By Gerard Valentino

The City of Chicago has a long and storied relationship with the gun, and particularly the Thompson submachine gun made famous by gangsters during the prohibition era. Many credit the lawlessness of that time with the city's longtime anti-gun bias and fondness for gun bans.

Whatever the cause, there is little doubt that Chicago's mayoral administrations have declared war on private ownership of firearms over the years with draconian regulations. Currently, Richard Daley resides in the Mayor's office, and is quite possibly the most anti-gun elected official in American history.

Now, his dream of an anti-gun utopian Chicago is facing its biggest challenge, and the outcome of his current battle against the private ownership of guns has national implications since the U.S Supreme Court is going to rule on the Chicago gun ban and whether the Second Amendment is binding on the states.

COLUMBUS, OH - Ohio's popular muzzleloader deer season is set to open statewide January 9-12 according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife. Last year, hunters checked 20,659 white-tailed deer during the statewide hunt.

A total of 227,748 deer have been harvested so far this season when combining the adult and youth gun seasons, early muzzleloader season, gun weekend, and the first nine weeks of the archery season. That compares to a total of 218,890 killed last year during the same time period. Hunters took a total of 252,017 deer during all of last year's hunting seasons.

Prior to the start of the hunting season, Ohio's deer population was estimated at 650,000. The Division of Wildlife expects as many as 210,000 hunters will hunt deer during the muzzleloader season.

Ohio deer hunters must possess the proper permits. Regardless of zone, method of taking or season, hunters may take only one antlered deer during the 2009-2010 deer hunting season.