his hearing."
Court documents say Ress applied for a concealed handgun license through the sheriff's department earlier this year. Last week, he received a notice that his application had been denied.
The notice of denial is a standard form used by the sheriff's department and contains a list of eight possible reasons for the denial. Among them is "disqualified by background check." That was the reason checked on Ress' denial.
Atty. L. Kenneth Hanson of Delaware, Ohio, who represents Ress, said that reason is too vague. He said Ohio's concealed-carry law requires that people who are denied a permit be given a specific reason for the denial.
Ohio residency
Hanson also said the sheriff's department requires applicants to provide documentation that they have lived in Ohio for at least five years. Such documentation could include tax returns, utility bills or similar documents.
That requirement goes beyond the state's concealed-carry law, which requires only that applicants have lived in Ohio a total of 45 days, including at least 30 days in the county in which they apply for a permit, Hanson said.
He said Mahoning is the only one of Ohio's 88 counties to require the five-year residency information. He said the residency information already is on the application anyway, because applicants are required to list all their addresses since they were 18.
Wellington said he believes the law requires the five-year documentation and he's not backing off.
"I don't know what the other counties are doing, but we're just following the statute," the sheriff added.
Ress is asking the court to rule that Wellington's application demands have no legal authority. It also asks for a ruling that Wellington had no legal reason to deny the application, and that the sheriff be made to issue Ress a permit.
bjackson@vindy.com