sic transit gloria mundi - Ohioans are back to being defenseless, thanks to two judges.
Oh well, the police will protect them.
http://www.ohio.com/bj/news/ohio/docs/018157.htm
Appeals court clears police to again enforce Ohio's concealed-weapons ban
BY JOHN NOLAN
Associated Press Writer
CINCINNATI (AP) -- A state appeals court on Friday cleared police to resume enforcing Ohio's ban on carrying concealed weapons.
The 1st Ohio District Court of Appeals lifted a judge's July 18 temporary order prohibiting Cincinnati police and Hamilton County sheriff's officers from enforcing the concealed-weapons law.
Four residents and a pro-gun organization had sued to contend that law-abiding citizens should be allowed to carry guns or keep them in vehicles. Forty-three states allow carrying concealed weapons, including Kentucky and Indiana near Cincinnati.
Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman's order prevented police from enforcing the law in the county until he could hold an Aug. 11 hearing in the lawsuit.
That left police helpless to stop suspicious people from carrying guns, switchblade knives, martial-arts nunchakus or other weapons, a lawyer for Sheriff Simon Leis Jr. argued to the appeals court Friday.
Private investigator Chuck Klein, one of the citizens pursuing the lawsuit before Ruehlman, said he carries a gun for protection in his line of work.
``It gives me peace of mind,'' Klein said.
Klein, 58, of Cincinnati, told reporters outside the courtroom that he doesn't understand why Ohio police agencies oppose law-abiding citizens protecting themselves.
That isn't the issue, said Lt. Col. James Smith, a Cincinnati assistant police chief. Police enforce Ohio's existing law, and any changes are up to the Legislature, Smith said.
``We enforce the laws,'' Smith said. ``If the law changes ... we adapt to that.''
Smith and a sheriff's spokesman said they knew of no instances since Ruehlman's July 18 order in which someone was allowed to go free in Cincinnati or the surrounding county who had a concealed weapon.
A sheriff's officer who stopped a man allegedly concealing a weapon last week had a suburban Green Township police officer make the arrest. That was because Ruehlman's order only forbid Cincinnati police and sheriff's officers -- not other police agencies -- to enforce Ohio's law, sheriff's spokesman Steve Barnett said.
Appeals Judges Lee Hildebrandt Jr., J. Howard Sundermann Jr. and Rupert Doan said in their unanimous, two-paragraph order that they stopped Ruehlman's temporary order ``for good cause shown.'' They did not elaborate. They left the case in Ruehlman's court.
Ruehlman and the lawyer who represented him before the appeals court, Thomas Schuck, did not return calls for comment. Ruehlman has not yet ruled whether the law is constitutional but wanted to temporarily stop enforcement because he saw problems with the statute, Schuck argued before the appeals court.
Lawyers for the city and county argued that Ruehlman overstepped his authority by forbidding police enforcement. They also questioned his authority to focus his order on Cincinnati and county officers, but none of about 40 police agencies in the county.
The four residents who sued said Ohio's law is unconstitutional because it does not establish a process for permits to carry a concealed weapon, and the person arrested has to undergo prosecution and prove his innocence -- instead of the state having to prove guilt.
The Second Amendment Foundation, a Bellevue, Wash.-based group that supports the right of citizens to bear arms, funded the lawsuit and joined the four residents as plaintiffs.
Ruehlman, a Republican, is the same judge who in October threw out Cincinnati's lawsuit that demanded damages from gun manufacturers to recover the costs of crime violence.
He is a former assistant county prosecutor who won election as judge and has served on the trial court since 1987. Ruehlman's great-grandfather was shot and killed in 1907 while working as a Cincinnati police officer.
Oh well, the police will protect them.
http://www.ohio.com/bj/news/ohio/docs/018157.htm
Appeals court clears police to again enforce Ohio's concealed-weapons ban
BY JOHN NOLAN
Associated Press Writer
CINCINNATI (AP) -- A state appeals court on Friday cleared police to resume enforcing Ohio's ban on carrying concealed weapons.
The 1st Ohio District Court of Appeals lifted a judge's July 18 temporary order prohibiting Cincinnati police and Hamilton County sheriff's officers from enforcing the concealed-weapons law.
Four residents and a pro-gun organization had sued to contend that law-abiding citizens should be allowed to carry guns or keep them in vehicles. Forty-three states allow carrying concealed weapons, including Kentucky and Indiana near Cincinnati.
Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman's order prevented police from enforcing the law in the county until he could hold an Aug. 11 hearing in the lawsuit.
That left police helpless to stop suspicious people from carrying guns, switchblade knives, martial-arts nunchakus or other weapons, a lawyer for Sheriff Simon Leis Jr. argued to the appeals court Friday.
Private investigator Chuck Klein, one of the citizens pursuing the lawsuit before Ruehlman, said he carries a gun for protection in his line of work.
``It gives me peace of mind,'' Klein said.
Klein, 58, of Cincinnati, told reporters outside the courtroom that he doesn't understand why Ohio police agencies oppose law-abiding citizens protecting themselves.
That isn't the issue, said Lt. Col. James Smith, a Cincinnati assistant police chief. Police enforce Ohio's existing law, and any changes are up to the Legislature, Smith said.
``We enforce the laws,'' Smith said. ``If the law changes ... we adapt to that.''
Smith and a sheriff's spokesman said they knew of no instances since Ruehlman's July 18 order in which someone was allowed to go free in Cincinnati or the surrounding county who had a concealed weapon.
A sheriff's officer who stopped a man allegedly concealing a weapon last week had a suburban Green Township police officer make the arrest. That was because Ruehlman's order only forbid Cincinnati police and sheriff's officers -- not other police agencies -- to enforce Ohio's law, sheriff's spokesman Steve Barnett said.
Appeals Judges Lee Hildebrandt Jr., J. Howard Sundermann Jr. and Rupert Doan said in their unanimous, two-paragraph order that they stopped Ruehlman's temporary order ``for good cause shown.'' They did not elaborate. They left the case in Ruehlman's court.
Ruehlman and the lawyer who represented him before the appeals court, Thomas Schuck, did not return calls for comment. Ruehlman has not yet ruled whether the law is constitutional but wanted to temporarily stop enforcement because he saw problems with the statute, Schuck argued before the appeals court.
Lawyers for the city and county argued that Ruehlman overstepped his authority by forbidding police enforcement. They also questioned his authority to focus his order on Cincinnati and county officers, but none of about 40 police agencies in the county.
The four residents who sued said Ohio's law is unconstitutional because it does not establish a process for permits to carry a concealed weapon, and the person arrested has to undergo prosecution and prove his innocence -- instead of the state having to prove guilt.
The Second Amendment Foundation, a Bellevue, Wash.-based group that supports the right of citizens to bear arms, funded the lawsuit and joined the four residents as plaintiffs.
Ruehlman, a Republican, is the same judge who in October threw out Cincinnati's lawsuit that demanded damages from gun manufacturers to recover the costs of crime violence.
He is a former assistant county prosecutor who won election as judge and has served on the trial court since 1987. Ruehlman's great-grandfather was shot and killed in 1907 while working as a Cincinnati police officer.