Hearing slated on appeal of concealed gun ruling

Tiffin Advertiser Tribune - A hearing date has been set for the appeal of a local decision that declared unconstitutional Ohio's law against carrying a concealed weapon.

The hearing is set for 9 a.m. June 17 in the Third District Court of Appeals in Lima before Judges Sumner E. Walters, Stephen R. Shaw and Robert R. Cupp, according to the court's schedule.

A Fostoria woman, riding as a passenger, was arrested after a June 2002 traffic stop in Fostoria. A Highway Patrol trooper found a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol under her seat with a round in the chamber and three more in the magazine, court papers show.

The woman, who said she needed the gun for protection, was subsequently charged with one count of carrying a concealed weapon.

Last November, the woman asked Seneca County Common Pleas Judge Michael P. Kelbley to throw out the case because the law was unconstitutional.

In February, Kelbley issued an 18-page ruling, doing just that. County Prosecutor Ken Egbert Jr. appealed the decision.

Click here for our original coverage of this, the third court and fifth judge, to rule Ohio's ban on self-defense with a concealed firearm unconstitutional.

Click here to read the story in the Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune.