Yet another Ohio-based business has made the corporate decision to remove discriminatory signs banning CHL-holders from their restaurants.

Like Frisch's, MicroCenter, Home Depot and Giant Eagle (to name a few), Perkins Family Restaurants has responded to customers' questions about why these businesses were posting signs in Ohio, reminding them that they have been doing business in CCW states for years with no problems.

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OFCC member Robert DeCerbo has received excellent news from Perkins Family Restaurants Executive Vice President Marc Teaberry. In his response, Mr. Teaberry informed DeCerbo that he had been "given bad advice by [his] attorneys", and that he has "instructed all Ohio store locations to remove the signs."

Mr. Teaberry points out in his letter that Perkins has "numerous locations in Pennsylvania, which has always had a concealed weapon law, and have never had any problems."

We're not at all surprised to hear Perkins got poor legal advice from its attorneys. Stories of same have been available on this website since before the law went into effect.

And while Pennsylvania hasn't "always" had a law, it certainly is no surprise that Perkins has experienced no issues with allowing concealed handgun license-holders to patronize their business in that state for over 15 years. Indeed, Perkins Family Restaurants dot the landscape of Indiana as well, and that state has had a CCW law for somewhat closer to "always" - since 1935, to be exact.

To download the letter from Exec. V.P. Marc Teaberry, click here.

Please don't forget to say "thank you" to Perkins by calling 1-877-325-7881. The company has made a responsible decision that is in the best interest of their customers. As OFCC's Business Education Task Force has been saying for months, there are no credible studies that show increased dangers to businesses because of concealed carry, yet many prove the benefits.

June 4, 2004
Fremont News Messenger

Clyde's ban on guns in parks is right on target

Clyde City Council members as the people's representatives in a charter-form of government took advantage of an opportunity to protect residents -- one that most other cities might not have at this stage.

Clyde Council and the city's administration boldly decided to ban concealed weapons in the city's parks despite the possible threat of legal challenges to that decision.

It's a common sense step that most cities would like to follow, but apparently cannot at this time.

The new concealed carry law gives communities the right to ban weapons in public buildings, but does not provide for such a ban in city parks or fairgrounds.

That issue seems destined for court fights unless the legislature moves to change the situation.

However, Clyde, as a charter government can exercise its home rule power. The city can pass laws that are more restrictive than the general laws of the state but cannot ease restrictions set forth by state law.

Clyde officials wisely chose to take the step to toughen the law.

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

June 4, 2004

WASHINGTON, June 4 /U.S. Newswire/ -- "A CNN internet poll ongoing for about a month shows there is growing opposition to proposals to extend the 1994 Clinton era ban on the manufacture and importation of certain semiautomatic firearms," John Michael Snyder, public affairs director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), stated here today.

CNN posed the question regarding the ban via its QuickVote system on May 9. As of today, about a month later, 59 percent, or 215,424, have voted in favor of lifting the ban, and 41 percent, or 152,257, have voted in favor or extending it. See http://www.cnn.com/POLLSERVER/results/10738.content.html.

Actually, noted Snyder, the ban does not have to be lifted, as it is slated to sunset, or expire, in September.

Snyder noted also that, "this is at least the second major indication in a month that there is not enthusiastic massive popular support for extending what euphemistically has been termed a ban on 'assault weapons.' The first came on Mother's Day, when the much-heralded Million Mom March in support of extending the ban degenerated into a thousand gang limp down Pennsylvania Avenue.

"There never really has been such support for the ban. When the Democratic Party in elections following the 1994 enactment of the ban lost complete control of Congress for the first time in 60 years, President Clinton admitted publicly that enactment of the ban was one of the major reasons for the astounding defeat."

Snyder said, "it is important for politicians to keep these facts in mind as they contemplate the prospect of voting again soon in the Senate on a proposal by gun-grabbing Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California to extend the ban.

"It's about time that Feinstein and other anti-gun extremists wake up to the fact that, as a study released last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stipulated, there is 'no evidence to prove gun control laws are effective in preventing violence.'"

Commentary:
It isn't just 52 U.S. Senators who need to hear this lesson. Ohio Rep. Yates and Sen. Fingerhut have introduced Ohio assault weapon ban legislation, to the delight of Ohio gun ban extremists Toby Hoover.

June 1, 2004
British Broadcasting Corp.

