Ohioans For Concealed Carry has announced the launch of a new, web-based educational guide for business owners, aimed at answering their questions about implementation of the new concealed handgun license (CHL) law.

After failing to scare business lobbyists into the fight in 2003, and after loosing in the legislative arena just weeks ago, gun ban lobbyists are now hoping to convince business owners to discriminate against employees and customers who choose to obtain a CHL for self-protection.

The guide examines issues ranging from liability concerns to a fabled OHSA conflict, and provides answers utilizing a wealth of data available to business owners from OSHA, other states' Chambers of Commerce, crime data, and Ohio and national public opinion polls.

There are no credible studies that show increased dangers to businesses because of concealed carry, yet many prove the benefits.

Every state that borders Ohio has a law similar to the one that has now passed here. We are certainly not breaking new ground with a concealed carry reform bill in Ohio. If Ohio's business leaders will simply ignore these hysterics and let this new law work, madmen will never again enjoy the luxury of walking into workplaces with assurance that their intended victims are defenseless.

What Business Owners Need to Know About CCW

Man shot, injured on way to West End job
February 19, 2004
Cincinnati Post

A builder on his way to work in the West End today was shot as he drove onto his construction site this morning.

Police said the man, Alan Stenger, was stopped by a pedestrian as he was driving a white Dodge Ram pickup into the Reece Campbell construction site at Linn Street and Derrick Turnbow Avenue, at 8:10 a.m. The two spoke for a moment before the man outside the truck fired several shots, striking the Stenger in the left side of the torso.

Police don't know what the men talked about or what the motive for the shooting might have been, said police spokesman Lt. Anthony Carter.

Police said Stenger is the site manager at the West End project where three-story townhouses are going up.

The gunman was described as African-American, 5-feet-4, to 5-feet-8, bow-legged, with a stocky build. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, possibly with a ball cap underneath.

Witnesses today told police the gunman ran south on Linn and got into the back seat of an older-model white or sky blue Chevy that went south on Linn.

Commentary:
This victim's employer (and every other employer in Ohio) has been empowered by business lobbyists and Senators to make sure that people are still unable to bear arms for self-defense while traveling to and from work, even after the state begins issuing concealed handgun licenses (CHLs).

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

Woman shot in front of son, 10
February 20, 2004
Cincinnati Post

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- At sunrise Wednesday, with three blasts from a high-caliber rifle, the troubled lives and marriage of Charles and Cloay Swope came crashing down right before the horrified eyes of their 10-year-old son.

So unreal, it seemed to neighbors, spotting Cloay's lifeless body collapsed in a pool of blood on the front porch of the Renshaw Road home she once shared with her estranged husband, two children and mother-in-law.

And so unanticipated the violence seemed, too, for close friends and family who wondered what happened. How Charlie could fire two bullets into Cloay, as police said, and then turn to fire a third into his own skull. It was all just so sudden and without warning, some said.

But, five years of Campbell County court and police records say otherwise.

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

February 20, 2004
Toledo Blade

Pistol-packing library patrons will have to leave their guns in their cars.

The Toledo-Lucas County Public Library Board of Trustees voted yesterday to post signs outside the system’s libraries announcing that no firearms can be taken inside its buildings in response to the state’s concealed carry law, which takes effect in April.

Library Director Clyde Scoles said weapons already are prohibited in the system’s libraries, but the board wanted to make sure people knew that the law exempts libraries from compliance with the concealed-carry law.

"We don’t allow weapons anyway - that’s always been a standard operating procedure," he said. "This is just a continuation of what we’ve been about for all these years."

Doug Evans, executive director of the Ohio Library Council, said his organization is recommending that libraries across the state post similar signs.

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