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It's only a matter of time, so maybe you should start getting used to the
idea now: Eventually, it will be completely legal to carry a concealed handgun in the state of Ohio, just as the founding fathers envisioned when they wrote the Second Amendment. Or as the National Rifle Association intended when they started lobbying legislators. Whichever.

Forty-four other states already have some form of concealed carry in place, and even in Ohio it's sort of legal to pack heat (as long as you can prove you have a good reason to, should you get busted). There's always a concealed-carry bill at some point in Ohio's legislative process, and one of
the biggest roadblocks to previous efforts seemingly crumbled recently.

The concealed-carry legislation craze began in the '80s, but Ohio's governors have kept it out of the law books so far. Former Governor George Voinovich promised to veto any bill that made it to his desk, and Governor Bob Taft had pledged to oppose any bill that law enforcement groups opposed.

When the Ohio Highway Patrol dropped its opposition in response to the Senate's tinkering with the latest concealed-carry bill (House Bill 12), so did Taft, and just last week it finally passed the Senate with a 22-10 vote. Now the two houses will have to hammer out a compromise, or just let the bill die and start all over again later.

With the Republican governor and Republican-controlled Senate on one side of
the debate, and the Republican-controlled House on the other, a concealed-carry bill of some sort seems inevitable. The only question remaining is just how
restrictive the law will be.

So where do liberals fit into the debate? Perhaps they should start by giving up their opposition and learning to embrace the gun.

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