The need for the protection of privacy has been in the news a lot lately, and it would appear liberals and the media elite supports such efforts for everyone but...you guessed it...law-abiding CHL-holders.

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Those who catch the headline of Phillip Morris' latest column in the Cleveland Plain Dealer may gain the impression that at least one member of the editorial board is coming to understand how damaging its decision to publish the names of concealed handgun license-holders has been. Some may believe it is evidence that the paper has been asking itself what role it played in the death of Bill Singleton.

OFCC responses in blue:

August 10, 2004
Cleveland Plain Dealer

CCW permit listings hurt the innocent

Steve is a gun enthusiast, and he watched closely as the concealed-carry debate dominated the Ohio General Assembly for years.

Finally, this past session, a law was passed giving Ohioans the right to carry concealed handguns in public.

The law, a long-overdue correction of Ohio's ambiguous and poorly constructed "affirmative defense," which made a criminal out of anyone who carried a handgun - regardless of the reason - was cheered by Steve and thousands of other Ohioans who believe that the state and federal constitutions mean what they say about the right to bear arms.

It was a victory for the good guys - guys like Bill Singleton, 59, a Cleveland merchant who was shot and killed Tuesday morning outside of his Collinwood check-cashing store, but not before he performed a public service by killing one of his assailants. That assailant was Rhyan Ikner, 17, a violent and habitual delinquent who was arrested in March on aggravated robbery charges.

Absent from Morris' mention of the brutal ambush of "good guy" Bill Singleton is any attention to the question of whether or not his attackers knew he was armed, perhaps due to his being named in the Plain Dealer just days before.

And it was a victory for law-abiding people who felt the need to carry a gun and wanted the right to defend their lives with deadly force, if needed.

But Steve, an engineer, hasn't raced out to apply for a permit to carry one of his weapons. In fact, he's bitter about the way the CCW ordeal has played out. He has decided that the law is not worth the paper it's printed on.

He has decided he would rather remain unarmed than to subject himself to having his name printed as a permit holder in Ohio's largest daily newspaper.

80% of persons responding to an online poll at www.buckeyefirearms.org believe that the Plain Dealer has published these names for this very reason - out of a hope to deter people from obtaining licenses. If they're right, Morris' opening comments could be paraphrased as "mission accomplished."

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