Ohio's largest cowboy action shooting club, The Firelands Peacemakers, has notified Lorain 'Defense' Walk organizer Dan White that their members will join other Clevelanders who plan to openly carry firearms this Sunday in a visual display of the choice Ohioans have before them as a result of the Supreme Court ruling which upheld a ban on concealing a firearm for
self-defense.

"Opponents of concealed carry legislation are fond of claiming a CCW reform law will make Ohio like the Wild West", said Ken Wilson, President of The Firelands Peacemakers. "Ohio already IS the Wild West (open carry, Vermont-style), thanks to the state Supreme Court and current Ohio law."

"By upholding a 144-year old concealed carry ban, the Supreme Court and a
few obstructionists in Senate leadership, who are protecting Governor Taft,
make open carry the law of the land in Ohio for those who want to exercise their 'fundamental individual right' to bear arms for self-defense," said Chad Baus, Ohioans For Concealed Carry spokesperson. "Concealed carry is
a much more modern solution for the defenseless citizens of our state. Yet
Governor Taft and Senate President Doug White seem to want us to remain in
the 19th century."

The Firelands Peacemakers cowboy action shooters will dress in full Old West-style cowboy regalia, complete with fully-functional modern and antique-style
firearms in dual-holsters. Interested persons may join the Peacemakers on
Sunday at 12:00 at the Cleveland-area Potluck Picnic and 'Defense' Walk in Lorain. Other Walks are being held this weekend in the Toledo-area, and in Manchester, home of Senate President Doug White.

The 'Defense' Walks are being staged to illustrate the absurdity of the Supreme Court's ruling, which upheld a 144-year old concealed carry ban because it "maintains a safe and orderly society", while at the same time ruling that Ohioans' Constitutional right to bear arms for self-defense is
still protected because citizens can openly carry firearms.

For more information, contact:

Ken Wilson
President, Firelands Peacemakers
jshiloh45@mediawave.com

Dan White
Organizer, Cleveland-area Potluck Picnic and 'Defense' Walk
cable@lorainohio.net

In an October 15 editorial, the Cleveland Plain Dealer is singing the praises of reformers who are promising to root out corruption in the Greater Cleveland Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"The bureau - which gets more than four-fifths of its budget from taxes on hotel guests - was rocked last spring by news reports of spending on travel, meals and sports outings that seemed to benefit bureau executives and board members while doing little to bring more visitors to Cleveland."

"Greater Cleveland needs a tourism bureau that is nimble and entrepreneurial, that more aggressively courts visitors and small professional meetings and that gives the public the best possible return on its considerable investment."

"It's encouraging, then, to see the Greater Cleveland Convention and Visitors Bureau taking a hard look at both its past practices and its future opportunities."

We wish the Plain Dealer's editors would take a look at how continued opposition to concealed carry reform can effect tourism...

October 13, 2003: Men claiming to be deputies rob hotel guests

...or at how openly carrying citizens might be viewed by tourists visiting our state. Most toursist, of course, will be much more familiar with the CONCEALED firearms they are used to NOT seeing in their home states.

An employee at a store at Westfield Shoppingtown Franklin Park was forced into her car at knifepoint by a man who raped her in her vehicle at a nearby apartment complex, drove her around for several hours, and sexually assaulted her again in South Toledo.

As the 41-year-old Toledo woman walked to her car in the parking lot at the West Toledo mall around 9:10 p.m. Monday, the man approached her and asked her several questions.

He pulled out a knife and forced her into her car, a white Chevrolet Lumina, Toledo police said.

The man drove the victim’s car from the lot to an apartment building parking lot near Sylvania Avenue and Talmadge Road and raped her. He drove to South Toledo to the area of Western Avenue and the Anthony Wayne Trail, then to the area of Spencer Street and South Avenue, where he used the telephone, police said.

