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Conservative Ohio think tank celebrates SCOTUS decision on concealed weapons

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Overshadowed by the huge decision on abortion was another case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Americans have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.

A conservative think tank from Ohio had filed paperwork in that case and is pleased with the ruling.

The Buckeye Institute filed a friend of the court brief in the case of a 100-year-old New York law on carrying concealed weapons. Former Senate President Larry Obhof, a Republican, filed that brief.

"What we were interested in doing was presenting a few arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court that they might not have otherwise considered," Obhof said in an interview for "The State of Ohio."

He said that included showing firearms laws that were in place around the time the constitution was adopted and why The Buckeye Institute felt the New York law requiring a reason to carry a weapon outside the home went too far.

With Ohio’s permitless conceal carry law taking effect the week before the ruling, Obhof said the decision doesn’t affect Ohio much in the short term, but it could be important down the road.

"Because, you know, 10 years from now, 15 years from now, 100 years from now, you may have very different policymakers with very different ideas about what they'd like to regulate and what they wouldn't," Obhof said.

The ruling in that case came a day before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the decision legalizing abortion in the US. that had stood for nearly 50 years.

Copyright 2022 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.