Ohio preemption law goes into effect tomorrow

I had watched closely during the fight to overturn Governor Taft's veto of the bill that would provide Ohio residents with uniform gun laws. I don't live in Ohio--haven't been there in years, and don't know when I'll be back--but since I firmly believe that a victory for gun rights (and thus all rights) in one place is a victory for rights everywhere, I was thrilled to see the forces of good, with the Buckeye Firearms Association at the forefront, overcome the suppression of the rights of law-abiding Ohio residents.

The law goes into effect tomorrow. When it does, the ridiculous requirement that concealed carry licensees carry their firearms in plain sight while driving, will be no more than a minor historical embarrassment. The ban on homeland defense firearms in Columbus will likewise go to the trash, where it belongs. City parks in which the only armed people were lawbreakers will now no longer carry that dubious distinction.

Judging from this Associated Press question and answer piece, there are still some who see armed citizens--law-abiding or not--as threats.

Q: Why did the Legislature feel it necessary to allow people to carry hidden guns in their cars and trucks?

A: Lawmakers, prodded by gun-rights advocates, said the law was inconsistent in allowing permit-holders to carry hidden guns on the street but not in their cars.

"Prodded" by gun-rights advocates, or by their own common sense?

Q: What do law enforcement agencies think about guns hidden in cars?

A: Some law enforcement agencies were opposed to the provision because of concerns about officers' safety or were officially neutral.

Which would seem to imply, although the AP of course doesn't bother to come out and say it, that some law enforcement agencies were actually in favor of the change.

Q: What was the reasoning behind that change?

A: The National Rifle Association and other proponents of getting rid of the community regulations say the state had a patchwork of local gun laws that varied among communities. A person traveling through the state could be obeying the law in one place but breaking it in the next town.

It's not so much that the NRA and others said there was a patchwork of laws--there indisputably was one.

Just gotta love journalistic objectivity, don't you?

A big week for gun rights

It's funny--it seems like just a month or so ago that the rabid gun rights deprivation lobby was trumpeting the virtual end of gun rights in the U.S. The VPC, the Brady Bunch, and the Gun Guys who I so enjoy making fun of had all been saying that with the gains the Democrats made in November, restrictive gun laws were right around the corner. Apparently, they think that Democrats have not learned that civilian disarmament is a losing proposition.

Well, if gun rights are in trouble, that sure isn't indicated by the events of the past week. First, we had the Ohio Senate complete the override of criminal Governor Taft's veto of the preemption bill. Then we saw the courts overturn Jersey City's unconstitutional gun rationing ordinance. I've already talked about those two much needed developments. Finally, the Michigan legislature has passed (by huge, veto-proof margins, by the way) a pair of bills that will protect the Second Amendment rights of people in Michigan during disasters (exactly the time when they'll most need an effective means of defending themselves). Not a bad week's work.

By the way, about the Ohio preemption bill. When one looks at the hysterical complaints of the anti-gun fearmongers, one of their problems with preemption is that it would do away with laws in some municipalities against gun shops near schools. What exactly is such a law intended to accomplish? Has there been a rash of problems with fourth graders popping into gun shops, putting $700 on the counter, and walking out with a Glock? Hardly. In fact, perhaps it would be instructive to think back to the North Hollywood bank robbery, in which heavily armed and armored robbers were running amok, with the police woefully ill-equipped to stop them. They solved that problem by going into a nearby gun shop, borrowing some more capable firearms (evil, so-called "assault weapons," if I remember correctly), and quickly ending the careers of the robbers. Seen in that light, it would seem that the presence of a gun shop adds an extra layer of safety to the surrounding area. Is it not wrong to deny that safety to our children?

Like I said, this has been a good week for gun rights, which makes it a good week for rights in general, which in turn makes it a good week for America. Let freedom ring.

Let freedom ring in Ohio!

I usually stick to one post per day, but the news of the override of corrupt Governor Taft's veto of statewide firearm preemption is just too sweet to keep silent. That makes forty-four states in which municipalities cannot pass their own infringements on the fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms.

To make it even better, the Gun Guys were tearing their hair and gnashing their teeth about it some more today. There's just something about the anguished bleating of freedom haters that gladdens the heart of a civil libertarian like myself. If that sounds like smug gloating, that's probably because that's what it is. Well boo hoo--if there's anything that justifies gloating, I would think the advance of Constitutional rights would have to qualify.

I'm told Ohio's next gun rights legislative priority is a Stand Your Ground law. Sounds good to me.

More good news from Ohio

At risk of being somewhat tedious in my reporting of events in Ohio (where I haven't been in many years), I'm going to write again today about what happened with Ohio House Bill 347 (concealed carry reform). Governor Taft followed through with his threat to veto this much needed legislation--that's the bad news.

