July 16, 2004
USA TODAY

In an average week in U.S. workplaces, one employee is killed and at least 25 are seriously injured in violent assaults by current or former co-workers.

Many of those attacks might have been prevented.

In nearly eight of 10 cases, killers left behind clear warning signs --sometimes showing guns to co-workers, threatening their bosses or talking about attacking. But in the majority of cases, employers ignored, downplayed or misjudged the threat, according to a USA TODAY analysis of 224 instances of fatal workplace violence.

Less than 20% of the companies targeted in such attacks beefed up security or took other internal prevention steps. It is not known how many called police before the attacks took place.

The analysis found that many companies fail to identify risks or teach managers how to defuse the tensions that can precipitate an attack. They frequently fail to react when workers say that they're scared. And they often fail to take extra precautions to enhance security, even after an event such as a firing or disciplinary hearing that could trigger an attack. One company, Honeywell, hired back an employee who served four years in prison for fatally strangling a co-worker; then he killed again.

USA TODAY's findings are supported by other research.

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''In more than 100 instances that I studied, in every case there was evidence to suggest this person was hurting and had a potential for aggression,'' says Jeff Landreth, a senior vice president at New York-based Guardsmark, a security services company. ''We found the threats were ignored.''

Some employers, however, say they've done everything to prevent violence and that there is no way to know when a disgruntled employee will kill. Mental health experts have been known to determine an employee is no threat, only to have the worker turn deadly. Workplace experts and federal agencies do provide threat assessments to help determine when employees may become dangerous.

Some experts also say companies are doing a lot to prevent attacks but that more can be done to make workplaces respectful places where employees are treated fairly.

''It's very common that companies will beef up security,'' says James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston. ''Their level of awareness is higher.''

Most workers who lose their jobs don't become killers, making it hard for employers to know when to worry. From 1997 through 2001, there were an average of 61 fatal attacks each year by a co-worker or former co-worker against a fellow worker. During that same time span, an average of 2.9 million workers involuntarily lost their jobs each year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Still, workplace attacks by employees are a reality today, with killings more common now than in the early 20th century. That's not necessarily because guns are more available. Fox says today's workers suffer from less job security, pay disparities between workers and executives, and high stress ---- creating a more volatile environment.

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Where were these elite media-handwringers when thousands of openly carrying Ohioans took to the streets in a mass action to protest a ban on their self-defense rights?

Oh yeah, they, and even some Ohio media outlets, were avoiding the subject, lest they reveal just how much public outrage there was at Ohio's 150 year-old concealed carry ban.

July 16, 2004
Washington Post

Gun-Toting in Va. Educates Public, Advocates Say

Jim Snyder was sipping a Coke at a Champps restaurant in Reston, his Colt .45 strapped to his hip, when three Fairfax County police officers walked over to his table. Several of Snyder's dinner companions also were openly carrying weapons -- a scene that prompted a call to 911.

The diners explained that they were simply exercising their rights under Virginia law, Snyder said. And, as the officers made some phone calls to check whether that was true, Snyder relaxed and settled in to enjoy his dinner.

"It didn't bother me at all because I knew what the law was," Snyder, 54, who lives in the Kingstowne area, said yesterday. "I just wanted to see how long it took them to figure it out."

Snyder carries a gun for protection but had it that night because the group had been at a shooting range. He knows that it is perfectly legal in Virginia to openly pack a pistol, and he's delighted that his dining experience, along with a few recent similar incidents, have helped educate some folks, he said.

Fairfax police said that three times in the last month, including the July 2 incident at Champps, residents have been spotted in the county with guns strapped to their hips. In one instance, police wrongly confiscated guns from two college students at a Starbucks and filed misdemeanor charges, mistakes that were corrected the next day.

That case prompted the department to issue a reminder to officers that it's legal to "open carry" most guns in the state.

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Sometimes a bit of humor is just as effective at making a point as are serious discourses on violent crime statistics or criminal protection zone robberies...

American Handgunner
September/October 2004

By John Conner

I’ve just about had it with this “Gun-Free Zone” crap, you know? True, I live in a fairly sissy-rich environment but, usually, the only visible effects are too many restaurants with “Chez” in their names, dogs with designer haircuts and guys wearing magenta polo shirts. I’m not sure what magenta looks like, really, but I’d bet some of those shirts are it. Mauve, too. But lately I’ve noticed and even more troubling trend. You’ve seen these little round signs with a gun and a circle and a diagonal line through it and it says “This Is A Gun-Free Zone”? And it’s like they’re proud of that or something! I’m seein’ more and more of those and it’s bothering me.

They’ve also got these little huggie-children signs proclaiming that it’s a “Child-Safe Place,” where kids in trouble can run to get help. Now, guess what? I’m seein’ places with both those kinda signs! What in heck is that about? A “Child-Safe Place in a “Gun-Free Zone”?

Real Safe Havens

When my kids were little, I taught ‘em the two best places to run for help were police stations and gun shops. If the trouble they were running from was Large & Lethal, I knew either one of those places were full of folks who’d be armed, alert and prepared to go to General Quarters to protect a child from any harm. What kinda help do you think they could get in a Gun-Free Child-Safe Place?