Red Cross officials are providing first-aid training to British residents living in high gun-crime areas so that they can provide basic first aid at the scenes of shootings, the BBC reported June 1.

Training has begun in parts of Manchester, including Moss Side and Hulme. According to Red Cross officials, the goal is to save lives by providing residents with the skills to treat gun victims in the vital few minutes before emergency personnel arrive.

"We will be targeting ordinary people from those communities most affected by gun crime who will be willing to help out," said Lindsay Wong, a support worker from the Moss Side-based DASH/Positive Futures. "They will be given basic first-aid training and be made readily identifiable, so that in the event of an emergency people know where to turn."

The Manchester City Council said the effort might also encourage people to work together to fight gun crime.

Funding for the training was provided by the British government through Voluntary Action Manchester, an agency that provides support to community groups.

Commentary:
Great Britain banned private ownership of handguns in 1997. Yet crime did not fall after handguns were banned - it rose sharply. Serious violent crime rates from 1997 to 2002 averaged 29 percent higher than 1996; robbery was 24 percent higher; murders 27 percent higher. Before the law, armed robberies had fallen by 50 percent from 1993 to 1997, but as soon as handguns were banned, the robbery rate shot back up, almost back to their 1993 levels.

Special thanks to the anti-gun Brady Campaign for raising awareness to this problem on their website - we always enjoy it when they publish stories that prove they are wrong. This story is proof once again that if having guns is criminal, only criminals will have guns.

Related Stories:
OOPS! Brady Campaign touts study proving OUR point (again)

Op-Ed: Whither Gun Control?

June 04, 2004
Cleveland Plain Dealer

What does the Ohio Parole Board have against the state's elderly women? As a recent article points out ("Convicted rapist will be paroled, must register," May 28), a parole board has decided to release a man with a criminal record going back 40 years, including convictions for attempted rape as well as sexual assaults of women aged 72 and 84. In fact, he raped again just four days after being released from a halfway house following time served for attempted rape. He has served less than 20 years of his original sentence of 22 to 110 years. And he has been diagnosed as a sexual deviant "with a very high risk of offending again."

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This is a perfect example of why states are abolishing parole boards. It's also a good reason why The Plain Dealer should adopt a policy of naming parole board members and telling how they vote in cases the newspaper reports about.

The most interesting question not addressed in the article, but one we can all guess the answer to, is this: How many members of the Ohio Parole Board are elderly women?

Michael Paranzino
Kensington, Md

Related Stories:
More Senior Citizens Armed with Guns

Senior citizen pulls gun on knife-wielding robber

70-year old woman assaulted/ carjacked in ''No-Weapons'' Kroger parking lot

June 4, 2004
Ohio News Network

A disabled man was thrown from his wheelchair and robbed for his disability check overnight in the West End. The neighborhood says it's becoming a trend: Criminals on the prowl at the start of each month when they know welfare, disability, and other checks are issued.

Criminals who do this are preying on the weak. Early Wednesday morning in the West End that was something folks simply wouldn't stand for. They know their neighborhood has a bad name but this time, they are proud to say they defended a helpless victim and stood up to crime.

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J.C Taylor---or "Stick man"---has MS and needs his wheelchair to get around. He was in it last night, when cashing his disability check at the Jet-in Market on the West-End. On his way out, police say Taylor met 19-year-old Patrick Blanchard and 22 year old Darryl Garfield.

Witnesses said, "They yanked him out of his wheel-chair and searched him and pet him down."

"I see him out of his chair legs shaking like he was having a seizure."

Police say the 2 men stole 350 dollars from Taylor--every penny of his disability check. But witnesses in the neighborhood couldn't bare to watch.

One witness said, "I was like uh-hu this isn't right."

The first to help was Taylor's good friend Guy Williams. Police say the suspects attacked him too. He's in the hospital having surgery on his leg.

Guy's mother Elsie Harrison, "He helps everybody."

And West-enders say Williams isn't the only good guy around.

"There's a lot of good humans here," said Patrice Seahking.

They're just usually overshadowed by the bad. But last night it looks like the good guys came out on top.

"Everybody came together," said another witness.

He and others chased the suspects down---and gave police a description that led to their arrests.

"The same neighborhood they shoot down I'm gonna give 'em a thumbs up...because they did their thing, they did their thing. For once, I was proud," said the witness.