State lawmakers - wittingly or unwittingly - started a butcher shop last December. In the heat of the General Assembly's lame-duck session, legislators threw together bits and pieces of a public records bill, with a move to further change access to records for concealed-carry weapons permits.
They served some sausage - the meat where you never know all of the ingredients.
As county sheriff's attempt to digest the legalese, they're left to guess what they should enforce.
Unless lawmakers clean up their mess, the Ohio Supreme Court may be forced in the future to insist elected leaders use far more precision on this critical element of the concealed-carry weapons bill.
Former Gov. Bob Taft insisted the public and media have access to the list of permit holders from county sheriffs before he signed it a few years ago.
That was later amended to strip addresses of permit holders and information about guns, although journalists still could copy the information.
The newest version mollified legislators who have the support of the National Rifle Association and those who think permits should be public records.
It stipulates that citizens and journalists can't physically copy the list of permit holders county sheriffs possess.
County sheriffs are confused by the public records law they're supposed to adhere to beginning Sept. 27. State lawmakers seem perplexed, too.
Consider that Buckeye State Sheriff's Association Executive Director Bob Cornwell said the changes don't make practical sense.
It doesn't allow a reporter to use a tape recorder or to take notes and write the names down.
Consider also that state Sen. David Goodman, R-Columbus, said reporters could not copy names in their notebooks.
Consider that state Rep. Scott Oelslager, R-Canton
and sponsor of the bill, said at the time the law was passed that journalists cannot physically copy the records.
Consider that two of their GOP colleagues said journalists can sit there with a pen and paper and write down the list of all permit holders.
Mark Weaver, a deputy attorney general for Republican Betty Montgomery from 1995 to 1999, said, "It lends itself to tortured interpretation."
State residents suffer the consequences of the poor legislation when they deserve a well-defined measure of accountability for CCW permit holders.
Those who favor the General Assembly's confusion have an ally in Gov. Ted Strickland.
That's why it may require a lawsuit with judges demanding lawmakers clarify public access to concealed-carry weapons permits.
Not serve up some leftover sausage.