The man then drove to a secluded area in the vicinity of City Park Avenue and the Trail, where he raped the victim again. About 1:30 a.m. yesterday, he got out of the car and fled.

The victim drove herself to police headquarters downtown to report the assault. She was treated at a local hospital, Capt. Ron Spann said.

The captain said the suspect and the victim engaged in conversation during the ordeal and that the suspect threatened to kill her with the knife.

Toledoans wishing to exercise their recently-upheld Constitutional, "fundamental individual right" to bear arms for self-defense cannot do so in Toledo. The following ordinance is being cited by Chief Mike Navarre as reason for which anyone openly carrying a firearm for self-defense within the city limits would be arrested.

Toledo Municipal Code

549.18. Weapon possession in public places prohibited.

(a) No person, in and about the streets, alleys or other public places of the City, or at any place other than the residence
or fixed place of business of such person, or while on a suitable firing range, or while being used for lawful hunting, or while
unloaded at a public firearms display, show or exhibition, shall be in possession of; carry or have on or about his person, any
pistol, revolver, rifle, shotgun or any weapon, by whatever name known, which is designed to expel a projectile or projectiles
by the action of expanding gases, or any bowie knife, dirk, blackjack, billyclub, brass knuckles or any other weapon capable of inflicting bodily harm.

(b) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.

(1952 Code § 17-13-121; Ords. 919-73, 122-74)

It's obvious from the constant headlines in the Toledo Blade that only the law-abiding are honoring such bans, and becoming defenseless victims in the process:

Point Place plagued by string of robberies

Gunman robs Kroger on Woodville Road

Officer shoots man after chase

Drive-by shooting suspect arrested during traffic stop

Inmate pulls gun, fires shots in county jail

Mall employee raped twice in 4-hour ordeal (more in separate story to follow - this is outrageous)

Toledo City Officials can be contacted as follows: (click on the "Read More..." link below for contact information.

Mayor to launch program on South Side
October 08, 2003
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Mayor Michael B. Coleman outlined the final piece of his crime-fighting plan yesterday: the creation of the Neighborhood Safety Academy.

The academy doesn’t have a building or charge tuition — it’s a curriculum that would travel to different neighborhoods where city employees would teach residents to prevent and report crime.

"I strongly believe fighting crime is everyone’s responsibility. Everybody," Coleman said.

"Police have a primary role. . . . But we can’t forget individual responsibility."

The academy will allow residents to be trained in their choice of topics — prostitution, burglaries, blight or speeding traffic.

Commentary:
As always, we are supportive of efforts to lower crime. But we do notice there is NO mention of the "individual responsibility" to fight violent crime.

That's because the Columbus Mayor opposes the very thing that could most directly and immediately lower violent crime in his city - concealed carry reform legislation.

Click here to read the entire story in the Columbus Dispatch.

Gun Rights Advocates Take Aim at Concealed Carry Bans

By Robert B. Bluey
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 15, 2003

(CNSNews.com) - After victories in five states already this year, concealed carry advocates are turning their attention to the handful of remaining states that continue to prohibit gun owners from carrying a concealed firearm.

Battles are brewing in the Ohio and Wisconsin legislatures, and Second Amendment supporters are hoping to soon end prohibitions in Kansas as well. Those states, along with Illinois and Nebraska, ban concealed firearms.

Four states - Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri and New Mexico - enacted laws this year to become shall-issue states, meaning each has a set of stipulations that gun owners must meet to be issued a permit. Alaska eased its law to allow its citizens to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

Even though the fight in Wisconsin is far from over, Baker said the tide started to turn when neighboring states Minnesota and Michigan passed similar laws. But before gun owners start carrying concealed firearms in Wisconsin, they must first win over a hostile governor. A vote before the state Senate is expected next week.

In Missouri, it didn't matter that Democrat Gov. Bob Holden nixed the concealed carry bill because the lawmakers overrode his veto. Baker said he was unsure how such a situation would play out in Wisconsin.