There was a shootout at the Queen City Club again the other day, when a hotheaded basketball coach punctuated a sportswriter with three slugs from a Colt .44. Cincinnati has been more exciting than Tombstone since everyone started packin' heat.

        Well, not exactly. Actually, not at all.

        For nearly five days, Cincinnati has been the most wide-open city in the Wild West. And nothing has happened.

        Ohio's law barring concealed weapons was struck down in Hamilton County by a state appeals court last week, allowing anyone to carry in the county except felons, drug addicts, mental incompetents and drunks — and most of them already have guns and know how to use them.

        It's not the good guys who are making Cincinnati look like Dodge City. But some tenderfoots think that if citizens can carry, there will be blood in the streets: shootouts at stoplights, showdowns at Skyline, gunfights at soccer games.
       

Fear phrase

        “That's what we call the Chicken Little syndrome,” said Charles Riggs of Frankfort, a founder and past president of the Kentucky Coalition to Carry Concealed.

        Kentucky has had a CCW law for five years. And it is now safe to say the predictions of mayhem were greatly exaggerated. “The headline, "Permit holder goes berserk, kills two,' there's nothing of that sort,” Mr. Riggs said. “We were told blood would run in the streets of Covington. It's one of the favorite fear phrases.”

        Except for a homicide involving two permit-holders in traffic, the record is nearly clean, Mr. Riggs said.

        And studies show crime rates drop with CCW laws, he said. “Concealed-carry permit-holders make everyone safer.”

        It's about the same in 42 other states with CCW laws.
       

Firearms phobia

        Mr. Riggs is a firearms instructor for 50 to 150 Kentucky applicants each year. “They are basically just people who refuse to be victims. They recognize there are wolves in the woods.”

        He has a name for people who get the clammy sweats around guns: “hoplophobe,” meaning “an unreasoning fear of mechanical tools like firearms.”

        I don't know if Ohio Gov. Bob Taft is a hoplophobe, but he is the reason Ohio has no CCW law.

        “He promised to sign one,” Mr. Riggs said. “It was only after he was elected that he said, "I'll sign it, but the FOP has to approve it.'”

        The Buckeye Sheriff's Association supports a CCW law, so Mr. Taft cites opposition by police chiefs and the Fraternal Order of Police. But his cover is shrinking.

        Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen says the law approved by the Ohio House “has strong background checks, NRA training, everything a reasonable concealed-carry bill should have. It would not hurt him politically to sign that.”

        But Mr. Taft is probably stalling until after his November re-election — leaving Cincinnati in lawless limbo.

        Mr. Riggs is no fan of gun laws, but says, “I think it's a very good idea to get a minimum level of instruction in the law and use of deadly force.”

        Mr. Taft should help pass concealed carry and sign it. This is a showdown he can't win.

        E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.
       

Photographer's sentence: 2
County has less cash for bills
Waagner tries to make abortion part of defense
Coffee house glorifies God
Evendale citizens to file lawsuit
Old Americana adding 10 rides, lower prices
Police kidnapping case backed by two
School levy deadline near in Norwood
Tristate A.M. Report
Willie clears the air at City Hall
Wyoming rejects helmet law
BRONSON: Packin' heat
HOWARD: Some Good News
SAMPLES: Private property
SMITH AMOS: Fond farewell
Brown outspends Turner for Congress
New business center developing
Heimlich backs law
Village bought out from beneath cloud
Businessman to run for governor
Covington defends tear down of camp
Kentucky News Briefs
Newport, NAACP to meet
Panel: Court reporting could improve
Pewee puts cap on height of towers
Robert Stephens mourned
Sewage-treatment plant dispute remains unresolved
Shooting range plan draws fire
Technical college receives land gift