November 22, 2004
Dayton Daily News

The gunman picked the wrong time to try to rob the Barnsider restaurant.

'Every time he'd get up, I'd hit him. ... I wasn't going to give him the opportunity to hurt anybody. ... I told him that he was under citizen's arrest.'

A customer, Troy Browder, 41, of Riverside, was sitting at the bar Sunday night as bartender Barbara Griggs was closing.

A man walked in just before 10 p.m.

"Can I get you something?" Griggs asked.

"Your money," the man replied, putting a .22-caliber revolver on the bar table. "All of it."

That's when Browder said he pretended to be sick in the stomach and crawled on the floor. He begged the gunman not to shoot him.

"As soon as he turned away from me, that's when I got him," Browder said Monday. He jumped and hit the gunman in the back with both hands, slamming the man to the floor and grabbing the revolver.

"I beat him with the handle of the gun," said Browder, who thought he was about three inches shorter than the gunman.

"Every time he'd get up, I'd hit him. I wasn't going to give him the opportunity to hurt anybody. I told him that he was under citizen's arrest," Browder said.

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A manager and a cook dialed 911, and Montgomery County sheriff's deputies arrived at the restaurant, 5202 N. Main St., at 9:56 p.m. to find Robert Tarter, 44, of Dayton injured and restrained by Browder.

"It could have been disastrous," said Griggs, who has been tending bar there for more than 20 years and has never been robbed. "We all were scared. He had no mask. Had Troy not have done that, the man could have killed us all."

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

November 20, 2004
Cincinnati Enquirer (click for complete story)

A 21-year-old woman's federal court suit ended with $148,000 in settlements promised from a Fairfield night club, Butler County and a former Butler sheriff's deputy who raped her in 2002.

But the woman says she got something more important than money: An admission from the officer and the club that they were wrong.

"I'd rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable, without them saying they were guilty," she said.

"Them saying they were guilty, taking that blame, means so much more to me than money, I can't put it into words."

The settlements stem from a 2002 Butler County criminal case in which Kirk Kash was convicted of kidnapping and raping the woman while he was a Butler County sheriff's deputy working off-duty at the Metropolis nightclub in Fairfield.

Kash, now 40, resigned his sheriff's job and is serving a four-year prison term.

...Kash and Metropolis signed settlement agreements; under a federal court rule that means they admitted to the woman's allegations, said Jennifer Branch, the victim's lawyer.

The woman's civil complaint alleged Kash raped and kidnapped her and that Metropolis failed to properly train and supervise its security personnel. Metropolis has paid its $23,000 settlement.

Commentary:
Why can other victims try to hold businesses accountable, yet stores who disarm everyone but the criminals get a free-pass under Ohio law?

Businesses which render their customers and employees defenseless by posting "no concealed carry" signs should have the same liability exposure that any other business has.

Related Stories:
Human right of self-defense doesn't end at the workplace

Ohio's working families deserve right to self-defense to and from jobs

The Truth about Concealed Carry and Business

NO FIREARMS ALLOWED? Businesses May Incur Extraordinary Liability

November 20, 2004
Toledo Blade

LIMA, Ohio - Police are warning women walking near downtown to be wary of a man whom investigators say assaulted two women.

Earlier this week a woman reported being attacked in the 200 block of North Main Street, and another was assaulted at Market and Elizabeth streets.

In both cases, the man approached the women and asked what time it was before assaulting them.

The suspect is described as white, in his 20s, medium height, 170 to 200 pounds, with light brown hair. He was wearing blue jeans, sneakers, and a blue, waist-length jacket with a Nike swoosh on the back.

Commentary:
There is more women can do to protect themselves against this type of attack than to "be wary".

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According to the 2003 National Crime Victimization Survey, 93% of violent crimes against innocent citizens last year were carried out without the criminal use of a firearm. 96% of rapes and 75% of robberies were committed by criminals without firearms.

For all rapes, woman who resisted with a gun were 2.5 times more likely to escape without injury than those who did not resist, and 4 times more likely to escape uninjured than those who resisted with any means other than a gun.” (Southwick, Journal of Criminal Justice, 2000)

Being prey is a choice. Your choice?

Advocates for concealed weapons laws have some points to make

November 13, 2004
Chicago Tribune

Howard Witt, Tribune Southwest Bureau Chief, recently on assignment in
Phoenix

PHOENIX -- Depending on your point of view, the Shrine Auditorium in downtown Phoenix was either the safest or most dangerous place in the nation one Saturday night this fall.

Inside the main banquet hall, some 400 assorted Arizonans, nearly all of them with guns strapped to their hips, stashed in their waistbands or stuffed in
their purses, were gathered to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the state's concealed carry law, which allows citizens to pack heat wherever the sun
doesn't shine.

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

November 20, 2004
Dayton Daily News

Re: the Nov. 16 Nicholas Kristof commentary "Fresh thinking on guns needed":

Kristof says that you can tell if a camera is loaded just by looking at it, and that the same should hold true to a gun.

The only similarity between a camera and a gun is that they both use the term "shoot."

Every gun, and I mean every gun, should always be considered loaded until proved otherwise. It should be checked each and every time it is handled.

Don't take someone else's word that it is unloaded until you check it yourself. If you don't know how to open the action, ask to be shown.

Gun owners have to be responsible for their firearms, period. Keep them out of the reach of children and careless adults, too. We have laws that deal with irresponsible owners, and I support full enforcement of those laws.

Kristof also wants a "public safety campaign" started. Well, guess what, folks, it's been ongoing for quite some time now.

One example is the National Rifle Association's "Eddie the Eagle" program. Have you ever heard of it? If not, it's because the liberals have kept it out of our children's hands in school systems throughout our great land.

Bottom line is, if you own a gun, be responsible. Educate your family members about firearm safety. Let's face it, like or not, guns are here to stay.

Bob Gambrell
Beavercreek