The good news is that the Ohio House wasted no time in overriding the veto, and voted overwhelmingly (71-21) to do so. The bill now goes to the Ohio Senate, where the expectation is that it will be voted on next Tuesday, December 12. That vote is expected to be a bit more difficult than the House vote was. In the initial Senate floor vote, it passed 19-10 (a veto override requires 20 votes in the Senate). Encouragingly, though, those 19 votes came despite the fact that 2 Senators who have been strong supporters of the bill were absent for the vote.

As I mentioned Monday, even if the override fails, this bill is very likely to become law next legislative session. Still, this dramatic improvement to Ohio's laws is long overdue, and the sooner it's implemented, the better. Besides, a resounding veto override would be just the perfect send-off for the gun rights disparagin', multiple criminal conviction havin', under 20% approval rating receivin', miserable excuse for a governor that Taft is.

Any readers in Ohio--please bombard your state Senators with phone calls, snail mail letters, emails, faxes, visits (if practical), carrier pigeons, smoke signals, messages in bottles--whatever you can come up with, to get them the word that if they claim to represent you and your interests, their duty is to override this veto.

Ohio governor standing in the way of progress

Last week, I wrote about the promising progress of a bill that would do a great deal to advance gun rights in Ohio. I also expressed my hope that Governor Taft would do the right thing and sign it into law (or at least do nothing, and allow it to become law). Well, the bill easily made it through the legislature, but Taft has vowed to veto it. I should have expected that--Taft has demonstrated his untrustworthiness many times.

The Gun Guys, of course, are piteously bleating their anguish about the bill. One of their objections is to the bill's removal of the ridiculous "plain sight" requirement for guns in cars, citing the safety of police officers. What they don't mention is that the Ohio State Police, on whose insistence that requirement had been included in the concealed carry law in the first place, have decided not to object to the bill (perhaps because they realize that anyone who is going to shoot a police officer is unlikely to hesitate to violate a silly "plain sight" requirement).

Luckily, if Taft carries out his threatened veto, it will likely amount to only a delay (and a short one, at that) in implementing this much needed legislation. The bill looks to have enough votes to override Taft's threatened veto--it passed with an overwhelming margin in the state House, and only one vote short of the necessary 3/5ths majority in the Senate (with two strong supporters of the bill absent). Normally, veto overrides can be tough when the governor and both legislative chambers are of the same party (Republican, in this case), but that is probably not such an issue in this case. First, Taft is near the end of his time as governor, so legislators need not fear alienating him. Second, Taft has such a sordid reputation (including criminal convictions while in office, and an approval rating, at one point, of 6.5%) that even members of his own party want to distance themselves from him.

Even if the override fails, prospects for the bill are quite good. The upcoming changes in the legislature's makeup should not pose much of an obstacle to passing the bill again next session, and Governor-elect Strickland has already expressed his support for the reform.

Taft may stand in freedom's way, but he can't stop it.

Ohio gun rights making progress

It looks as if Ohio will soon be taking a step in the right direction (maybe a couple steps). At the moment, Ohio is one of the few states in which individual municipalities can arbitarily impose gun laws that are more draconian than those of the state. The preemption bill mentioned in the above link would change that, making gun laws uniform across the state. This, of course, is as it should be. A person driving across the state with a firearm, and in compliance with every state law, should not be subject to legal trouble simply because he unknowingly drives into a town where the right to keep and bear arms is not held sacrosanct.

Such a person, for example, might drive into Columbus with his AR-15 in the trunk, not knowing that Columbus has imposed a ban on so-called "assault weapons." As another example of locally imposed, egregiously restrictive gun laws, some towns have banned license holders from carrying their firearms in public parks. Preemption would end both of these infringements on the right to keep and bear arms.

Another major improvement this law would bring about is the elimination of the requirement for holders of concealed carry permits to either lock their guns away while in the car, or to keep them holstered in plain sight. This is a ridiculous requirement that does nothing for anyone's safety. Eliminating this requirement would be a huge step forward for Ohio.

Every good thing comes with a cost, though. The bill would also apparently include a provision that would prohibit the issuance of a concealed carry permit to a person who decades ago had committed a crime which had since been expunged from his record. Currently, exceptions can be made in such cases. That is as it should be.

Another likely change for the worse is that a licensee who has had too much to drink would no longer be able to hand his gun to someone else (someone who is not impaired). How this change makes anyone safer has not been explained.

Still, preemption would be a net gain for rights in Ohio, and it's good to see that this has a good chance of passing. Let's hope that it does, and that Governor Taft has the good sense to sign it into law.