The U.S. Senate will finally vote on the nomination of Ohio Supreme Court Justice Deborah Cook to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday.

Ms. Cook's approval for that post will leave vacant a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court. Governor Bob Taft is constitutionally authorized to name a replacement.

Will Taft use a litmus test for his nominee? Will he dare overturn the publicly elected balance of power of constitutionalists back to a liberal, activist Court?

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to read the entire story from the Ohio News Network.

The scene is all too familiar:

• A concealed carry reform bill with overwhelming support in the Ohio legislature.
• A gaggle of law-enforcement bureaucrats who oppose Ohioans' right to self-defense.
• A Republican governor who traded his support for self-defense rights in his state, to earn a police labor union's endorsement in future political aspirations.

The year was 1995, and the governor was George Voinovich.

Will history repeat itself in the 125th General Assembly, at the demand of Bob Taft? Senate President Doug White says no.

Last week, a Gongwer News Service headline screamed: "WHITE SAYS CHAMBER WON'T LOOK TO TAFT FOR GUIDANCE ON GUN BILL"

Things look good for HB12 in the Senate. But they looked good in 1995 too. Click here to read the entire story on the 1995 failure to enact concealed carry reform in Ohio.

The fight is not over, and we must not let up!

The fight to restore Ohioans' right to self-defense with a firearm has been going on longer than many realize. The following is taken from testimony offered by Clayton Cramer (www.claytoncramer.com) to the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee, in support of a concealed carry bill, on March 22, 1995.

Mr. Cramer's research on the origins of concealed carry bans are striking, and are something that every Ohioan, especially those who are minorities, should consider.

Summary: Concealed handgun license laws, outside of the formerly slave states, are a relatively recent phenomenon. The available evidence strongly suggests that racism has been the principal engine driving the development of these laws, until quite recently.

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