November 26, 2004
Wall Street Journal

In Oklahoma, a Ban On Guns Pits State
Against Big Firms

VALLIANT, Okla. -- In late summer of 2002, Steve Bastible put three bullets into a dying cow at his ranch, threw the emptied rifle behind the seat of his pickup and forgot about it.

A few weeks later, the rifle cost him his job of 23 years.

That Oct. 1, in a surprise search, Weyerhaeuser Co. sent gun-sniffing dogs into the parking lot of its paper mill here. Mr. Bastible and 11 other workers were fired after guns were found in their vehicles. The timber company said the weapons violated a new company policy that extended a longtime workplace gun ban to the parking area. The fired workers said they knew nothing of the new rule.

The firings outraged many in this wooded community in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. In rural Oklahoma, carrying a firearm in one's car is commonplace. "In Oklahoma, gun control is when you hit what you shoot at," says Jerry Ellis, a member of the state legislature.

Now, the dispute is reverberating beyond the borders of tiny Valliant, located in the southeast corner of the state. In response, the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a law giving Oklahomans the right to keep guns locked in their cars in parking lots. But just days before the law was to go into effect this month, several prominent companies with Oklahoma operations, including Whirlpool Corp. and ConocoPhillips sued to stop it. A federal judge put the law on hold pending a hearing.

Meanwhile, several of the paper-mill workers have filed wrongful-discharge lawsuits against Weyerhaeuser and its subcontractors, which employed the workers. "This is a heck of an injustice that needs to be fixed," says their Tulsa lawyer, Larry Johnson, 72 years old, who has spent a lifetime studying the second amendment.

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All Duke and Duchess Shoppe convenience/ filling stations in Ohio are posted with signs banning CHL-holders. But of course this criminal didn't mind the sign...

Delaware Ave. store robbed, gunman flees with cash

MARION -- A man fled with an undetermined amount of money after displaying a handgun to rob a south-side gas station/convenience store about 9 p.m. Thursday, police said. A black male entered Duke and Duchess Shoppe, 1360 Delaware Ave., showing a handgun and demanding money from the register, according to the store clerk on duty, police said. The suspect then fled the store with the money. The suspect is described as wearing a red shirt over top of a black shirt, red pants, white tennis shoes and an orange-and-brown stocking cap. He had pulled the cap, which had eyeholes cut out of it, down over his face, police said. The robber fled toward Crescent Heights Road.

All Ohio locations of Missouri-owned Save-A-Lot grocery stores are posted with signs discriminating against law-abiding citizens with CHLs, but of course these armed robbers weren't deterred...

Police ask for leads on robbery

TOLEDO - Police are seeking information through the Crime Stopper program about three men who robbed a West Toledo grocery store last week. The men entered Save-a-Lot, 3030 Monroe St., at about 8:40 p.m. on Nov. 19 and forced the manager at gunpoint to give them cash, police said. The men are described as black and were wearing dark clothing. One of them had a black semiautomatic handgun. They fled in a Chevrolet Suburban.

All Ohio locations of Goodwill Industries thrift stores (which are often located in places where the need for self-defense is of increased likelihood), are posted with signs banning guns. Perhaps they should also have thought to ban dangerous ordinance...

Grenade triggers Goodwill evacuation

AKRON - Nearly 50 people inside the Goodwill Service Center on East Waterloo Road had to be evacuated Wednesday afternoon after a live grenade was found among donated items. Nan McClenaghan, president of Goodwill Industries in Akron, said the suspicious item was found around 1 p.m. while donations were being sorted. The Akron Fire Department was called and the building was evacuated around 1:15 p.m., McClenaghan said. The Summit County Sheriff's Office's bomb squad removed the device from the building. Sheriff's Deputy Bob Hambel said the grenade did not appear to have a firing device, but it had the appearance and heft of a grenade from either China or Russia. The bomb squad took the grenade and stored it in a bunker at its training center in Green. Hambel said it was unknown who brought the grenade to Goodwill. McClenaghan said it is uncommon to find a dangerous item during the sorting process.

For contact information for these and other dangerous locations, visit OFCC's Do Not Patronize While Armed database.