The 1st Ohio District Court of Appeals will rule April 10 whether people are allowed to carry concealed weapons in Hamilton County, where a lawsuit challenging Ohio's ban on concealed weapons was filed.

        Lawyers for Cincinnati, the county and the state argued Wednesday that the ban should be upheld, and that there is no constitutional right to carry a hidden weapon.

        “How can you rationally exercise your right to self-defense if you're attacked somewhere and you can't have your gun with you?” Judge Rupert Doan asked.

        “People can't carry concealed weapons in the state. That's the law,” said Darrell Pierre, an assistant Ohio attorney general.

        Judge Lee Hildebrandt Jr. asked how a restaurant owner who makes a late-night money deposit would be able to carry a weapon for self-defense.

        John Arnold, a county lawyer, replied that the restaurateur could defend himself in court by arguing that he had a legitimate self-defense reason to be armed.

        But the five people who challenged the state's ban say people accused of violating the law are forced into court and must defend themselves even though the Ohio Constitution gives them the right to be armed for self-protection. They say their jobs take them into areas where they need concealed guns for self-defense.

        Conflicting enforcement by different police agencies makes it difficult for people to know how to exercise that right, attorneys challenging the ban argued.

        Cincinnati police have arrested people for carrying concealed weapons, and testified in this case that they would likely arrest someone who tried to openly carry a weapon, the attorneys said.

        That leaves few options and substantial risk of arrest for those who would carry a weapon to defend themselves, said one lawyer, Timothy Smith.

        Mr. Smith asked the appeals court to uphold Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman's Jan. 10 ruling that the ban on carrying concealed weapons violates the Ohio Constitution's guarantee that people may bear arms for self-defense.

        The governments' lawyers argued that the state has the right to regulate the possession and handling of firearms.

Falmouth has eye on river
River high, but no flooding yet
Officer Jorg quits before interviews
Legal issues can complicate investigations
$5 million gift will combat MS
Finance reform bill heads to court
Time works against sex-abuse prosecutors
City schools amend new-building plan
Concealed weapon case argued
Privatizing motion falls short in council
Racial profiling suit discussed
Shapes, shades appear for new home of Reds
Uniforms coming to elementaries
Tristate A.M. Report
HOWARD: Some Good News
PULFER: By predators
RADEL: Golden rule
Home built for pregnant teens
Milford evaluates new school site
Plan to widen road contested
Policeman indicted, held in death
Reading parents seek answers from board
Service unit keeps community clean, offenders from jail
Springdale honors three citizens, two officers
Audit slams retardation plan, services
Campus memorial will be held for 6 in crash
Concealed gun bill rolls on
IRS agent says Traficant failed to report income
Maryland wooing OSU's president
Ohio's short by $400M
Safety at hockey games questioned
School funding pact due today
Gambling bill on House agenda
Interim diocese leader named
Pop machines stay in school-food bill