In recent weeks, both Colorado and Minnesota legislatures revised their concealed carry laws from "may issue" to "shall issue".

Even though these states laws previously recognized SOME citizens' right to self-defense, their law had been abused in many places by the political whims liberal sheriffs. And despite their experience with concealed carry, anti-self-defense extremists in those states are still warning of death in the streets on the eve of "shall issue" passage.

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In a new editorial, the Grand Forks Herald is informing it's neighbors that "N.D.'s experience should reassure Minnesotans worried about concealed weapons."

Click on the "Read More..." link below to read about how the new "shall issue" laws in Colorado and Minnesota are quickly being put into practice by citizens eager to protect themselves.

Here's a story about America you won't likely see in the American media:

It is midweek night at the Blue Ridge Arsenal and Ginger Wright, passionate gun owner and professional shooting coach, cannot seem to hit the centre of the target.

"I'm shooting in heels," she says with a laugh. "I don't usually shoot in heels." She steadies her .45 calibre Sig Sauer once more and the spent cartridges fly.

Mrs Wright is shooting in a smart blue business suit, a pink blouse and heels. At her feet sits a canvas holdall with two more handguns. On the side is printed: "Refuse to be a victim".

Three years ago Mrs Wright, 33, a computer projects manager, had never fired a gun. She did not want one in her home in suburban Virginia. Now she is a part-time shooting instructor, specialising in personal protection.

More and more of her pupils are just like her: young married women worried about their safety in an America haunted by uncertainty.

A poll has confirmed what Ginger Wright already knew: September 11 and the terrorism alerts since have prompted a shift in America's gun debate, most dramatically among married suburban women.

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

A three-time "trooper of the year" has been fired from his job with the State Highway Patrol for conduct unbecoming an officer.

Robert L. Burd, 31, was fired on May 20, said patrol spokeswoman Sgt. Robin R. Schmutz. Burd, a union member, has filed a grievance with the state’s Office of Collective Bargaining to fight the dismissal, said spokesman Ben Piscitelli.

Burd pleaded not guilty last month in Hardin County Common Pleas Court to three misdemeanor assault charges and two felony charges of intimidating a witness, according to court records.

He and his two brothers are accused of attacking several people in the parking lot of a Kenton bar, about 60 miles northwest of Columbus. The brothers also were charged.

Burd became a trooper in 1993 and served his entire career with the Findlay post in Hancock County, the patrol said. He was named trooper of the year — an honor based on his ethics, leadership qualities, communication skills and enthusiasm for the job — in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

He had been on administrative leave since April, when he was indicted for the alleged fight in June 2002.

OFCC PAC Commentary:
We've asked this before, and it deserves to be asked again: Should we judge by society's worst examples?

Should we judge the Ohio Highway Patrol by this trooper's alleged lack of self-control and violent behavior? Would it be altogether right for us to judge that because of this one trooper's alleged failures, all Ohio trooper's right to carry a concealed firearm for self-defense (which they have now, unlike you), should be removed?

Of course, the answer is no. And the Ohio Highway Patrol certainly would agree with that answer. So why, then, do they continue to judge Ohio's law-abiding citizens in this manner?

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has printed two excellent responses to an anti-HB12 column published in that paper recently by Case Western Reserve shooting victim Susan Helper.

Marc K. Myers' and Tom Meder's letters are both worth a read, but their most basic point can be summed up here:

Since everything Biswanath Halder did at CWRU is already illegal, refusing to pass House Bill 12 would do absolutely NOTHING to prevent future such crimes.

But passing HB12, on the other hand, most certainly could.

City officials and the Toledo media are busy touting the fact that a computer glitch falsely indicated Toledo's overall crime rate in 2002 rose by 2%, when in fact it dropped by 1%. The nature of the malfunction caused by some double-counting.

But they're certainly not headlining the real story: despite a ban on inexpensive handguns in the city, and despite city-funded gun "buyback" programs (both of which were intended to reduce violent crime), violent crimes - homicide, rape, robbery, and serious assault - rose 4.3 percent last year.

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

In a Washington Times article discussing the notion that gun-control has become a loosing argument for Democrat politicians, anti-self-defense extremists had this to say about the Democrat's unwillingness to focus on passing more gun control laws:

"Whoever is advising them on gun control should be shot." -- Blaine Rummel, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

Uh, is it just us, or is that one of the most ironic statements ever spoken by a gun grabber?

Click here to read the entire article in the Washington Times.