Buoyed by an even stronger majority for next year, Ohio House Republicans renominated Speaker Larry Householder by acclamation yesterday and established themselves as the caucus of the second chance.

The Perry County Republican, who led the GOP to three additional seats for the two-year session starting in January, received a prolonged standing ovation from the incoming caucus. Then, in an unprecedented move, he renominated the rest of this session's leadership team -- including two leaders who were punished earlier this year for politicking behind his back.

"Everybody in this room knows it hasn't been perfect the last two years,'' Householder said. "We've all made mistakes. The important thing is that we give people a second chance.''

Read the whole story in the Columbus Dispatch (subscription site - paid access only).

This story is from The Airline Pilot's Security Alliance out of Cincinnati, Ohio.

When the United States Senate passed the Homeland Security legislation on Tuesday, Nov. 19, it included legislation that will make it possible for airline pilots to carry firearms on the flight deck if they choose to do so.

This is a great victory for those who were involved in the fight, including OFCC PAC Chairman Jim Irvine, an American Airlines pilot.

The legislation does not allow individual airlines to "opt-out" of the program, leaving the decision entirely up to the pilots who qualify for the program.

Ironically, while anti-gun extremists tried to suggest that passengers would be at risk if pilots could carry, law-makers instead exempted cargo pilots (who have no passengers to protect) from the program.

Tennessee's Eight Successful Years of CCW; Anti's STILL Warning of ''Wild, Wild West"

The State of Tennessee passed its shall-issue CCW law in 1994, and the program has been a rousing success. According to state, over 130,000 permits have been issued in the past 8 years, violent crime has fallen, and criminal incidents involving permit holders are virtually nonexistent, and unrelated to their status as a permit holder.

The same worn-out warnings we're hearing from the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence in 2002 were heard in Tennessee in 1994. But their predictions did not come to pass. Even when a bank robbers vs. police gun fight spilled into the streets in posh Nashville suburb of Brentwood last Spring, the eleven permit-holders who were on hand as witnesses all acted as per their training, letting law enforcement do it's job, and staying out of the fight because they did not determine their own lives were at risk.

So when Rep. Ben West, a Tennessee Democrat, announced his proposal to relax restrictions on the permit law in Tennessee this week, what do you suppose the anti's started screaming?

For State Senator Doug White, Wednesday Nov. 13 was a historic day. Shortly after 8:30 a.m., the year-long speculation about who will be the next Senate president ended.

White, R-Manchester, serves as senator to the 14th district, namely Adams, Brown, Clermont, Fayette, Highland, and Pike counties.

He will be one of the voices who calls the shots on what bills move in the Senate. He will serve as chairman of the Rules Committee — the committee that decides what bills make it to a vote on the floor.

Commentary by Chad D. Baus:
Please consider passing on congratulatory message to Sen. White, and let him know you'll be looking forward to his continued vigorous support for the self-defense rights of Ohioans.

Although he won't be President until the 125th General Assembly, he can vote and obviously has considerable influence in the Senate now. You might also express your desire to have HB274 passed by the Senate, unchanged, in the remaining days of the 124th General Assembly.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for contact information, and for more of the news story.

Senator White may be reached in his Columbus office by dialing:

Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman ruled Friday that Cincinnati cannot sue non-Ohio gun manufacturers locally. If the city wants to sue the gun associations — the city sued the National Shooting Sports Foundation and American Shooting Sports Council — it would have to file the suit in the states where the associations are based, Ruehlman said.

Ruehlman granted a motion by the gun associations to be dismissed from the suit the city filed against Beretta U.S.A. Corp. and other gun manufacturers.

This letter to the editor, submitted by Jeff Garvas, OFCC President, appears in the Nov. 18, 2002 edition of the Zanesville Times Recorder:

"In recent reports, Ohio Senate President Richard Finan said the Senate is attempting to reach a concealed carry compromise that the National Rifle Association likes but the Fraternal Order of Police won't oppose.

Opponents of concealed carry reform are urging Senators to kill HB274, while ignoring the "elephant in the room" waiting to appear before the Ohio Supreme Court: Klein et al v. Leis et al."

"Ohioans For Concealed Carry, a grassroots organization we started in 1999, is a co-plaintiff and financial contributor. In the past two years four judges and two courts have unanimously agreed that Ohio's laws prohibiting everyday law-abiding citizens from carrying firearms for self-defense are unconstitutional, vague, and unfair. The laws violate three crucial rights under the Ohio Constitution, including our right to carry firearms for self-defense.

This letter to the editor appears in the Nov. 18, 2002 edition of the Columbus Dispatch:

"I read with interest that Gov. Bob Taft is still saying he won't sign a law allowing the concealed carry of handguns without law-enforcement support ("Conceal/carry back on agenda,'' Dispatch, Nov. 10).

The majority of states have concealed-carry laws. Ohio doesn't need to reinvent the wheel. Lawmakers should look at other states' laws and take the best parts of each to craft our own."

"As for the governor's reluctance to sign such a law, his staff should contact law-enforcement officials in a few of those states to ask them if and how their systems work. Are we so arrogant to believe that the majority of the United States is wrong on this issue and we are right? I believe the governor won't find the problems that Ohio officials are so afraid of. The State Highway Patrol says it does not endorse a concealed-carry law. The governor should thank the patrol for its opinion and then remember that the patrol reports to him, not the other way around."

DAVID MILAM

Circleville

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The National Association of Chiefs of Police (NACOP) has released its 15th annual nationwide survey of chiefs of police and sheriffs, and the responses show, yet again, that our nation’s law enforcement officers support our Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

The survey was sent to more than 22,000 command officers, and the responses showed that 72% support arming pilots, 93% believe that any law-abiding citizen should be able to purchase a firearm for sport or personal protection, and 68% support Right to Carry as a deterrent to violent crime.

Even though anti-gun organizations (and Gov. Taft) often use politically-motivated, anti-gun police bureaucrats to promote their gun-ban message, the fact is that the vast majority of law enforcement officers reject the extremist agenda of gun ban groups such as the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence.

The Brady Campaign is ratcheting up their rhetoric machine, aiming to destroy Ohio's Concealed Carry Reform bill currently under consideration in the Senate.

Brady's latest email to supporters employs what has become an unfortunate but expected tactic for anti-gun forces: performing acrobatics with words and facts because they don't want the truth to be known.

In the Nov. 15, 2002 newsletter, Brady claims that "the NRA gun lobby is trying to force Ohio police to let almost anyone carry
concealed handguns in public - even into our playgrounds, shopping malls,
sports stadiums and schools."

FACT: HB274, as passed by the House, does not allow CCW in school safety zones, college campuses, places of worship, airport terminals, courthouses, law enforcement facilities, or places where liquor is being dispensed. OFCC believes this provision creates "victim zones", wherein only persons who don't care about the law and who have criminal intent will be in possession of concealed weapons.

Brady goes on to claim that "Ohio's police strongly oppose the NRA's concealed handgun bill - it is a threat both to the public and to police officers on the street."

After an Election day clean sweep of all statewide offices, the Ohio Supreme Court, and the General Assembly, Republicans appear poised to pass much of their agenda.

On the front burner in the legislature is a bill allowing Ohioans to carry concealed weapons. The Senate is expected to take up the bill, which has already passed in the House, before the end of the year.