Article Archive

Date

Are they putting this kind of effort into finding Tony Gordon's killer?

4 work on officer's killing
Associated Press
November 2, 2003

DAYTON, Ohio - Four years after off-duty police officer Kevin Brame was slain, Dayton homicide detectives are increasing efforts to find the killer.

Detectives Dan Hall and Donna Pack have been working only the Brame case since June. Their team recently added two members, including a special agent with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.

"We're living and breathing this case every day," Hall said. "We've about got a full-time homicide unit here working this case."

Commentary:
We can't help but wonder - is as much attention being placed on other homicide victims in Dayton? Tony Gordon's murderer is still at large, as are many others. Do these innocent victims deserve any less attention because they were not law enforcement officers when they were murdered?

Murderers are stalking our streets, and Ohio's defenseless citizens deserve the right to protect themselves. Only political delays by some Republican leaders are standing in the way of them doing so.

Click here to read the story in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Ohio Crime Clock ticks up while committee delays

Ohioans were forced to wait four months for the Senate's HB12 conference committee appointments. Now they've been forced to wait another three weeks until all the committee members can find the time to meet together.

While all eyes look to the General Assembly for leadership on this issue, defenseless Ohioans continue to be victimized, and the Ohio Crime Clock tally (located at the top-right of the www.buckeyefirearms.org homepage) continues to rack up numbers of Ohioans who would not have been victimized if HB12 were already law.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for some of the tragic crimes that have been perpetrated on the innocent this week.

The lengths they'll go to spread their anti-gun message

On October 22, a letter to the editor entitled "Walks show concealed carry
is unneeded" was published in the Columbus Dispatch, under the name Lori
O'Neill. O'Neill is the President of the Cleveland chapter of the so-called
"Million" Mom March.

A response was published on this website the following day: href="http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=866">Gun
Control Extremists Advocate Open Carry?!?

In the November 5, 2003 issue of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a letter
entitled "Carrying guns in plain view is wiser alternative" was published
under the name Jackie Spector of Parma.

The letters are identical.

href="http://libpub.dispatch.com/cgi-bin/documentv1?DBLIST=cd03&DOCNUM=46391
&TERMV=209:9:218:5:5741:9:5750:5:10779:9:10789:5:26745:9:26755:5:"
target="_blank">Click here to read the letter, under the name Lori
O'Neill, in the October 22, 2003 Columbus Dispatch.

href="http://www.cleveland.com/letters/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1
068028248258600.xml" target="_blank">Click here to read the same letter, under the name Jackie Spector, in the November 5, 2003 Cleveland Plain
Dealer.

Aside from questions of ethics, would it not have been much more appropriate for Spector to have spent a little time and brainpower writing her own letter, rather than plagarizing O'Neill?

Click on the "Read More..." link below to read from some pro-CCW
letter-writers, all of whom managed to squeeze out their own original ideas
and get them published in the past few days.

OH GUN Group Starts Memorial For Carjack Victim, Patrol Silent

November 10, 2003

Gun Week (www.gunweek.com)
by Dave Workman
Senior Editor

Ohioans for Concealed Carry (OFCC)
has established a memorial fund to benefit the daughter of a carjacking victim who died, the group insists, for essentially
following the advice of the Ohio State
Highway Patrol (OSHP).

James A. "Tony" Gordon, 27, was shot
to death Aug. 6 when he tried to drive away
from a carjacking in Dayton. That's precisely what OSHP Capt. John Born advised Ohioans to do during a Feb. 16 interview with The Columbus Dispatch,
while his agency continued to oppose passage of a concealed carry statute for Buckeye State residents.

During that interview, Born stated, "We
do not want a loaded firearm readily accessible to the driver of a car... If there's a dangerous situation and you're in your car, you can drive off."

"Whether aware of it at the time or not,"
OFCC said in a statement, "Tony was doing just what the OSHP would have recommended he do in that situation. While his car was stopped for a red light ... an armed criminal approached his car and
shouted at him to get out. Tony tried to
drive away, and his attacker fired, striking him in the chest."

Offered several opportunities to respond
to the OFCC comment, Lt. Rick Fambro
instead provided Gun Week with the text
of an open letter on the agency's position
about concealed carry, signed by OSHP
Chief Col. Paul McClellan.

Gun Week had initially contacted OSHP
for an interview with McClellan, but we
were turned down. Fambro told Gun Week
to submit questions in writing. Gun Week
specifically asked OSHP to answer three
additional questions, relating to the disparity between that agency's position on
concealed carry and the position of the
Buckeye State Sheriff's Association and
Ohio Fraternal Order of Police.

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

Conference panel aims to forge compromise next week

Gongwer News Service
November 5, 2003

CONFERENCE PANEL AIMS TO TRY AND FORGE COMPROMISE ON CONCEAL-AND-CARRY BILL NEXT WEEK; SPONSOR 'ENCOURAGED'

A joint House-Senate conference committee formed to work out differences on
a bill allowing citizens to carry concealed firearms is expected to meet
Wednesday, Nov. 12, sponsor Rep. James Aslanides (R-Coshocton) said Tuesday.

Mr. Aslanides characterized the hearing as "organizational." He said
panelists would discuss areas of the bill (HB 12) that are ripe for change, including
provisions addressing affirmative defense and limits of CCW in automobiles.
Those issues, described as "holes in the bill" by the sponsor, have been the
focus of contention for months between the State Highway Patrol, the support
of which has been deemed necessary by Governor Bob Taft, and the bill's
supporters in the House.

Mr. Aslanides suggested there has been progress in negotiations even though
he wouldn't provide details. "I'm very encouraged," he said.

"We're having discussions," Mr. Aslanides said. "We're talking with (the Legislative Service Commission) and I know the governor is speaking with the
Highway Patrol."

The sponsor said the House remains concerned with current language regarding
storage in an auto. "We don't like that because it makes it accessible to
everybody in the vehicle," Mr. Aslanides said.

Nonetheless, the House may have to bend more to get a bill passed because the governor has endorsed the Senate version as acceptable in light of a lack of opposition from the State Highway Patrol. In addition, the bill is considered more of a priority in the House than in the Senate or Taft administration.

"None of our positions have changed on this," Taft spokesman Orest Holubec
said Tuesday.

Mr. Holubec said the governor maintains he will only sign a CCW bill that entails background checks and strict training requirements and has the backing of all statewide law enforcement groups.

Senate President Doug White (R-Manchester), who delayed naming conferees to negotiate differences in part because of the governor's reluctance to
embrace suggested House changes, is participating in the committee deliberations.