January 23, 2004
Toledo Blade

Carryout owners have the right to defend themselves with guns and baseball bats, if necessary, Toledo police Chief Michael Navarre said yesterday.

The chief, speaking at a City Council hearing to a roomful of carryout owners, stressed that nonresistance is the best response to an armed robber.

But pressed by business owners to explain their rights to use deadly force, he said it is the same for them as it is for anyone. "If you’re looking at a weapon, you have the right to defend yourself," Chief Navarre said. "It has to be related to the amount of harm you’re facing."

Councilman Wilma Brown, who called the hearing of the public safety committee in the wake of a rash of carryout robberies, said the city is setting up a fund of $50,000 to help store owners who can’t afford to acquire surveillance and security equipment. About 20 people attended the hearing.

"When it gets violent, how do you respond?" asked Roderick Colbert, who with his wife, Yvonne, owns Convenience 4-U Carryout at Detroit and Palmwood avenues. Mr. Colbert said he has not been robbed in the three years he has owned the store, but has become worried by recent robberies and shootings. "I want to have a clear understanding, it’s been so violent," Mr. Colbert said.

When violent offenders strike in a high-profile fashion, the gun ban lobby's hypocracy comes in spades, especially, it would seem, in Cleveland.

In the wake of the Case Western Reserve University shooting last year, in spite of the fact that it was the Million Mom March who held a tasteless press conference before the victim of the shooting was even laid to rest, a headline in the Cleveland Plain Dealer that same week shouted:

"Gun backers are quick to spin every tragedy"

Fast-forward to this week: On Tuesday, a man in Lorain, having spent the prior evening arguing with his wife and having his guns confiscated by police, who feared for her safety, walked into a gun store. After breaking the law by lying on his Brady instant background check form, he broke another gun control law when he concealed his new gun on the drive to his wife's workplace, and paced the street for 20 minutes waiting for her arrival. When she arrived, the man murdered his wife, a librarian, in cold blood, and in front of several bystanders, including school children.

We could easily have called a press conference to claim that this is a perfect example of why women need to obtain concealed carry licenses, and why removing the affirmative defense laws put people at risk in Ohio. We could easily have pointed out that all the gun control laws in Ohio failed to stop this man.

But we didn't.

Look who HAS already started using this tragedy, yet again, before the victim is even laid to rest.

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

January 23, 2004
Columbus Dispatch

I knew that the editors of The Dispatch were upset about the signing of the concealed-carry bill, as was demonstrated by the Jan. 11 editorials. I did not realize that the whine of the editors was made from so many sour grapes ("2 city gun stores among leaders in sales to criminals, group says," Dispatch article, Jan. 13).

I will expect that any time one of the many gun-ban lobbies publishes any of their disinformation, The Dispatch will put it on the front page. Americans for Gun Safety is nothing more than a gun-ban group, and The Dispatch knows it. Its information is nothing more than proof of the adage that there are lies, there are damn lies and then there are statistics — many of them misquoted and misapplied.

A year from now, people will wonder what all the fuss was about. Crime will drop a small amount, and laws will be introduced to make concealed carry less restrictive because it will have worked so well.

DOUGLAS EAKINS
West Jefferson

Related Stories:
Wolf in sheep's clothing releases study on Ohio

Houston Chronicle: Concerns about gun stores misguided
A Washington-based non-profit group called Americans for Gun Safety claims to take the middle ground on gun ownership. I question its neutrality.

January 23, 2004
Dayton Daily News

RE "TAFT SOLD OUT GOOD GOVERNMENT," JAN.9: Once again the Dayton Daily News has come to the debate without evidence. The editorial suggests that Gov. Bob Taft caved in to the gun lobby. That is just silly rhetoric.

The debate is no longer about if people licensed to carry will have shoot-outs over parking spots, or use a gun in a domestic dispute, or shoot an employer over a dispute. These incidents simply do not happen with licensed carry.

We have statistics from 36 states and they all show misuse of the license or license revocations are statistically miniscule. Anyone can find these stats at the FBI Web site. Wouldn't people rather be educated about the issue, instead of blindly believing the DDN?

The writer's argument is, as usual, based on emotion or, even worse, the abject rejection of guns. Period.

Statistics show that every state with these laws experiences a decline in crime, especially serious crimes such as rape, murder and assault.

Why would Ohio be any different? Is the DDN suggesting that Ohioans cannot be trusted, or they are going out looking for a gunfight?

While the right to carry is not the crime-fighting panacea we seek, it is another piece of the crime-fighting puzzle we need. It is welcomed by many Ohioans, including some police departments.

My thanks go to the Ohio legislators who realized a need for this legislation, and to the responsible people who will carry legally.

Harold Keller
Dayton