Had Ohio citizens acted as these city officials are, they would have begun to carry concealed firearms when HB12, HB274, or even earlier bills were introduced, instead of waiting until they were passed into law. This behavior is disgraceful.

June 10, 2004
Associated Press

Gun Ban in Parks May Be Unconstitutional

Several Ohio communities have banned people from carrying hidden weapons in their parks, which the state says conflicts with a new state law that allows a person with a license to do so.

Kim Norris, spokeswoman for Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, said the local ordinances are not valid. She said enforcement of those laws could be challenged in the courts by a private citizen or group.

"If you are a licensed conceal-carry holder, you should be allowed to carry in a park," Norris said.

At least four communities have enacted such bans -- Toledo, Elyria and Clyde in northern Ohio and the western Ohio village of Arcanum.

Barbara Young, an Arcanum Village Council member, said she does not think that the local law approved May 25 conflicts with state law. She said the village enacted the law because its main park sits next to schools.

"The mayor wanted it to kind of expand and give police authority in the parks and because of the adjacent schools," Young said. "It was done basically for the safety of the community."

Police Chief Dan Light said officers haven't yet had to enforce the ordinance in the community of 2,200.

"We have almost no violent crime in the village," Light said.

Ken Hanson, chair of the litigation section for Ohioans for Concealed Carry Inc., a group that pushed for approval of the new state law, said he has told he has told Arcanum officials that their ordinance violates state law.

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

NEWS RELEASE

June 10, 2004

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) today called upon Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro to investigate the release of the home addresses of 87 concealed pistol licensees by Shelby County Sheriff Kevin O'Leary, to the Sidney, Ohio Daily News, which subsequently published that information in its June 8 edition.

"Release of this information is not merely a gross invasion of privacy," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, "it might also be a violation of the Ohio concealed carry statute. Under the law, only the name, county of residence and date of birth may be released by a sheriff to a bona fide journalist, and it requires a written request. There is no provision for releasing street addresses of licensees. Attorney General Petro should immediately launch a criminal investigation to determine if the law was violated, and then prosecute the violators."

Details about individual licensees, including their home addresses, might be considered confidential, and releasing that information is a felony of the fifth degree, Gottlieb stressed. The "willful and deliberate" release of that information by a sheriff or any other public officer or employee can bring a civil fine of $1,000.

"The newspaper printed the home addresses of all 87 citizens, for any burglar or other criminal to read," Gottlieb said. "If any of these law-abiding gun owners is victimized in any way as a result of this outrageous release of personal information, the newspaper and Sheriff O'Leary should be held legally responsible."

CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron added, "The Sidney Daily News is owned by Brown Publishing, the same newspaper chain that owns the Wilmington News-Journal. The editor of that newspaper, who was not licensed to carry, was charged with kidnapping a woman at gunpoint May 13. That embarrassing story got very little play in the press. Ohio newspapers must believe that it is acceptable to invade the privacy of honest gun owners while pretty much ignoring a serious crime allegedly committed by one of their own.

"Sheriff O'Leary," Waldron continued, "opposed concealed carry. But the debate is over, it is now the law, and he needs to follow the law, to the letter. If he cannot do that, then perhaps he should turn in his badge and gun, and find some other line of work. He has betrayed the trust of every person whose address he released."

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.

-END-

UPDATE! CNSNews.com has picked up this story! Release of Home Addresses Angers Concealed-Carry Licensees

By Susan Jones, Morning Editor
CNSNews.com

June 10, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - Signs reading "no guns allowed" are coming down in some Ohio stores and restaurants.

Ohioans for Concealed Carry said it is pleased to announce that two national chains -- Southwest Ohio Kroger stores and Perkins Family Restaurants -- have "begun removing discriminatory signs banning concealed handgun license-holders from their stores."

So far, at least nine national chains and nearly 50 other businesses have removed their signs and opened their doors to Ohio concealed handgun license-holders, the group said.

In a letter announcing the removal of the signs, Marc Teaberry, the executive vice president of Perkins Family Restaurants, noted that the restaurant chain has "numerous locations in Pennsylvania, which has always had a concealed weapon law, and have never had any problems." Teaberry added that the company, in posting the signs, had received "bad advice" from its attorneys.

Ohioans For Concealed Carry said it also has received reports that Kroger stores in the Cincinnati Division (which includes greater Dayton) had begun removing their "no guns allowed" signs.

"It is not yet known if this action is in any way related to the assault and robbery of a 70-year old Kroger customer outside a posted store on May 23," Ohioans For Concealed Carry said in a press release.

The group's Business Education Task Force says it has been working to "educate business owners about the facts surrounding concealed carry." The campaign includes a "do not patronize" list of businesses that concealed gun carriers are advised to avoid.

"Ohioans already are being forced to learn that businesses on the Do Not Patronize While Armed list are dangerous places to be," said Chad Baus, OFCC spokesperson. "Already, customers and employees at ten retail stores and banks on the list have experienced violent criminal encounters. And that's just the ones we know about."

Ohioans For Concealed Carry says it wants business owners understand that it's in their own best interests to remove the "no gun" signs -- and allow the concealed carry law to work.

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UPDATE! Newsmax.com has picked up this story!

The Do Not Patronize While Armed list has been improved, and is NOW AVAILABLE HERE!

Click here for a complete list of retailers which have removed signs since April 8.

SHAMEFUL: The Brady Campaign, and NBC`s Katie Couric, Try to Re-write (Reagan) History

Reagan Was Hero To Iowa Woman
Nursing Student Rescued From Mugger By Reagan

June 7, 2004
TheIowa Channel.com

Former President Ronald Reagan is known as the "Great Communicator," but one Iowa woman will always know him as her hero.

Melba King was a 22-year-old nursing student in Des Moines in 1933. She was walking home one autumn night when a mugger came up behind her with a gun and demanded her money.

At that moment, Ronald Reagan -- who was a Des Moines radio sportscaster at the time -- came to her rescue. Reagan pointed a .45-caliber revolver at the robber from the window of his second-floor rented room.

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"And he said, 'Leave her alone or I'll shoot you right between the shoulders,'" King told KCCI.

Reagan scared the man off and calmed King's nerves. Then, the future president said he would walk King home.

King didn't see Reagan again until 1984, when Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad heard her story and invited her to an Iowa caucus campaign event.

After King and Reagan hugged on stage, Reagan laughed, and said to the crowd, "This is the first time I've had a chance to tell you the gun was empty. I didn't have any cartridges. If he hadn't run when I told him to, I was going to have to throw it at him."

King's rescue became a national news story. "The phone rang constantly," King said.

All the media attention caused Reagan and King to stay in touch. The two families exchanged cards on birthdays, holidays, and during times of sickness and grief.

The Reagans helped King when she lost her husband Harold in 1987, and now she will send Nancy Reagan a sympathy note.

Commentary:
Godspeed, Mr. President.