Gongwer News Service - Last week, Governor Bob Taft announced that he has appointed Union County Sheriff John Overly to head up the state's homeland security efforts in the Department of Public Safety.

The sheriff, who is expected to join the department in June, will direct operational activities for the State of Ohio Security Task Force and the State Building Security Review Committee. He will also advise DPS Director
Kenneth Morckel on program development, analysis and policies and procedures
related to homeland security.

"Sheriff Overly brings a wealth of experience in law enforcement and
community relations to help Ohio strengthen our defenses and preparedness," Mr. Taft said in a statement announcing the appointment. "He will be a great addition to the Department of Public Safety as we continue our work in
ensuring the citizens of Ohio are safe."

Director Morckel (former head of the Ohio Highway Patrol) said the sheriff has vast experience in working with first responders and also led the implementation of Union County's MARCS project.

OFCC PAC Commentary:
Since the Buckeye State Sheriff's Association represents a large group of law enforcement officials who support concealed carry reform, perhaps Sheriff Overly will be able to enlighten his new anti-self-defense bosses on the merits of this legislation, and the benefits it will provide to Homeland Security efforts.

I recently got the Ohio FOP's annual request for money. Here is my reply:

Gongwer News Service - A Senate committee that has heard extensive testimony on a measure (HB 12) that would specifically permit gun owners to carry their weapons in a concealed fashion expects to have a substitute bill prepared for consideration next week and could call for a vote the following week, its chairman said Tuesday.

Senator Steve Austria (R-Beavercreek), chair of the Senate Judiciary on Criminal Justice Committee, said he the committee will be addressing three key issues – property owners’ ability to restrict guns; carrying weapons in vehicles and affirmative defense – in the new version of the bill.

He said, however, that the committee appears to be split on how to handle those issues. Negotiations, the senator said after the panel’s meeting on Tuesday, are ongoing with Sponsor Rep. Jim Aslanides (R-Coshocton), House leaders and officials from Governor Bob Taft’s office.

His comments came after a relatively brief meeting at which witnesses called for a wide range of changes in the bill – from making technical changes to enacting a more wide-open Vermont-style weapons law. Because the tide of witnesses appears to be slowing, Chairman Austria canceled the panel’s meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

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

A man suspected in the killings of five women was arrested peacefully outside a tire store, ending a months-long manhunt in a case that terrified women across Louisiana.

Derrick Todd Lee, 34, was taken into custody by three police officers Tuesday evening, Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington said. Authorities had just missed apprehending Lee at a homeless shelter and then at a motel.

"We have taken a very dangerous person that is a serial murder suspect off the streets," Pennington said. He said Lee could be returned to Louisiana as early as Wednesday.

Click on the "Read More..." link below to find out how this case applies to Ohio's fight to restore self-defense rights.

Cincinnati Enquirer
May 28, 2003

In the Mike Keefe cartoon published on May 25, a man explains to his female companion that the "violent sociopath" holding a gun on her has a concealed weapon's permit, so it's OK. Well, are we supposed to believe that the violent sociopath has a gun only because of a concealed carry law? The violent sociopath doesn't need a permit; his permit comes from the voices in his head. The point of concealed carry, as the cartoonist surely knows, is to leave the violent sociopath in the dark about what the victim couple might be carrying by way of defense and thus, perhaps, he might be dissuaded.

Gene Wolters
Anderson Township

We were quite surprised to see the terribly misleading cartoon, to which Mr. Wolters is referring, in the Enquirer, a paper which has published two pro-concealed carry reform editorials in as many years. The cartoonist is from a newspaper in Colorado, a state which has just improved the concealed carry law from "may issue" to "shall issue". Obviously the media in Colorado went to the same journalism schools that many in Ohio did.

Columbus Dispatch
Sunday, May 25, 2003

In answer to the lecture on the concealed-carry gun law from Dr. Jonathan Groner (letter, May 14), I wonder if he has been so preoccupied with the deaths of shooting victims that he has missed the many victims of drug overdoses, lawn-mower amputations, auto accidents, muggings, rapes, assaults, robberies and the ever-present fear of being a victim of any felon who makes use of a handgun?

Lawbreakers carry guns, usually concealed. That's what makes them lawbreakers. If an intruder forced his way into the doctor's home, instead of using a weapon, any weapon, maybe even a nine iron, I'm afraid all the odds would favor the intruder with a handgun. Perhaps the good doctor could talk him to death!

JOE RAILE
Columbus

Not all physicians have come under the spell of the anti-Constitutionalists. Those Ohioans fighting battles against a misinformed medical community would do well to consider the words of Dr. Timothy M. Billups, MD, FACEP, who submitted written testimony in support of HB12. Billups is a "residency trained, Board Certified Emergency Medicine physician" with "nine years of clinical experience in several Emergency Departments in the Cleveland and Akron areas".

For an even greater resource, check out Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws which a collaborative effort by members of KeepAndBearArms.com.

The Columbus Dispatch's Lee Leonard has published a column that does a good job of explaining the most recent state of the debate on potential amendments to HB12 in the Senate.

Click here to read the entire column or read below for the story, and commentary.

Monday, May 26, 2003
LEE LEONARD

The debate over whether to allow concealed handguns in Ohio has always been about constitutional rights and individual liberty, but recently it has taken a turn toward property rights.

Some conservatives may be torn between supporting the right to carry concealed weapons and the right of a private property owner to ban them.

That doesn’t mean that a gun rights advocate would drop his or her support of concealed carry just because a small portion of the proposed law may violate property rights. But it does set up an interesting conflict.

The House-passed bill is sitting in a Senate committee and is expected to emerge in several weeks.