Is That a Pistol in Your Pocket?

Or are you just happy to see that the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the Buckeye State's 144-year-old ban on concealed weapons? From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

The decision Wednesday reversed the rulings of two lower courts and affirmed the right of the legislature to pass laws restricting how and where firearms are carried.

"It's my personal position that the legislature ought to be the entity to deal with this," said Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen. "There is a law pending, it's reasonable, provides for periodic qualifications and stringent background checks. That's something most law enforcement could live with."

The decision also ensured that, for the immediate future, Ohio would remain one of only five states in the country that bars citizens from carrying hidden guns.

"However fundamental and entrenched in the constitutional heritage of our state, the right to bear arms is not absolute," Justice Paul Pfeifer wrote in his majority opinion. "There is no constitutional right to bear concealed weapons."

Say what you will about gun scholar John Lott's Web-surfing habits–in fact, even question whether concealed carry laws decrease crime, as he contends. But it is doubtless true that concealed carry laws don't usher in the sort of shoot 'em ups that gun control advocates fear.

Go here for an outdated but still useful archive of Reason articles on guns and gun control.