Victory in Ohio – Comments from Joe Waldron of SAF
The opinion ran 18 pages, and is one of the best I’ve ever seen written
on the gun issue. It’s full of sound bite after sound bite affirming
the citizens’ right of self defense. It should be posted on the SAF web
site within a day.

Joe W

News Release
Second Amendment Foundation
12500 NE 10th Place
Bellevue, WA 98005
(425) 454-7012 . FAX (425) 451-3959 . www.saf.org
For Immediate Release: 4/10/02
Contact: Dave LaCourse or Dave Workman 425-454-7012

SECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION HAILS OHIO COURT RULING THAT GUN LAW
UNCONSTITUTIONAL

BELLEVUE, WA -Wednesday’s unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of
Ohio First District Court of Appeals that the state’s law against
carrying concealed handguns
is unconstitutional is “a total vindication of our position,” said Dave
LaCourse, public affairs director for the Second Amendment Foundation
(SAF), a plaintiff in the case.

The Appeals panel refused to grant a stay in the case, pending an
almost-certain appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court. Said the Court: “…the
General Assembly has been on
notice of the problems with this statute for more than a year. We will
not continue to allow the enforcement of an unconstitutional statute.”

“The ruling puts pressure on the legislature to resolve this issue,”
LaCourse stated. “Lawmakers have known for a long time there was a
problem with the law, but it took a
legal challenge by gun owners to put this issue in focus. We’re
delighted the Appeals Court unanimously agreed with our argument that
this law, which has penalized honest
Ohio gun owners for generations, violates the State Constitution.”

Defendants in the case, including Hamilton County, Cincinnati and the
State of Ohio, had argued that government has the right to regulate the
manner in which weapons are
carried. That argument had been rejected Jan. 10 by Hamilton County
Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman, who said the ban could not be
enforced in that county.

The ruling, written by Presiding Judge Mark P. Painter, declared R.C.
2923.12, and R.C. 2923.16(B) and (C) unconstitutional under the Ohio
Constitution, which affirms
the citizen’s the right to possess and to bear arms. It marked the
latest victory in a case filed against enforcement of the decades-old
ban on concealed carry, and a
prohibition on the transport of loaded firearms in a motor vehicle.
Under the statute, citizens have had to first be arrested and then
defend themselves in court by providing
an “affirmative defense” to prove their innocence.

“Guns or no guns,” wrote Judge Painter, “we know of no other situation
where a citizen is guilty until proven innocent.”

In addition to SAF, plaintiffs in the case include Pat Feely, who was
previously arrested and tried under the gun carry ban scheme, plus James
Cohen, Vernon Ferrier,
Leanne Driscoll and private investigator Chuck Klein. They were joined
by Ohioans for Concealed Carry and the People’s Rights Organization.

The Court’s 3-0 ruling also deals severe blows to gun control advocates
who have long argued that firearms rights are no longer necessary, and
that only the police and
military should have guns. The Ohio law had allowed only law enforcement
officers to carry concealed weapons.

“We are not a country were power is maintained by people with guns over
people without guns,” Judge Painter eloquently wrote.

LaCourse was in court to hear the decision. He noted, “While this ruling
still applies only to enforcement of the law in Hamilton County, judges
everywhere else around the
state will be looking at this and reviewing their cases.”

The Second Amendment Foundation is the nation’s oldest and largest
tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group
focusing on the Constitutional right
and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The
Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and
conducts many
programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of
gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits
against the cities of Los
Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun
owners. Current projects include several concealed carry lawsuits, a
lawsuit against the cities suing
gun makers & an amicus brief & fund for the Emerson case holding the
Second Amendment as an individual right. Visit our website for more
information at
http://www.saf.org/Ohio.htm