Free Republic

Taft to sign hidden gun bill By JOHN McCARTHY The Associated Press COLUMBUS - Lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday to allow Ohioans to carry hidden guns, and Gov. Bob Taft said he will sign it. The Senate vote was 25-8, and the House vote was 69-24. Taft said he looked forward to signing the bill. The vote marked the first time the Legislature and the governor's office have agreed to a deal after a decade of debate on the highly contentious issue. Ohioans who apply for permits to carry concealed weapons would have to pay a fee, undergo background checks...

SENATE BILL No. 891 December 10, 2003, Introduced by Senators McMANUS, KUIPERS, JELINEK, TOY, BARCIA, BIRKHOLZ, GOSCHKA and ALLEN and referred to the Committee on Judiciary. A bill to amend 1927 PA 372, entitled "An act to regulate and license the selling, purchasing, possessing, and carrying of certain firearms and gas ejecting devices; to prohibit the buying, selling, or carrying of certain firearms and gas ejecting devices without a license or other authorization; to provide for the forfeiture of firearms under certain circumstances; to provide for penalties and remedies; to provide immunity from civil liability under certain circumstances; to prescribe...

YOUNGSTOWN — Carol Sell stood on Federal Plaza with a .22-caliber revolver strapped to her waist. "I believe law-abiding citizens have the right to carry a concealed weapon to defend ourselves, especially as a woman," said Sell, of Champion. She was one of 55 participants in the Youngstown Defense Walk, organized to elicit support for state legislation that would allow Ohio residents to carry concealed firearms. Ohio law already permits individuals to carry firearms openly, and that was one point of Saturday's march along Front and Market streets, said organizer Rick Kaleda of Hazelwood Avenue. Kaleda is a pistol and...

CONCEALED HANDGUN RECIPROCITY IN NORTH CAROLINA Current list of states that have concealed handgun permit agreements with North Carolina: Arkansas Alabama Georgia Florida Idaho Kentucky Michigan Montana Oklahoma Pennsylvania South Dakota Tennessee Utah Virginia Please note that this list is changing and will be updated regularly. If you are from a state that is not on this list, please see our publication North Carolina Firearms Laws for a discussion of how to transport a firearm through North Carolina. This publication also includes a list of “Do’s and Don’ts” for carrying a concealed handgun in North Carolina. This information is designed...

Personal Protection Bill to be heard Concealed Weapons Hearing set for Sept. 9 in Madison Madison.. . Wisconsin citizens will have an opportunity to express their beliefs and to learn about a proposal, authored by Senator Dave Zien (R-Eau Claire), Representative Scott Gunderson (R-Waterford) and cosponsored by 48 other state legislators, to allow trained, law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families with a concealed weapon. Wisconsin would join 44 other states in allowing citizens the right to self-defense if the legislature passes Senate Bill 214 or Assembly Bill 444. Zien is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Corrections...

New Jersey Coalition for Self Defense Statement Regarding Victims in Meridien, Miss., and Bakersfield, Calif. To: State Desk Contact: Robert Kreisler of the New Jersey Coalition for Self Defense, 732-247-2282; president@njcsd.org http://www.njcsd.org BRICK, N.J., July 11 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is an announcement from the New Jersey Coalition for Self Defense: "On behalf of the New Jersey Coalition for Self Defense, we wish to express our sincere condolences to the families and victims of the grim events in Meridien, Mississippi, and Bakersfield, California, which have captured so much attention from the press and media this past week. "Lest we...

Posted on Sat, Jul. 12, 2003 Right to carry would disprove horror stories By JOHN R. LOTT JR. Special to The Star Gov. Bob Holden finally vetoed the right-to-carry legislation last week, expressing fears about the risks the law poses for police and children. With more than 70 percent of the Missouri House and Senate already voting for the bill, the expected veto override battle appears to be coming down to a single vote in the Senate. Gun control advocates such as Holden are right to fear the right-to-carry bill's passage, but not for the reason that most people think....

One month since the onset of Minnesota's liberalized handgun law, more than 4,000 people have applied for permits to carry firearms in public, and so far almost all are getting them. In all of last year, authorities granted only 1,400 permits in those five counties: Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington. 'Soft, white guys' By law, officials can't reveal the identities of those applying for or receiving handgun permits, but Dakota County Sheriff Don Gudmunson has sized them up. "They're soft white guys," he said. "They look in the mirror and see they're out of shape and think they need...

<p>About 215,000 Texans are licensed to carry concealed weapons. The state concedes that more than 400 were licensed despite prior convictions and more than 3,000 other licensees have since been arrested.</p> <p>The largest category of problem licensees involves those who committed crimes after getting their state concealed-gun permits. The cases represent domestic disputes, road rage, drunkenness, carelessness and bad judgment under stress.</p>

Most of what the opponents said about the conceal-and-carry permit, and how they dressed while saying it, did not make sense. More than a few of the elected worthies wore bulletproof vests during the Senate debate Monday, suggesting, I can only imagine, that they anticipate being shot at by their colleagues. Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, whose district includes south Minneapolis, said, "I have a district where our babies are being shot.'' Berglin was referring to a drive-by shooting last week when three teenagers were shot. "Rest assured, more guns will not make us safer. None of you will be safer...

