Reverse Pro-Gun Activism By Ohio Judges, Violence Policy Center Tells Ohio Supreme Court

5/29/2002

From: Naomi Seligman of the Violence Policy Center (VPC), 202-822-8200, ext. 105

WASHINGTON, May 29 -- In a friend-of-the-court brief filed yesterday in the Supreme Court of Ohio in Klein v. Leis, the Violence Policy Center (VPC) urged the Justices to review -- and reverse -- a decision by an intermediate appellate court striking down the state's longstanding ban on carrying concealed weapons. In a ruling that lifts pro-gun judicial activism to new heights, the appeals court ignored history and legal precedent to find that the Ohio Constitution creates a constitutional right to carry concealed weapons.

Ohio's ban on concealed carry was challenged by pro-gun advocates in Cincinnati, who persuaded a trial judge and an appeals court to strike down the Ohio law on the grounds that it violates the state's right-to-bear-arms provision. The VPC's brief -- filed in support of the State of Ohio, the City of Cincinnati and the Hamilton County Sheriff -- asks the Ohio Supreme Court to review the case on the grounds that it presents substantial constitutional questions and involves a matter of great public importance and public interest.

The VPC brief describes the threat to public safety that would arise if the appeals court's decision is permitted to stand. That ruling allows virtually any legally qualified gun purchaser, even an emotionally disturbed person who has not been declared incompetent, to carry a concealed weapon in Hamilton County. Such persons would not need a permit and would not have to demonstrate their fitness to carry a lethal weapon.

"The Ohio Appeals Court has gone way out on a pro-gun limb, ignoring history of its constitutional right-to-bear arms provision and the binding precedent of the Ohio Supreme Court," said Mathew Nosanchuk, VPC litigation director and legislative counsel. The VPC also identifies the direct conflict between the appeals court decision in Klein and binding precedent from the Ohio Supreme Court and other state appellate courts that have upheld Ohio's concealed carry prohibition under the state constitution. In addition, courts in other states have repeatedly rejected claims that there is a constitutional right to carry concealed weapons. The appeals court's ruling transforms Cincinnati and the rest of Hamilton County into an enclave for concealed carry.

"The judges quite literally believe that because the Pilgrims used rifles to shoot their Thanksgiving turkeys, Ohioans have a constitutional right to carry concealed handguns," said Nosanchuk.

Numerous VPC studies have consistently shown that persons who carry concealed handguns present a danger to public safety. VPC research effectively demonstrates that those licensed in Texas to carry a concealed handgun were arrested for weapon-related offenses at a rate twice as high as that of the state's general population age 21 and over.

VPC's friend-of-the-court brief was prepared by Edward M. Mathias, Elliott Schulder, Alan A. Pemberton, and Jennifer L. Saulino of Covington & Burling, in Washington, D.C. A copy of the brief is available at www.vpc.org.

For more information, contact VPC Communications Director Naomi Seligman at 202-822-8200, ext. 105. The Violence Policy Center is a national non-profit educational organization working to stop gun death and injury in America.