The Ohio Senate is expected to move House Bill 12 deliberately.

Under Sen. President Doug White, the climate in the Senate appears much more positive for concealed carry reform than when Dick Finan was running the show. But the fight is by no means over.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

As we've been reporting since early March, Governor Taft and legislators have been at odds almost since the first gavel was struck in the 125th General Assembly.

Significant events are occurring in the media and at the Statehouse, which may be playing together to force Gov. Taft into full retreat on his opposition to concealed carry reform.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

Representatives from Ohioans For Concealed Carry and OFCC PAC were on hand today at the Statehouse, as HB12 received it's first hearing in the Senate Commitee on Criminal Justice.

A complete summary of the hearing may be accessed by clicking on the "Read More..." link below.

After a four-year long legal battle, the city of Cincinnati is dropping its lawsuit against handgun manufacturers.

Noted product liability attorney Stanley Chesley, who is representing the city, told local officials Tuesday that he recommended withdrawing the lawsuit because the political climate has changed dramatically since the case was filed in 1999.

A bill pending before Congress that would give the gun industry immunity from lawsuits like the one filed by Cincinnati probably will be approved, Chesley said.

Also, gun industry attorneys are demanding numerous depositions from local police officers and are requiring that thousands of pages of police reports be copied, severely taxing the police department's time and resources.

Chesley recommended that the lawsuit be withdrawn without prejudice, meaning the city would be allowed to refile it any time within a year.

Click here for the full story in the Cincinnati Post.

Cincinnati's 9News (WCPO, a CBS affiliate), filed a report on the beginning of Senate consideration of HB12 today. It be be read, or viewed on a video file, by clicking here.

The opening two sentences set the tone for the report:

"A bill stating the right to carry concealed weapons has been passed in the Ohio House and will soon be voted on in the Ohio Senate. This means guns could be found in daycare centers, hospitals or even in Kroger stores if the right to carry a concealed weapon is passed here in Ohio."

GASP! Oh, the horror! Guns in a Kroger!! Click "Read More..." for the full report.

As Ohio's race between the Senate and the OSC heats up, finally we see front page coverage in the Willoughby News-Herald, Sunday edition. While our own Jeff Garvas and the owner of (what is becoming Lake counties only public shooting range) Big Bore Specialties, Jon Stewart, stuck to the facts, the same old scare tactics and misguided information was quoted from the OHP.

I feel the article was neither pro nor con, but gave both sides the opportunity to voice their opinion.

The story can be read by clicking here.

Dr. John R. Lott Jr. will be making a public appearance in Cincinnati this week to promote his newly released book, The Bias Against Guns.

YOUR APPEARANCE IS REQUESTED!

Dr. Lott will be speaking, taking questions, and signing books on May 1 at 7:30 p.m. Location as follows:

Borders Books
4530 Eastgate Blvd.
Cincinnati, OH
(513) 943-0068

Lott is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and the author of More Guns, Less Crime and The Bias Against Guns. He has been most generous in contributing to efforts to restore Ohioans' right to self-defense. This event would be well worth the drive, and is a great opportunity to show your support for one of the academics who continue to fight for your right to self-defense.

Canal Winchester resident Steve Elsea has written an excellent letter to the editor about the need for concealed carry reform, which was published in Tuesday's Columbus Dispatch. Elsea points out how different things would be in Iraq if America's Second Amendment was law there, and steers back to how different things could be here in Ohio if our own state Constitution was recognized.

Click here to read the full letter in the Dispatch (subscription site - paid access only), or click on the "Read More..." link below for an archived version.

Under the control of Gov. Taft, Ohio continues to fall farther and farther behind the rational majority of states in our country.

In the past few weeks, three more governors (two Republicans, one Democrat) have signed shall-issue concealed carry reform bills into law - in Colorado, Minnesota and New Mexico. Kansas, Missouri & Nebraska legislatures are also promising passage of these reforms in 2003.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty explained his action with the simple fact that continues to elude Bob Taft: "Other states have not experienced more gunplay after making concealed weapons permits easier to get. "The 38 other states that have the (`concealed carry`) law, on a per capita or pro rata basis, are not experiencing any worse incidents of violent crime or gun violence than Minnesota."

A great new animation has been created which details the »

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Do a few bad apples truly ruin the bunch? Do people truly deserve to be judged by the very worst among them?

That's exactly what anti-gun extremists do when they exploit despicable acts of violence, or point to a random example of illegal firearms misuse to support their effort to ban firearms ownership and defensive use.

Governor Taft's Ohio Highway Patrol, the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police and the Fraternal Order of Police labor union treat the law-abiding citizens of this state no differently when they claim Ohioans can't be trusted to carry firearms in defense of themselves or their families. They do Ohio's law-abiding citizens no better than the anti-gun activists when they claim only officers with many, many hours of training can safely carry a firearm in their personal vehicle, or can be trusted not to elevate an everyday confrontation into a deadly shootout.

So what would these OHP and FOP bureaucrats do if the same principle was applied to them? How would they act if they were told they were no longer allowed to carry a firearm off-duty, due to the actions of some (no matter how small the fraction) of their own?