July 11, 2004
Toledo Blade

One woman's recent Forum letter bemoaning the new concealed-carry law and predicting doom and gloom is a shining example of people drawing conclusions based on their own bias and remaining blindly ignorant to the facts.

Fact: Almost every state now has a concealed-carry law; Ohio is one of the last. In no state have firearms crime or accidental shootings increased. In fact, they have decreased. (FBI Crime Statistics)

Fact: There was no "forcing concealed-carry upon all Ohioans without our ability to voice our opposition at the ballot box." The measure was passed because enough Ohioans told their representatives and senators they wanted it passed.

Apparently, not enough people were opposed to it, or if they were, they didn't take the time to communicate it to Columbus. If they are not motivated enough to take the time to communicate their wishes to elected officials, what makes you think they would bother to vote?

Fact: Gun prohibitions do not work. At least not for criminals. And, by definition, they are the people who commit the crimes. Posting many public places such as parks and businesses (including their parking lots) as no-gun zones simply guarantees criminals that their law-abiding victims in these environs will be unarmed. The net effect is to make the area more dangerous to law-abiding citizens instead of safer.

I certainly respect the earlier letter writer's choice to "live without a gun." However, 15 years experience of a reasonable approach to the right of personal defense in the vast majority of the country has proven that the populace has little to fear from law-abiding armed citizens.

I would expect that she, Mayor Ford, and others would extend that same respect to citizens who chose to be armed in compliance with the law.

Richard B. Iott
Monclova

July 10, 2004
Arizona Daily Star

Ten years after it became legal to carry a concealed weapon in Arizona with a permit, proponents say the law has been an absolute success, increasing self-defense options for law-abiding adults without a consequential increase in crime.

While law enforcement officials still keep a close eye on the process and opponents continue to fight attempts to ease requirements to get the permits, there are no real data to suggest the program has led to more gun crime.

Since the state Department of Public Safety began taking applications for the permits in July 1994, more than 120,000 have been issued.

As of May, 67,951 Arizona residents had active permits and 2,311 residents of other states also had Arizona permits, DPS statistics show.

More than half of the permits - 36,520 - are held by Maricopa County residents. Pima County is second with 12,107 permits, about 18 percent of those in the state.

A permit is suspended if a person is arrested on a felony or a domestic violence misdemeanor and then revoked upon a conviction. About 1 percent of the permits have been suspended or revoked, though roughly 40 percent of permits aren't renewed for various reasons, including waning interest or death.

Among permit holders, the two largest demographic groups are white or Hispanic men in their 40s and 50s, who combine for 36 percent of all permits. Women make up 20 percent of the permit holders, with the majority of them also being in their 40s and 50s.

The highest concentration of concealed-weapon carriers is in the Glendale 85308 zip code, with 1,042 permit holders. Scottsdale's 85254 zip code is second with 906 permit holders. Tucson's East Side 85710 zip code is third with 839 permit holders.

"A model for other states"

"We feel the program has done very well over the past 10 years," said Sgt. Bill Whalen, supervisor of the DPS Concealed Weapon Permit Unit. "The program has served as a model for other states."

There has been no analysis of whether the concealed-weapon law has had any effect on crime, Whalen said, but nearly everything he's heard points to the vast majority of permit holders as responsible gun owners focused on safety.

"All the people who get concealed weapon permits are law-abiding citizens. These are the people who aren't getting in trouble," Whalen said. "The people who don't care for laws, in general, don't get permits."

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

July 8, 2004
Townhall.com

As readers of C-Log know, I am interning this summer at The Heritage Foundation, located on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. I had the good fortune of finding an apartment right next to Heritage, close to a lot of the other fun stuff in town. But where I live is also fairly close to some not-so-great parts of town – and from that hangs a tale.

I moved in the very weekend that President Reagan died, and I figured that since I was living here I ought to buy the Sunday Washington Post. But I quickly discovered – and I should have guessed – that there is no Post machine in front of The Biggest Conservative Think Tank of Them All, only one for the conservative Washington Times. So on that Sunday night (yes, I’m a little slow) I walked off in search of the Post.

Klutz that I am, I ended up in “southeast,” a part of the city you don’t really want to be in alone, particularly at night. Which is why as soon as I noticed I was there I turned tail and went home Post-less and annoyed with myself.

But my little jaunt through DC wasn’t completely worthless. What really struck me that night was how much I like guns. Because when I found myself in southeast, I realized that unlike in my home state of Pennsylvania, had someone tried to mug me that night in DC I would have been basically helpless. Why? Because I couldn’t shoot back with my trusty Kahr P9.

July 11, 2004
Indianapolis Star

Indiana second only to New York in number per 1,000 adult residents, Star survey shows

By Mark Nichols and John R. O'Neill
mark.nichols@indystar.com

In May, when pizza deliveryman Ronald B. Honeycutt was confronted by a gun-toting robber, he drew his own 9 mm and pulled the trigger, pumping more than 10 bullets into the Indianapolis man, killing him.

Two months before, when a neighbor came after Daniel L. Floyd with an ax handle, the Johnson County man fired his 9 mm handgun, sending one bullet into the neighbor's neck and two into his torso. The man died.

Like 300,000 other Hoosiers, the two men had permits to carry handguns in public. In neither case were charges filed.

Nearly one in 15 Indiana adults have gun permits, which they can get once they turn 18 -- and without going through any training. The state is second only to New York in the number of gun permits per 1,000 adults.

The Indiana State Police -- and, often, local police agencies -- check the backgrounds of applicants for any criminal convictions that would disqualify them.

Unlike some states, Indiana doesn't make you take any training or prove you know how to handle a gun.

You do, however, have to say why you want a permit. Most people say it's for personal protection, though most will never actually fire their weapon in self-defense.

A few, however, like Floyd, do.

"He came out swinging," Floyd said of his deadly encounter with Bruce D. Mills.

"I asked him a dozen times to stop."

Mills was breaking windows in a vacant mobile home next door. Floyd and his fiancee heard the noise and went outside to see what it was. Before he knew it, he said, Mills was coming at him.

"He could have beaten me to death," Floyd said.

"Thousands and thousands of people in the state have firearms and never have to use them. And to be honest, I wish I were one of them."

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

July 10, 2004
WKYC.com

SUMMIT COUNTY -- In Summit County, nearly 1,000 people have received concealed carry permits and one in 12 of those gun carriers are women.

“A gun makes me feel confident very confident because I can’t wrestle a man to the ground,” said disabled Sharon Pulling. “I look very vulnerable in a wheelchair, so people may want to take advantage of me more. If I have a gun, I feel more confident.”

Now Pulling has a gun permit for a .38 special.

Protection is also why one local businesswoman holsters a .380 pistol. She travels alone and wants the ability to defend herself wherever she is.

“You never know if the car’s [going to] break down, and if someone might walk up to you with a gun,” she said.

The choice of a firearm is also important. A 9-millimeter, .38, or .380 are all popular choices for women because they’re light. Experts say women need to be comfortable.

Firearms instructor Dave Connor says many women gun owners are looking to equal the odds of the fear they might face.

Summit sheriff deputies have issues 973 permits and have denied 18.

According to the FBI, two thirds of all homicides involve guns and nearly a quarter of all murder victims are women.