Tiny victim is anti-violence crusaders’ biggest hope
October 17, 2003
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The newly formed Urban Crime Advisory Commission convened its first meeting yesterday under a 40-foot billboard from which the image of 1-day old Alamar John-William Wright looked down.

Alamar was killed a month after his birth during a robbery attempt May 29 at his Weinland Park home. He has become the poster child for a campaign to stamp out violence.

Neighborhood leaders and state Rep. Larry Price, a Columbus Democrat, hope that 10 billboards bearing Alamar’s image and 1,000 yard signs bearing the message "Why the Violence?" will reduce the violence in targeted urban hot spots.

Why the violence??? In part, because a CCW law has not been passed. Criminals who do not care about the law will not care about billboards or yard signs.

Was the robbery that resulted in this child's death one of the 127 estimated to have been preventable if HB12 had been passed in June?

"It's getting people to realize that it takes a community effort," Columbus Police Officer Steven Billups said. "Law enforcement can't do this alone."

Amen. We heartily agree.

Click here to read the entire story from the Columbus Dispatch (subscription site - paid access only).

To read the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Akron Beacon Journal, or Youngstown Vindicator, you'd think there has been no "new" news on the concealed carry effort in the days since the Supreme Court ruling.

That's because these three papers have neglected to cover what has been treated by the rest of the state's media as a major news story.

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

Lorain Morning Journal 10/17/2003

LORAIN -- This Sunday at high noon a stretch of West Erie Avenue between Lakeview Park and City Hall will resemble the Old West -- if you take away the cars, paved roads, Northeast Ohio climate and traffic lights.

About 70 people carrying holstered pistols will walk from the park to City Hall to demonstrate in support of House Bill 12, a state law stalled in Columbus that would let ordinary citizens carry concealed firearms.

''What would you rather have -- people openly carry guns or carrying concealed firearms?'' asked Daniel White, a 29-year-old Lorain native who is organizing the walk. ''We don't want to get in people's faces. We are urging people to call their congressman.''

Under Ohio law, it is legal to carry a firearm as long as it is in open view, with restrictions. People can't carry a gun into a police station or a courtroom, for example, and they aren't permitted to keep an unsecured firearm in their car.

White, who has never been the victim of a violent crime, said he got the idea from similar walks held in Cincinnati and Columbus. He said he wants people to understand that a state with concealed carry is a far safer than one without it.

''Every day you open the newspaper and read about someone getting raped or robbed or killed,'' he said. ''If someone robs a store, and they see someone carrying (a gun out in the open), that's the first person they're going to shoot ... it puts everyone else at risk.''

Toledo Blade
Regional News | Article published Friday, October 17, 2003

SWANTON — Following the lead of “defense” walks in cities such as Columbus, Dayton, and Lima, local organizers will lead their own march Sunday on Main Street in Swanton.

The walks are protests in response to a recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling that the state’s ban against carrying concealed weapons is constitutional. Participants will carry their loaded handguns in plain view, which is legal in Ohio.

The Swanton march will begin with a safety talk at 1 p.m., followed by a walk through the neighborhoods. The staging area is at 517 South Main St.

Click here to read the story in the Toledo Blade.