Gunning to be mayor--Overriding the governor's veto, telling cities: We know better

[Kolesar]

A Beacon-Journal editorial

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/editorial/16236839.htm

Gunning to be mayor
Overriding the governor's veto, telling cities: We know better

Jim Irvine, the chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Association, applauded the Ohio Senate for joining the House in overriding Gov. Bob Taft's veto of legislation concerning the carrying of concealed weapons. He added that lawmakers demonstrated "just how out of touch the governor and a few big city mayors really are.''

Out of touch?

Taft and the mayors wanted to preserve the authority of cities and other communities to craft local ordinances as defined by local circumstances. A Dayton, Cleveland or Akron may find that conditions call for mandating guns be sold with trigger locks or stored out of the reach of minors. As it is, the legislation pre-empts roughly 80 local gun laws, including assault-weapons bans in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo.

Marc Dann, the attorney general-elect and one of three Democratic senators to vote for the override, argued that ``having contradictory gun laws all over the state doesn't make sense.'' For starters, the laws aren't contradictory. They reflect a shared purpose: curbing the danger posed by guns. Not surprisingly, those closest to the scene are in a stronger position to determine which approaches are more likely to succeed in their communities.

That is the thinking rejected by those at the Statehouse, the bulk far removed from the challenges of large cities. They have decided they can do better job than mayors, city councils and many citizens.
--o--

The last paragraph reinforces my point that the Ohio government is being run by small-town conservatives who hate urban Ohio.
--o--

Political scientist Senator Paul Wellstone and George Lakoff, the author of Moral Politics, made the point that when Democrats adopt the messaging and issues of the right wing, the Democrats are undermining the moral position of their own issues. Hence, we lose credibility.

[benEzra]

1. Gun ownership is NOT a right-wing issue.

IIRC, slightly more than half of gun owners in the U.S. are NOT repubs. Approximately one third are Dems, with the rest mostly indies and a handful of third party adherents.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1689245

What you do in Ohio is your business, so I'll stay out of the preemption issue (glad we have it here in NC, but that's my state, not yours). But the contention that gun ownership is a "conservative" issue, and that gun owners are right-wingers that belong with the repubs, is a bunch of Karl Rove BS. And I would point out that it is mostly DLC types pushing the gun-control agenda, in order to appear "tough on crime" to right-wingers.

FWIW, regarding local rule--do you support additional FEDERAL gun control, such as a nationwide "assault weapon" ban?