An article covering Senate action on HB12 has been filed by Jim Siegel for the Gannett News Service today, and will be appearing in multiple central Ohio newspapers over the next 72 hours.

The Ohio Chamber of Commerce (normally known as a more conservative, pro-business lobbying group) is towing a Million Mom March line by inferring that CCW at work would create an OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) concern.

Perhaps they should talk with their sister organizations in 35 other states, where businesses report NO problems with CCW. Or perhaps they should check with OSHA, as we did! Jeff Lewis, Safety and Occupational Health Manager, of Region 6 of OSHA, has told Ohioans For Concealed Carry that OSHA has no policy or the authority to regulate firearms in the workplace. Should an employer choose to allow firearms in the workplace, Lewis says, he would be under no violation of any OSHA regulation or guideline.

The most striking part of the piece is that, after nearly four months of debate, four different hearings and a vote on the House floor, the Fraternal Order of Police labor union has finally decided to voice their concerns with HB12.

For more on how the FOP fought to destroy HB274, click here.

For more about the Ohio Chamber of Commerce's collaboration with the Million Mom March to fight HB12, click here.

To read the Gannett News article in it's entirety, click here for the Zanesville Times-Recorder.

Or here for the Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum.

Or here for the Newark Advocate.

You'd think it was another case of SARS.

We've been warning for two months that anti-self-defense extremists were testing a new spin in their fight against concealed carry reform, by claiming that "companies in virtually every industry will be adversely affected if a concealed carry weapons bill passes in Ohio".

Ohio's liberally-dominated media outlets (such as the Youngstown Vindicator, the Cincinnati Enquirer, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer) sprang to action to promote the spin, by reprinting a letter to the editor promoting these assertions over, and over, and over. Crain's Cleveland Business even went so far as to adopt language from this uninformed letter to the editor into an anti-self-defense editorial, and sign their name to it.

Now, the Dayton Daily News has joined the chorus, whining on behalf of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, who is officially "uneasy", according to Chamber lobbyist Dan Navin.

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

Time and again, we read quotes by Ohio Highway Patrol bureaucrats, claiming that concealed carry reform would put their officers in danger. But as this tragic shooting in Youngstown illustrates, Ohio's officers are already in danger from guns in criminal's cars.

The truth is, research proves concealed carry reform laws, which puts firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens, make police safer.

Prof. David Mustard of the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business found that right-to-carry laws reduced the rate that officers were killed by about 2 percent per year for each additional year the laws were in effect.

If Ohio's law enforcement bureaucrats & Bob Taft truly cared about promoting front-line officer safety, they would drop their silly opposition to this legislation, and stand up to tell the truth: Ohio's rank-and-file cops support, and truly need, this life-saving legislation.

Three incidents across Ohio in the past few days indicate that law-abiding citizens are beginning to fight back against the crime-wave that plagues our state.

In Summit County, an off-duty deputy shot and killed an intruder when he failed to respond to an order not to enter his home. The would-be assailant turned out to be a convicted murderer.
• Off-duty Summit deputy shoots intruder at his house
*In the Canton Repository's Friday poll question, relating to this story, 72% say they'd do the same as this off-duty deputy did.

In Columbus, a store clerk fired at, and apprehended, a man who attempted the armed robbery of his store, which has been the scene of at least four robberies and shootings since 1992, including a fatal one in 2000.
• North Side clerk fights back

In Dayton, home-owners shot a young prowler when he threw a large chuck of concrete through the glass door in the back of their house. The injured assailant was convicted of breaking into the same Hillmont Avenue house last year.
• Juvenile prowler shot at Dayton home

Any instance of attack is a tragedy. But the law-abiding citizens of our state deserve their right to self-defense, to increase the likelihood that it is the attacker, and not themselves, who wind up in the hospital or morgue.

We recently reported on an anti-self-defense editorial written by Columbus Dispatch Senior Editor Joe Hallet. In the article, Mr. Hallet admitted that he doesn't want to hear from readers about his opinion, that he doesn't care what they think, and that he dreaded the email and voicemail messages he anticipates receiving (and plans on ignoring) after writing his latest anti self-defense editorial.

Columbus resident Carl Fry was undeterred, and wrote an excellent response, which was published in the May 1 edition of the Dispatch.

Apparently the Dispatch was more interested in the responses of those who agreed with Mr. Hallett, because they also printed two praising him for "speaking out" against loud and intimidating special interest groups". We'd be willing to bet the letters didn't come to the Dispatch in a 2-1 ratio against CCW - any takers at the editorial board?

Because the Dispatch website is subscription-based, Mr. Fry's entire letter has been archived, and can be accessed by clicking on the "Read More..." link below.

The mother and daughter sat in the bleachers holding hands as Columbus police gave chilling details of a serial rapist's 13-year assault on the Linden area.

"This series of rapes has gone on far, far too long,'' Deputy Chief Antone Lanata told about 100 people who gathered last night for a town meeting at the Linden Recreational Center.

On a list of 21 victims, the daughter had been the rapist's first victim, at the age of 13; her mother, the fourth.

According to federal crime statistics, Columbus has the highest rate of reported rapes among the largest U.S. cities.

Data for the first half of 2002 -- the most recent available for cities nationwide -- as well as for all of 2001, show a rate here twice that of Los Angeles and four times as high as New York City.

Every day that Ohio's Republican leadership waits to pass concealed carry reform increases the defenseless victim list in our state, and forces otherwise law-abiding citizens into making a choice between facing felony arrest or being unable to defend themselves. This simply should not be.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for information on how concealed carry reform can reduce this victimization of women in Ohio.

Ohio State University's student newspaper, The Lantern, has not been known for taking a fair and balanced approach to the issue of concealed carry reform in the past.

But this go' round, budding journalist Matthew Carroll seems to have attempted a much more journalistic look at this story.

Excellent quotes from OFCC President Jeff Garvas, HB12 sponsor Rep. Jim Aslanides, and some duds from anti-self-defense activist Toby Hoover and yet another uninformed Ohio Highway Patrol bureaucrat.

Click here (requires free login) to read the entire story in The Lantern, or click on the "Read More..." link below for an archived version.