Ohioans For Concealed Carry has learned that there has been a robbery at a parking garage that is leased to the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation in Columbus.

While information is still sketchy, initial information is that a female attendant who was working in a ticket booth (behind prominently displayed "no-guns" signs) was robbed on Wednesday morning, December 29.

The criminal informed the attendant that he had a gun, took her purse and stole her car. The attendant is being described as having been "shaken" by the incident.

The scene of the robbery is one block away from the main downtown Columbus police headquarters.

According to our information, the BWC is now offering "personal safety tips" to its employees as a means of consolation. But as regular readers of this website may recall, the BWC was offering advice that was promoting anything personal safety earlier this year, when it published an article advising private businesses to post signs rendering concealed handgun license-holders defenseless.

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

FLASHBACK: Sen. White admits to existence of HB12 vote trading for Taft job appointments

According to sources for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, term-limited Senate President Doug White will join the governor's Cabinet as director of the Ohio Department of Commerce.

The appointment, which the newspaper says is expected to be announced today, allows Gov. Bob Taft to fill the vacancy created when he named Commerce Director and Lt. Gov. Jennette Bradley to be the new state treasurer.

The newspaper observes that although White has no back ground in banking or finance, he will now head an agency that regulates state banks, and oversees the securities marketplace.

White, 62, has expressed a desire to find "life after the legislature", in part because (as he told the Columbus Dispatch last week) continued state employment will allow him to qualify for a state pension.

Some of the worst problems with Ohio's concealed carry law today can be traced back directly to Sen. White's unwillingness to commit to a veto-override.

State Rep. Lynn Olman (R., Maumee) witnessed firsthand Mr. White's loyalty to Mr. Taft.

"I think the appointment speaks for itself," Mr. Olman told the Toledo Blade. "Doug has been a good trooper for the governor, a loyal servant."

As Ohio CHL-holders go about their business each day, struggling to comply with provisions such as the 'plain sight' car carry language, or fearful of attack due to having their right to self-defense on the trip to and from work banned by their employer, or suffering discrimination due to having their name published in a newspaper hoping to deter others from obtaining licenses, they should remember the name Doug White.

Bob Taft did.

Click here to hear White explain why he was unable to find the votes to beat a threatened Taft veto on Ohio's Concealed Carry Reform bill on year ago. The 4 minute report was filed by Ohio Public Radio on December 17, 2003.

Related Story:
''Life after the legislature'': Doug White likely Taft pick for commerce dir.

The assault by a few media outlets in Ohio on thousands of concealed handgun license-holders who have broken no laws, violated no other persons' rights, and who simply wish to exercise their constitutional right to self-defense continues:

An OFCC supporter has alerted this organization that Trumbull County's Warren Tribune Chronicle has once again abused the media access loophole and published the names of CHL-holders. According to another supporter, the newspaper has published lists of CHL-holders in Trumbull, Mahoning, and Summit Counties on an almost weekly basis since last July. The newspaper does NOT print hunting licenses or building permits. Nor do they print the names of those receiving newly-issued drivers' licenses (a group that truly IS a danger to society).

The Warren Tribune Chronicle was one of the first of now seven Ohio newspapers to have published the names of concealed handgun license-holders as though they were social pariah. For this act, the paper was awarded the "Bandemonium Award" in the July 2004 issue of the NRA's national First Freedom magazine.

The Tribune Chronicle has editorialized that there is no anti-Second Amendment motivation behind it being one of only seven Ohio newspapers to publish the names of concealed handgun license-holders. Readers are asked to believe that this abuse of the media access loophole is done "for the public good." Let us test that logic.

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

Where will you be when it happens to you? Will you have the means to defend yourself and your family?

The December 29, 2004 Dayton Daily News story begins like this:

"With two shots fired and a gun now at his head, a Medway man driving home from a mall Monday night fought for his life, wrestling a gun away from an assailant on Ohio 444, local law enforcement reported Tuesday.

Greene County Sheriff's deputies did not release the name of the 50-year-old man or his 46-year-old wife, who were assaulted in their truck near Ohio 844 as they headed home around 10 p.m. from the Mall at Fairfield Commons.

Sheriff's Maj. Eric Prindle told the Dayton paper the couple was driving home when they spotted a woman flagging them down as she stood in a traffic lane next to a car on Ohio 444.

Prindle told the newspaper the woman ran toward their vehicle in a panic and around to the passenger's door yelling, "He's going to shoot me."

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

December 28, 2004
Cleveland Plain Dealer

Two Dec. 14 letters to the editor, under the headline "Bars are last place where guns should be allowed," call for a response.

Rosie Craig wrote, "If anyone is really interested in saving lives, they should join the crusade for a comprehensive nationwide, public-health policy to prevent and reduce gun violence."

Has Craig ever heard the term "dedicated assassin"? There is no stopping a person truly dedicated to shooting another individual. He will figure out in advance how to accomplish his mission.

There is no need to join the Million Mom March. "Really interested persons" should begin and continue a steady stream of mail, e-mail and phone calls to their senators and representatives demanding enforcement of laws already on the books pertaining to crimes committed with guns. Only such a crackdown and appropriate prison sentences will reduce crime.

As for John D. Ludway's description of allowing law-abiding concealed-permit holders to carry their weapons in bars as "obvious stupidity": Did it ever occur to Ludway that bars, banks and other establishments that display notices on their front doors forbidding weapons on their premises are safe havens for intended armed robbery? Robbers know that law-abiding gun owners will obey the notice, leaving these robbers unchallenged in their criminal pursuits.

John J. Myers
Medina

Related Story:
Letters: "Bars are last place where guns should be allowed"

On Christmas Day, the Toledo Blade reported that police are seeking information about two men who tried to rob the University of Toledo/Medical College of Ohio Hospitals credit union but were thwarted by an employee and an off-duty police officer.

The masked suspects got out of their car about 9:30 a.m. Dec. 6 and approached the credit union, 5248 Hill Ave. An employee saw them as they were drawing their weapons and locked the door so they couldn't enter.

An off-duty officer, who was inside the credit union, pointed his weapon at the men, who ran to their car and fled. The car was recovered, and police learned it had been stolen.

Commentary:
What many businesses who post "no-guns" signs do no realize is that in addition to discriminating against law-abiding CHL-holders, they may be keeping out off-duty law enforcement officers.

On July 19, Attorney General Jim Petro issued an opinion which stated that unless recognized by their department as "acting within the scope of their duties", Ohio law enforcement officers may CCW while off-duty without a license, but must obey all rules pertaining to CHL-holders, including not entering posted businesses.

Ohioans For Concealed Carry looks forward to working with Ohio's law enforcement groups to ensure that all citizens, not just law enforcement officers, receive relief from some of the egregious provisions inserted into Ohio's CHL law by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Bob Taft. All citizens deserve equal protection under the law.