March 22, 2004
13abc.com - WTVG Toledo

Robbery suspect shot several rounds into ceiling before getting away with woman's purse

Quite a scare for people at a West Toledo restaurant Sunday night. Toledo police say just before 8 p.m., an armed gunman walked into Jalapeno's at 519 N. Reynolds, shot a couple rounds in the ceiling and ordered everyone to the floor. Police tell us the gunman got away with a woman's purse, but they say someone may have found it later on Reynolds near Dorr.

Officers say no one was injured in the incident.

Commentary:
Aside from questions of extraordinary liability, how will restaurant owners feel the first time a criminal ignores a sign banning CHL-holders (or is in fact drawn to it) aware that his intended victims are unarmed?

How many Dr. Suzanna Gratia-Hupp's will it take to get these restauranteurs (or the lawyers advising them) to wake up? Suzanna - now a Texas State Representative - was forced to watch her parents lives be taken -along with 21 others - in the Luby's Restaurant rampage shooting in Kileen, TX because she was required by law to leave her firearm in her car.

The following restaurants have announced that they plan to post discriminatory signs and render their patrons defenseless against attacks like that at Jalapeno's or Luby's:

Aside from the fact that the "fix" proposed by Toby Hoover and the Brady Bunch (reporting mental records from Ohio courts to the federal government) would not have prevented the Ohio sniper from purchasing his firearms, Leonard's piece gives the most objective look of this issue you'll read in the Ohio media. Whether or not he could have gotten a concealed carry license matters none. The Ohio sniper didn't wait until April 8 to begin his sickening crime spree.

Hoover seems eager to wrestle the power to decide who is "mentally ill" away from Ohio's judges. Since she is also eager to ensure that no one obtains CHLs, we suspect there might be few people that would be considered sane in Hoover's world. After all, according to a recent Zogby poll, 79% of Americans support right-to-carry laws like Ohio's.

March 22, 2004
Lee Leonard
Columbus Dispatch

Seems like it won’t go away; we’re back to the old debate over personal privacy vs. public safety.

Now we have the case of a highway sniper. The suspect, who is called paranoid-schizophrenic by his family, is said to have purchased a handgun shortly before his capture. And he would have been eligible for a permit to carry the weapon concealed on his person, had Ohio’s new law been in effect.

How many people like him are out there, and how many will get permits after April 8, when the county sheriffs begin to issue them?

Not many, says Ohioans for Concealed Carry, the group based in suburban Cleveland that fought for the law. Spokesman Jim Irvine says the number of mentally ill folks is a minuscule percentage of the population, and the number of them who are violent is even smaller.

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

Journalists at Ohio's liberal newspapers often attempt to maintain the notion that they are impartial when it comes to reporting on firearms and self-protection rights. These ongoing editorial page rants betray the folly of their efforts to claim neutrality.

Cleveland Plain Dealer: First things first

"'My Second Amendment rights are just as important as your precious First Amendment.' I've lost count of how often I've heard that sentiment expressed in response to anything even mildly suggesting regulation of guns. It makes me wonder where those folks went to grade school and what they learned there."

Columbus Dispatch: Legislature is off target; issue is jobs
"A man I know has been out of work for more than two years. He has worked as a corporate chief executive officer and an accountant. He has tremendous people skills and a great work ethic. The only thing he doesn’t have is a job. I’m sure he finds great comfort in some of our legislature’s chief accomplishments. Instead of job initiatives, we got a year’s worth of debate over a bill to allow Ohioans to carry concealed weapons."

Dayton Daily News: Gun law conceals loopholes
"'Until Wednesday, [the Ohio sniper suspect] would have walked right through the door with his conceal-carry permit. There are thousands of people like this man who have clean records, but are ticking time bombs. And this law is going to permit each and every one of them to carry a concealed weapon.'"

Related Story:
Rotten Apples and Sour Grapes

Despite the thousands of federal and state gun control laws on the books, Charles McCoy still walked around carrying a concealed gun, shooting willy-nilly at anything that moved, immortalizing himself as the Ohio sniper suspect.

Whether or not he could have gotten a concealed carry license matters none. The Ohio sniper didn't wait until April 8 to begin his sickening crime spree, and yet Mary McCarty wants us to believe that other potential bad people are? Get real.

Gun law conceals loopholes

By Mary McCarty
Dayton Daily News
March 21, 2004

Would sniper suspect Charles A. McCoy Jr. have qualified for a permit under Ohio's soon-to-be-enacted conceal-carry law?

Despite McCoy's apparent history of mental illness — his mother told police he is a paranoid schizophrenic — the answer, in all probability, is yes.

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

Ohioans For Concealed Carry has learned that Marc's, an Ohio-owned and operated discount chain in northeast Ohio, has made the decision to post discriminatory signs against CHL-holders. Marc's has 51 stores in NE Ohio (some branded as XPECT stores), located in Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Franklin, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Stark and Summit counties.

Decisions to discriminate against law-abiding customers offer yet another reason why Walmart makes up 20% of our nation's retail sales, and why the number continues to grow. Walmart has already indicated that they will not post discriminatory signs banning law-abiding citizens with concealed handguns from their Ohio stores, citing a wealth of experience from their stores in other states which proves that legally-armed citizens pose no problems to retailers.

The next time you hear about "local" retailers whining about national discount stores putting them out of business, ask yourself if they respected their customers as little as Marc's/ XPECT now is.

The Marc's website says they want to hear from you!
Corporate Customer service: 216-265-7700

Third year straight: Wal-Mart No. 1 in Fortune 500 rankings

UPDATE!! SIGNS COME DOWN: Marc's discount stores pull discriminatory signs

Yet another story of a licensed CHL-holder using their firearm to defend their life. This woman was on her way to work - no doubt to an employer with the good sense not to prevent her the ability to defend herself. Even the head of Michigan's Police Chief's assocation who was (formerly) opposed to CCW admits that this woman's life was saved because she was armed.

March 20, 2004
Daily Oakland Press

Four years ago, she was helpless as a man robbed her at gunpoint. On Friday, legally armed with a handgun, she may have saved her life.

And Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer, who dreaded a change in the law in 2001 to make it easier to receive a concealed weapons permit, admits that he's changing his mind about that law.