Gun Rights in Ohio

Democrats and Republicans have come together in Ohio to… shitcan a Republican governor's veto of Second Amendment reforms.

The bill makes a variety of changes to Ohio's Shall Issue law for concealed handgun licenses. It explicitly prohibits local governments from creating no-carry zones, except in places where state law already forbids carryings. The bill also removes the requirement that concealed carry permitees must, when driving, keep the handgun in plain view in the car, or in a locked container.

Even more significantly, the bill eliminates over 80 anti-gun local ordinances, including bans on cosmetically-incorrect self-loading firearms (so-called "assault weapons") in Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati. Like the vast majority of states, Ohio does not have an "assault weapon" ban, but Ohio has had more cities with local bans than has any other non-ban state.

As Kopel points out, the bill got its crucial veto-overriding vote from incoming state attorney general and Democrat Marc Dann. I'd also note that incoming Gov. Ted Strickland, another Democrat (it was 2006; get used to it) is pro-gun and had strong NRA support. Both men are liberals; this is just one policy area where Democrats have finally caved to the libertarian consensus, to avoid another decade of drubbings over the gun issue.

(Via Instapundit.)

(By my count, that's my 10,000th pro-Democrat goo-goo post. Send the money to the address we discussed, Kos!)