Illinois State Legislature Firearm Related Bills -- 93rd Session Bill Number   Synopsis Recommendation HB1377 Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Provides that it is a Class A misdemeanor for a first offense and a Class 4 felony for a second or subsequent offense to sell or give a firearm while engaged in the business of selling firearms at wholesale or retail without being licensed as a federal firearms dealer under the federal Gun Control Act of 1968. Effective immediately.   HB1379 Amends the Illinois Police Training Act and the Criminal Code of 1961. Exempts from provisions prohibiting the carrying of a...

Lawmaker is locked and loaded for tough legislative fight Feb. 13, 2003 State Rep. Randy Graf dreams of a nation unafraid to speak of God or to freely dispense guns. A nation where invoking the Lord's name in the Pledge of Allegiance would never be questioned and where the right to own and carry any weapon at any time would not be impaired. He dreams of a state within that nation where there would be no law requiring citizens to obtain a concealed-weapons permit. A state where carrying a concealed weapon would not be treated as a crime. A state...

WASHINGTON -- State laws that allow private citizens to carry concealed weapons do not reduce crime and may even increase it, according to a study released Wednesday by the Brookings Institution. The findings, by Stanford University law professor John Donohue, contradict an influential study by economist John R. Lott Jr., a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who in 1997 concluded that by adopting such laws, states can substantially curb violent crime.

Senate still trying to approve gun bill By JOHN McCARTHY The Associated Press COLUMBUS - A bill to allow Ohioans to carry hidden guns won't pass this year, as far as the House is concerned, but the legislation is proceeding in the Senate, where a vote could take place this week, majority Republicans said Monday. Work continued Monday to recruit supporters, said Sen. Jeff Jacobson, a suburban Dayton Republican who's chairman of the Senate Civil Justice Committee. An amended version of the bill was expected to be introduced today, he said. ''It would be unfortunate to assume anything as to...

Posted on Friday, August 16, 2002 at 07:55 PM by rhamilton at www.packing.org I was recently "invited" to initiate a study regarding the feasibility of establishing a national organization of state administrators of concealed weapon permit programs. Its purpose would to be to get all the "rule and law makers" together on the same sheet of music and determine acceptable standards for the issuance of CCW permits that everyone (each state) can live with. Obviously, the point is to establish reciprocity amongst all participating states. National reciprocity bills continue to fail, so this may be the next best thing. I...

Ohio's concealed carry law puts business owners who carry weapons under the gun Chiree Mccain For Business First Dennis McNamara decided not to take any chances. McNamara had just defended a client in a murder case in Steubenville, and the jury had convicted his client on the lesser charge of manslaughter. Before he left the courthouse, the family of the victim made threats against both client and attorney. So, as the county sheriff escorted McNamara to his car, the attorney asked if he might keep a handgun on the front seat beside him. Many could see that as a reasonable...

Update: We've been advised that only a stay has been issued. The court order does not include any hearing, nor does it suggest that the OSC will even take the case into consideration yet. Ohioans For Concealed Carry has been informed by our lawyers that the Ohio Supreme Court has issued an emergency stay and granted the request for an expedited hearing. It should be noted that the Ohio Senate is trying to take advantage of the State of Ohio's appeal in regard to our lawsuit in Hamilton County. The theory is that, even though two courts have declared this...

Judges uphold right to carry hidden guns By Kimball Perry, Post staff reporter Ohio's century-old ban against carrying concealed weapons violates the state and U.S. constitutions, a three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals ruled today. Their ruling means law-abiding Hamilton Countians can legally carry concealed weapons - at least until today's decision is appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. ''There is no doubt that the . . . Consti tution grants citizens the right to bear arms,'' Appeals Court Judge Mark Painter said today in upholding a ruling earlier this year by a Hamilton County...

Gun law spurs no violence No problems arising from concealed weapons permits By PATRICK SULLIVAN Record-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Nine months after a state law that allows most people over the age of 21 to qualify for a concealed weapons permit, worries that gun violence would soar have not materialized and few glitches in the law have been reported. "It's obvious that people aren't shooting each other over traffic disputes, there's no blood in the street," said David Bieganowski, a Traverse City lawyer and chapter president of the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners. Michigan law was changed...

<p>A series of bills to relax handgun laws in Tennessee, including one to allow people with permits to carry a concealed weapon into places where liquor is sold, were shunted aside yesterday and are apparently dead for the year.</p> <p>All of the bills, sponsored by state Rep. Ben West, D-Hermitage, were sent to a summer study subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee.</p>