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Thursday, July 20, 2000
Ruling ‘benefit’ to citizens

Concealed weapons can protect

By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The teen-ager jumped from behind a parked car and made a beeline for Fred
Hecht.

The kid stopped a few feet in front of the 59-year-old man and refused to
let him pass. He yelled. He made a threatening gesture.

And then he noticed the gun strapped to Mr. Hecht’s belt.

“Dude’s got a gun!” the kid shouted, before running off.

The incident took place a few years ago, but Mr. Hecht tells the story
whenever he’s asked why anyone would need to carry a concealed weapon.

Mr. Hecht, who lives in downtown Cincinnati, says he is the kind of
“average
citizen” who will benefit from a court ruling this week that eliminated
concealed weapons laws in Hamilton County.

Supporters of the ruling say thousands of people – ranging from teachers to
private investigators – carry guns for the same reason Mr. Hecht does:
protection.

“I’m not rabid about guns. I don’t pretend to be Wyatt Earp,” said Mr.
Hecht, co-owner of a production company. “But an ordinary citizen has the
right to defend himself.”

For the first time, he said, he can exercise that right without fear of
arrest.

Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman decided this week to bar Cincinnati
Police and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s office from enforc ing Ohio’s
concealed weapons law.

The judge’s ruling was in response to a lawsuit that claimed the law treats
honest citizens like criminals.

The judge granted a temporary restraining order that bars enforcement of
the
law until he hears more arguments on Aug. 11.

“Most people who carry guns are doing so without a criminal motive,” said
Tim Smith, one of the attorneys who brought the suit.

He said the law is unfair because law-abiding citizens cannot get permits
to
carry a concealed gun. Instead, they must get arrested and go to court to
prove they have a good reason to carry a gun.

Mr. Hecht said he should not have to worry about getting arrested if he
feels the need to carry a gun for protection.

He said he carries a gun because it makes sense, not because he’s active in
the debate over gun control. “I’m not a poster boy for this,” he said.

But like it or not, Mr. Hecht and others like him are in the middle of the
controversy.

The National Rifle Association claims crime rates drop when citizens are
permitted to carry concealed weapons. NRA officials say criminals think
twice if they are worried about getting shot.

“People who go out unarmed are living in a fantasy world,” said Harry
Thomas, a former Cincinnati police officer and a member of the NRA board of
directors.

But gun control advocates argue that arming the public is not the best way
to reduce violence in America.

“The benefits (of concealed weapons) are greatly exaggerated,” said Andrew
Spafford, spokesman for Legal Community Against Violence in San Francisco.

“It has not been a solution for violence prevention.”

As the political debate rages, thousands of people continue to carry
concealed weapons.

Although Ohio does not issue permits to carry guns, Kentucky has handed out
more than 25,000 permits in the four years it has allowed concealed
weapons.

So far, none of those permit holders has been involved in a serious crime.

That doesn’t surprise Mr. Hecht. He said most people who carry guns
understand that lives will be at stake if they ever have to use them.

“This is a right that comes with a tremendous responsibility,” he said.

Enquirer reporter Terry Flynn contributed to this story.

http://enquirer.com/editions/2000/07/20/loc_pulfer_its_open_season.html

Thursday, July 20, 2000

It’s open season on gun laws

So, how worried should we be for the next three weeks? Should we put the
wagons in a circle? Invest in a Kevlar vest to wear to work? Should we
practice our Mae West imitation? “Is that a gun in your pocket or are you
just glad to see me?”

How serious is the latest challenge to gun laws?

Fraternal Order of Police President Keith Fangman, never a model of
restraint, says Judge Robert Ruehlman’s decision Tuesday to suspend Ohio’s
concealed weapons law in Hamilton County will invite a bloodbath.

Or incendiary words to that effect.

A bloody verdict?

“This misdirected ruling opens the barn door for every violent criminal to
carry a weapon and get away scot free,” he told The Enquirer’s Dan Horn. “If
any of our officers or innocent citizens are killed because Judge Ruehlman
allowed violent criminals to carry guns, he’s going to have blood on his
hands.”

Of course, Judge Ruehlman did nothing of the kind. Violent criminals are not
allowed to carry guns under any circumstances. The judge was ruling on a
case involving Ohio’s concealed carry law and will hear more arguments Aug.
11.

Meanwhile, police officers aren’t allowed to enforce the law, which has been
on the books for 80 years. Just being old doesn’t necessarily mean good.
(For instance, Fidel Castro will turn 74 next month.)

And this law is just bad. Confusing. Probably unconstitutional.

In May, another judge threw out a felony charge against a pizza deliveryman
accused of carrying a handgun. Ohio law forbids concealed weapons with
exceptions including a business that requires you to go into potentially
dangerous areas or carry a lot of money.

The only way to find out if you qualify is to get arrested and go to court.

In other words, you have to prove you’re innocent instead of being presumed
so. “An honest person in a difficult or dangerous job must subject himself
to trial like a criminal,” said Judge Thomas Crush, adding that state law
should allow law-abiding citizens to get permits to carry concealed weapons.

No guaranteed permits. I like the sound of this, as it sounds a little bit
like gun
control. Or maybe we could call it gun safety and throw in a ban on assault
rifles, increase the age for handgun possession from 18 to 21, require
child-safety locks and background checks at gun shows and hold parents
accountable for allowing guns to get into the hands of their children.
But let the good guys keep their guns.

Digging in our heels and demanding that nobody should have guns is just as
dopey as insisting that everybody should have them.

Guns are a mass-produced commodity. We regulate commerce all the time for
the greater good of all Americans. Cars. Baby beds. Bottled water. The
Second Amendment does not guarantee that guns be unlicensed. Or unregulated.

Among the things the National Rifle Association is fond of saying is that
there are already 20,000 laws on the books. As if to say enough is enough.
Well, maybe a lot of those laws are just as bad as the concealed carry law
in Ohio.

Recent polls show people generally favor more restrictions on guns. Despite
the existence of more than 200 million guns in this country and the legions
of gun lobbyists clogging the halls of our legislative buildings, we are not
a nation of guns. We are a nation of laws.

This is a chance to prove it.