Gotta Jump In With Ohio News -- RESTAURANT CARRY!

The Ohio General Assembly, in the Ohio Senate and Ohio House of Representatives, have passed two different bills that -- essentially -- allow the carry of concealed firearms into restaurants and certain establishments that serve alcohol.

Of course, the usual suspects are waving their arms in their best Chicken Little fashion and predicting all sorts of rapturish, end-of-the-world mayhem if a combined bill is signed into law. Reportedly, officials at the Ohio Restaurant Association are pressuring Gov. John Kasich to veto the bill.

Once the versions are reconciled between the two houses, and it passes to his desk, he can either sign it into law, veto it, or let it become law without his signature.

A story in today's Columbus Dispatch quotes dissenting bartenders, who wonder how they will tell which patrons are carrying guns. Which is interesting, in my opinion, considering it is common knowledge that bad guys currently carry guns into bars. I wonder how bartenders make that determination now? And how it will change?

Oh, but the difference here is that they have an irrational fear of law-abiding people, but no fear (or head in the sand?) about criminals who currently carry into their bars? That is sick and twisted and NOT in a good way!

READ THE BILL PEOPLE! Ohio CHL (that's concealed handgun license) holders cannot drink while carrying if they enter one of these establishments. Can bartenders guarantee they haven't served criminals previously (that would be people who currently carry a gun into a bar and imbibe)? Nooo...they can't.

Here is hoping that lawmakers reconcile differences, and pass a good bill to Gov. Kasich for his signature. Just as CCW made Ohio safer, such a bill will greatly help reduce the liklihood that a Luby's Cafeteria incident will happen in the Buckeye State.

And if it saves only one life (that is a common refrain of crusading lawmakers), then this is a good law whose time has come. Thank you Ohio lawmakers.

Gov. Kasich? The ball will soon be in your court, and it's time to put your money where your mouth is. That is, prove you are not a threat to Ohio firearms owners or their rights. Demonstrate through your actions, what your surrogates kept saying during last year's gubernatorial campaign.

Now . . . we wait and see.

TRL On Hiatus

TRL is going dark until further notice. When we are back and running again, there will be announcements in several places.

Thanks for stopping by. There will be more to come....

BG

Illinois Supremes Rule Emanual Qualifies For Windy City Mayoral Ballot

In a unanimous decision today, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Rahn Emanual, former White House chief of staff and Chicago mayoral candidate, can be on the ballot. His candidacy was challenged by Chicago residents who alleged he did not meet he state's residency requirements, which say an individual must have resided in the city for at least one year prior to the election.

This is an issue that probably needs to be reviewed by the Illinois state legislature. At the very least to clean up vague language that has Emanual supporters and opponents at war with each other (oops, that wasn't very civil language of me, was it?) over the definition of "resident."

The story is here. I don't look for opponents of the candidacy to appeal this to the Supreme Court, but they might. I doubt the U.S. supremes will hear the matter.

According to Newsweek . . .

Here we go:

"Obama intentionally did not mention gun control in his State of the Union, but aides say that in the next two weeks the administration will unveil a campaign to get Congress to toughen existing laws."

Read the full story here. Even though a competition rifle was not used in the Tucson, Ariz. shootings, that will be the target. Its called "lowest hanging fruit" and the one issue that is used to attempt to divide the shooting community . . .

Utah Ready To Name 1911 The Official State Gun

Bills are moving fast in Utah to name the venerable 1911 sidearm as the official "state gun."

Cool . . .

SOU Prediction

UPDATED: Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 12:48 AM -- NBC News is reporting that President Obama plans to discuss his proposals for new gun control measures at a future time and venue, according to sources inside the administration. The Obama White House has been harshly criticized by anti self defense advocates who are demanding new gun control measures, despite the idea being far out of the mainstream with ordinary Americans.

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UPDATED: Tuesday, January 25, 2011, 10:18 PM -- Not one word about firearms, so far as I could hear. Interesting. The discussion of jobs and the economy is a far more pressing issue facing this nation. Perhaps the internal polling showed Americans just don't want to hear about gun control -- they want jobs!

As speeches go, um . . . it was all over the place. I've done a lot of public speaking and it was kind of boring actually. He didn't lay out a wish list of "want-to-have's," but in fact talked about possibilities. Of course his idea of "fixing" ObamaCare is just nonsense. It is not helping, it is destroying insurance companies. And his plan jobs plan is just pure stimulus -- lets not mince words. It smacked of far MORE government giveaways, which, folks, means yours and my money. He did talk of more government monies for different things, which plays to his base. And a freeze in spending, which after the drunken orgy of spending we saw in the last four years of the Bush administration, and the first two of Obama's administration, is meaningless. We need a rollback in spending. Surprisingly, he talked of being in favor of tort reform, which made my eyes pop open quite a bit wider. His base will NOT like that.

But most fascinating that guns were never mentioned . . . The things that make you go hmmmm . . .

BTW, here is a new study by the Pew Research Center, breaking down opinions on gun control by various age groups, constituencies, etc. Quite a sea change from a decade or two ago. The public is far more enlightened than it used to be.

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The president has just been introduced by the Speaker of the House.

My prediction: President Obama in tonight's State Of The Union address will call for restrictions, if not outright bans, on high-capacity magazines -- in light of the shootings in Tucson, Ariz., and because of recent shootings involving police officers in the past week.

BUT, he will be playing to his base with such statements. He knows it will not go anywhere with this Congress, and because the American people do not support it. Most in his party on the Left know that talk of gun control is risky for their political careers. But they may think that proposing bans on high-capacity magazines is somehow less risky.

Maybe. Still, such proposals won't go anywhere.

Obama's proposal, should he make it, will be similar to President George W. Bush, who (for whatever reason) called for an extention of the ban on competition rifles, but knew it wouldn't go anywhere with the Congress in place at that time. That appeasement of some middle ground made no sense then, because it only confused matters.

The speech begins . . .

The Obsession With 'Control'

There is a brilliant essay I want to bring to your attention.

Entitled "Puritanism, Paternalism and Power: Whiskey and Gunpowder," this piece talks eloquantly about the kindred spirits who gave us the Temperance Movement, the Social Purity Movement, the Social Hygeine Movement, the Comstock Act, the Mann Act, the War On Drugs, and the never-ending obvious (and subtle) attacks against the Second Amendment.

"Not withstanding forms and temperal fluctuations, the penchant for acting as self-righteous busybodies has animated the bourgeoisie of this country ever since Pilgrims set foot on Plymouth rock in 1620. Because this proclivity provides an irresistable opportunity for politicians to promote their own interests at public expense, one must expect that we as Americans are doomed to an endless procession of costly, futile and destructive crusades."

Kudos to Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Independent Institute, for his insightful prose. He hit the nail on the head with this one.

Read it and pass it along . . .

Gun Control Advocates Pushing For New Restrictions Proposal In Tonight's State of the Union

Gun control advocates are pushing for new limitations in the wake of the Tucson, Ariz. shootings, and shootings where several police officers have been injured or killed.

Coverage here, here and here.

BTW, all the anti self-defense talk by the institutional Left has dramatically boosted the sale of "happy sticks" from coast to coast. Now, with that said, does anyone need such a device? That is up to each and every individual. But wanting one? If you are a law-abiding individual, and you want one, why not? Besides, its nobody's business to tell other people what they "need" or don't need.

Does Jay Leno need 100+ motorcycles? It's not up to me to decide. But he wants them ...

State of the Union, tonight.