At the behest of the Taft administration, Ohio State Highway Patrol leadership has repeatedly voiced its opposition to any concealed carry reform law that allows persons to exercise their right to self-defense in an automobile.

In opponent testimony before the Ohio House Criminal Justice committee, Capt. John Born argued in favor of keeping in place a ban on carrying loaded weapons in cars, stating that if a person is attacked, she can "just drive away".

Ohio Highway Patrol Superintendant Paul McClellan opposes HB12, claiming that "there is no statistical or anecdotal evidence which supports that concealment and transportation of a weapon in a motor vehicle is effective or safe as a defensive or deterrent measure."

As the hour of Senate adoption of a substitute House Bill 12 approaches, we thought it'd be healthy to review just how much REAL LIFE evidence there is that our right to self-defense MUST BE preserved in our private vehicles, as a part of reforming Ohio's concealed carry ban.

Click on the "Read More..." link below to read the wealth of anecdotal evidence Superintendant McClellan can't seem to find.

Saturday, June 07, 2003

Police were searching for three men who kidnapped a North Side man yesterday and forced him to drive to his Westerville workplace, where they made him open the safe.

Authorities were also looking for a fourth man, who drove the getaway car. The four got away with an undisclosed amount of money. The kidnapped man escaped uninjured.

The three kidnappers grabbed the man just outside his home about 6 a.m. and entered his vehicle with him, Westerville police detective Scott Dollison said. They ordered him to drive to the CVS pharmacy at 620 S. Cleveland Ave. in Westerville, where one of the kidnappers walked with the man inside and forced him to open the safe.

The kidnappers then made the man drive to Blendon Woods Metro Park on Dublin-Granville Road, where a car who had been following them also stopped. As the kidnappers got out of the man’s car, he ran away. Authorities later recovered the man’s vehicle.

Anyone with information can call Columbus police at 614-645-4624, Westerville police at 614-901-6476 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-645-8477.

Meanwhile, in a state that allows its law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed handgun for self-defense, a different outcome resulted when this California jeweler was confronted by a trio of armed robbers who drug a hostage into his store:

Murder is on the rise in the capital city. There have been 5 murders in 2 weeks in the Columbus area.

Since January, 47 people in Columbus have been the victim of a homicide.

If the violence continues as this pace, the murder rate will top last year's numbers. Eighty-one people were murdered in Columbus in 2002.

After months of record-setting pace in Cincinnati homicides, a bit of reprieve has come following the defensive shooting of an armed robber by block watch volunteer Harold McKinney.

For an even better perspective on how arming law-abiding citizens can deter crimes like homicide, consider Indianapolis, a city twice the size of Cincinnati, and almost 10% larger than Columbus: The homicide rate in Indianapolis (Indiana is a shall-issue concealed carry license state) has declined steadily for the past four years - to 83 last year.

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 here to read the entire story from the Ohio News Network.