By John Longenecker

Senator Dianne Feinstein said, "Turn 'em in, America," a very unpatriotic command nobody has to obey because it was against the law. She might as well have urged Americans to purchase other Americans while it's against the law to own another person in this country. As civil rights, both are absolute, and for good reason. Who in her right mind could urge Americans to surrender a civil right? Indeed, even just a little? Could any reason be good enough?

With all the school shootings recently, be sure to include citizens in the critique and recovery process. Officials - armed officials, by the way - have a very bad record of freezing constituents out of the planning and recovery process. Meanwhile, let us not forget that some campus administrators are getting it, as in South Carolina and Utah. Praise to you and your patriotic values in recognizing citizen authority. Praise. What do they know others refuse to hear? They know that citizen authority isn't checked at the admissions office, and that it is wrong to fully understand individual citizen authority and to hide it from students or utterly defy that authority.

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By Jim Irvine

Representative John Adams (R-78) of Sidney, Ohio has introduced HB225. The bill is substantially similar to HB559 from 2004 and HB91 from 2005, which were both sponsored by Representative Tom Brinkman. HB225 would repeal many of the onerous provisions of our current concealed carry law and allow law abiding citizens to carry concealed without a license.

Alaska-style CCW is an exciting possibility for gun owners in Ohio. It shows Rep. Adams is in touch with the most conservative of the gun owner base/constituency. It is an important philosophical position.

In the Rules and Reference committee, Representatives Jon Husted (R) Kevin DeWine (R) Larry Flowers (R) and Arlene Setzer (R) voted to refer HB225 to the Criminal Justice Committee. Joyce Beatty (D) objected and was joined by Joe Koziura (D) and Chris Redfern (D) voting against the referral. Redfern’s vote is of particular concern because he seems to have moved from a vote we could count on to one that has gone against us since he became Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.

Vermont and Alaska already allow citizens to carry concealed handguns without a license, but all other states require a license (CHL) to carry a concealed handgun. Like Alaska, this bill would leave the license in place so that people who travel outside Ohio can have a license to take advantage of the many states that already honor Ohio’s license.