Ohio Concealed Carry

If you live in Ohio, do your part for concealed carry by strapping on a few firearms and parading around your neighborhood.

If you can get the Rambo look going, that’s even better.

Does it really make sense to allow open carry, yet prohibit concealed carry?

Ohio Concealed Carry

Interested Participant points out that the Ohio Supreme Court upheld a ban on concealed carry in the state.

Let’s start with my favorite line from the court’s opinion:

The General Assembly has determined that prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons helps maintain an orderly and safe society. We conclude that that goal and the means used to attain it are reasonable. We hold that R.C. 2923.12 does not unconstitutionally infringe the right to bear arms; [**14]  there is no constitutional right to bear concealed weapons.

 

Oh boy…  The court applied a reasonableness standard to analyze infringement on a fundamental Constitutional right.  This should be an intermediate level of scrutiny, if not strict scrutiny.  Anything to get the desired result, I guess.

And my favorite quote from the newspaper article:

Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican from Cincinnati, said he will not support any bill opposed by police groups, such as the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Fraternal Order of Police.

 

As I’ve said before, concealed carry tends to split people along urban/rural lines.  The police groups will never support concealed carry because they come predominantly from urban areas, where police response is an option.  Plus, I suspect some of it comes from cop groups not wanting to forfeit their “special status” as the only citizens allowed to carry a firearm.  You know, the whole “holier than thou” attitude.

Those of us in rural areas know that we’re the only line of defense in most cases.  I grew up 20 minutes from the nearest cops.  You’d be amazed what it does for the crime rate when everyone knows everone else is armed.