“Ooohh, come hide with me in the corner, dearie! We’ll weep uncontrollably together and if necessary, we’ll grovel and beg for mercy!” Yeah, that’s where I want my kid going. Mahatma Gandhi was a really nice guy, but not my first choice for my kids’ bodyguard. If my stand-in has to be a guy in sandals, I’d prefer it was Spartacus. At least he had a sword and an attitude.

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July 20, 2004
Reuters

Guns Lobby Racks Up Legislative Gains Across U.S.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The powerful U.S. gun lobby seems poised for victory in a high profile battle to end a ban on some assault weapons and experts say it has also been piling up numerous quiet victories at the state level.

A federal ban on certain military-style semi-automatic weapons enacted in 1994 is due to expire on Sept. 13. The Republican congressional leadership, backed by the National Rifle Organization and other gun groups, seems determined to allow the law to lapse.

Gun control groups say only vigorous intervention by President Bush could change congressional minds. They concede that the chances of that happening weeks before the Nov. 2 presidential election are zero. Bush has said he would sign the extension of the law if it passed but has not intervened in the debate.

"The assault weapons ban has no chance of being extended unless President Bush gets forcefully behind it but Bush has apparently made a naked political calculation," said Jim Kessler of Americans for Gun Safety.

Gun owners make up an important part of Bush's political base. The NRA is enthusiastically backing him against Democrat John Kerry.

Earlier this month, Congress passed legislation which will allow retired and off-duty law enforcement officers to carry concealed weapons even in states that do not permit them. Bush will sign the bill into law Thursday.

Gun proponents have worked hard for 15 years and with considerable success to win the right for Americans to carry concealed weapons.

In 1986, only eight states were obliged by law to issue citizens who requested them licenses to carry such weapons. That number has grown to 38, according to the NRA.

Ohio's law took effect in January. Last year alone, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, where legislators overrode a veto by Gov. Bob Holden, passed "right to carry" laws for applicants who pass a gun training course and a background check.

"QUIET REVOLUTION"

"We have seen the normalization of the idea that Americans may carry concealed weapons. It is a quiet revolution and it will bring about a certain culture change as we become accustomed to the idea of people in urban as well as rural areas carrying weapons around with them," said Robert Cottrol of the George Washington University law school.

July 21, 2004
Columbus Dispatch

Randy Gardner was next in line to be House speaker when he was forced out of the House by term limits in 2000, so when the opportunity arrived to be Senate president, he wasn’t about to pass it up.

Bill Harris was on the verge of being House speaker when he was blindsided by Larry Householder in 2000, so when the Senate presidency opened up earlier this month, he lunged for it.

And when the tentative, preliminary count among GOP senators reached 11 to 11 yesterday, Harris didn’t agree to share the spoils with his good friend Gardner as he had with Householder in 2000.

He went for the whole enchilada — and he may have won it.

Harris, a former car dealer from Ashland, and Gardner, a former school teacher from Bowling Green, met for about 90 minutes yesterday at Harris’ 30-acre farm, where the 67-year-old former Marine is recovering from double-knee replacement.

Also present was Senate President Doug White, whom one of them hopes to replace.

Harris would not discuss the outcome, saying Gardner would have a statement today.

"We need to move forward with getting our members elected, raising money and dealing with the issues," Harris said.

There were indications that in the interests of a quick settlement, Gardner would yield to Harris, at least for now.

Gardner declined to give details of the conversation, saying it would be inappropriate.

"I wouldn’t say we settled on anything," Gardner said. "We both heard from lots of members who say, ‘Isn’t there a way for both of you to serve in leadership?’ If there’s a way to make that work, then we ought to do it."

But Gardner said there was no talk of any sharing of the presidency, as Harris had planned in 2000 to share the speakership with Householder. Harris was to be speaker in 2001 and Householder in 2002, but the Perry County lawmaker got the votes in mid-2000 to win it all.

Any agreement between Harris and Gardner is tentative because no one is sure which GOP senators will be on hand when the legislature convenes Jan. 3 for its new two-year session.

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July 20, 2004
Newark Advocate

PATASKALA -- Eighty-six year-old Alice Hill isn't what you would typically think of as a crime-fighter, but she did stop a felony in progress on Friday, chasing off a burglar a fraction of her age.

Hill was sitting in her son's Lynns Road residence watching the 700 Club on television when an unidentified white male kicked in the front door.

"I didn't have time to be afraid. I was angry because he damaged the door," Hill said. "He apparently stomped it with his feet. It made such a terrible noise. It sounded like a car had crashed through the front door."

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A Licking County Sheriff's report stated, "After completing his task, the male was standing in the front room when he looked up and noticed Alice standing there.

"Instead of running away from the subject, she started toward him. Startled, the subject ran out of the house, got into his vehicle, backed out of the driveway and headed south on Lynns Road. Alice followed the subject out of the house. She stood on her porch as the subject drove away," the report stated.

"I yelled at him," Hill said with a chuckle. "I jabbed my hand at him. I guess he thought I was crazy."

Hill said she followed the suspect outside to get a good look at his getaway car before calling 911 dispatchers.

Hill advises other senior citizens to take action and get tough, especially when the going gets rough.

"I advise older people to get strong," Hill said, adding that 10 years ago she started taking karate classes along with her son. Hill said she took up martial arts to occupy herself and get toned. Since then, she says she has won seven belts in two years and recently learned how to shoot a handgun.

"I can shoot a revolver with both hands," she said.

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