By Phil Shiflet

The nation's cable news channels were filled late last week with reports about the kidnapping of a 19 year-old Walmart clerk as she walked to her car at the outer limits of a deserted Walmart parking lot Wednesday, January 19.

The kidnapping of Megan Holden was caught on the store's video surveillance cameras (which, incidentally, did nothing to deter the kidnapper or prevent the crime).

As FOXNews reported Friday, Holden's body was discovered in a ditch alongside a highway in western Texas. Police said she was killed at the hands of a man who went on a multistate crime spree before he turned up Friday at an Arizona hospital with a gunshot wound.

And so we see how a bad man came to be captured...

From the FOX story:

"He said, 'This is robbery, I want all the money in the cash register,"'
retired New York City firefighter Richie Chapman said. "And as he said that,
he drew a weapon from underneath his shirt, and I drew and fired."

Too bad 19 year-old Megan Holden didn't have a gun. Maybe she could have protected herself when she was attacked in the parking lot after work by a troll who drove her out of town in her own vehicle, and then shot her to death.

Too bad you have to be 21 to buy a handgun.

Too bad you have to be 21 to get a concealed carry permit.

Too bad the government failed to protect Leann after it threw her right to
keep and bear arms in the toilet.

Too bad the bad people don't play by the rules.

Too bad, too bad, too bad...

The only light in this incident is it shows how effective a gun in the hands
of a law-abiding citizen can be, and how ineffective laws that disarm good
men, and young women are.

With out that gas station operator being armed, this violent thug would
still be the subject of an 'Amber Alert' instead of under arrest for murder.

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The Dayton Daily News is reporting that a Square D employee who had been fired returned to work armed with a loaded .22 revolver and pointed it in the chest of his former boss on January 14.

Craig Z. Buck, 54, of 5274 Stillwell-Beckett Road was enraged by his firing, which was prompted by a dispute with another employee who still works there, authorities told the newspaper.

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

By Paul Jacob
Townhall.com
Jan 23, 2005

If my daughter runs off with a fellow named Clyde and starts shooting up banks, I'll know I made a terrible mistake — as my wife will no doubt remind me.

Call me a "gun nut" if you must. But I'm really not one. Still, I did give my sweet, innocent 5-year-old daughter a gun for Christmas. Not just any gun, mind you. It's commonly called a "street-sweeper." It's automatic or semi-automatic. Honestly, I don't really know much about guns.

My wife is horrified. It's not that she is anti-gun; it's just that when you pull the trigger, it is awfully loud. Especially when the trigger is pulled in the house.

Did I mention it's a toy gun?

Which certainly didn't make it any easier to find. Had I wanted a real gun, one would imagine from watching TV news that finding a gun is child's play.

But a toy gun? None in the toy stores. Slim pickings even on the Internet (and I'd waited too long to have it shipped). It was as if toy guns had been banned. Not that superstar-shoppers like my wife wouldn't have uncovered one, somewhere, but this amateur was willing to admit failure.

Then, just days before Christmas...

Click here to read the entire column from Townhall.com.

The fight to restore Ohioans' right to self-defense was not an easy one. Many important provisions were left out, and many more harmful provisions were inserted, in order to get a law.

Calls to "reform the reform" began almost immediately after passage of the law last year, and with nearly ten months of experience putting the new law into practice, the need for improvements to this law has been clearly demonstrated.

Now that members of the 126th General Assembly are settled in, and now that they have received their committee assignments, it is time for citizens to begin sharing their thoughts with legislators on where changes need to be made.

To that end, Ohioans For Concealed Carry has updated its Write Your Elected Officials website function, which locates legislators' contact information for constituents who enter their street address. Users can then personalize the letter and the system will send it to legislators via email and/ or facsimille.

A template letter is provided as a starting point for constituents' letters. Letter-writers are encouraged to modify the letter by sharing their day-to-day experiences with Ohio CHL, good and bad. This will help legislators know what provisions need attention, and what provisions need protection.

Write Your Elected Officials Now!

The influence of this organization's members and supporters through this email/ fax system was highlighted in a newspaper article soon after the law was passed last year: Dayton Daily News: Gun Lobby Shows Clout in Ohio

For other information on how you can help, access the OFCC PAC's Grassroots Action Guide.

A story written by Associated Press writer Anita Chang has been published in news outlets across the country in the past few days.

The story, which has been republished in Ohio newspapers like the Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch, Coshocton Tribune, Middletown News Journal (and many others across the nation), tells of a woman who has personally experienced the need for self-protection, yet decides not to carry concealed after taking the class and receiving her Ohio CHL.

Leaving aside comments about the media's zeal for telling a story about someone who feels safer NOT carrying, this writer's [rather bad] experience shows that identifying beginners in CCW classes, ensuring they start with a low-caliber firearm (preferably a .22) and giving them focused, personal attention, is extremely important.

After reading the story, one OFCC-affiliated instructor expressed concerns about the gun Chang was given as a beginner, and about the possibility that she wasn't identified as a beginner and given the personal instruction she needed.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

Time and again, when told that publishing lists of gun owners (CHL-holders) would provide criminals lists of homes from which to steal guns, the media responded by saying that criminals just weren't smart enough to utilize the newspaper to premeditate their crimes or select their targets.

The Akron Beacon Journal has called it a "flimsy presumption", and Gannett News Columbus Bureau Chief Jim Siegel said warnings about the dangers of publishing the list of CHL-holders "elevate these criminals to a level of sophistication they very likely do not possess..." Even Attorney General Jim Petro called such a scenario "a stretch".

Right...

Last month, criminals used the Cleveland Plain Dealer to pre-plan an armed robbery. This time, a man used the Akron Beacon Journal to pre-plan a rape.

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

When it comes to the 2006 governor's race, the Republican primary has been in gear almost since Bob Taft took his oath for the final time in 2003.

Now that the Presidential election is behind everyone, it is quickly becoming apparent that voters in Ohio are likely to truly have a choice among GOP primary candidates in 2006. OFCC members heard from Secretary of State Ken Blackwell at the first annual Picnic in the Park in 2004 about his intentions to run for governor. Attorney General Jim Petro has made frequent headlines by working both on implentation and in defense of Ohio's new concealed carry law, and will be seeking the office. Finally, State Auditor Betty Montgomery has also expressed a desire to be Governor.

This is good news for gun owners in our state, because the competition will force candidates to take clear positions on issues that matter to us (reducing the likelihood that another faux pro-gun candidate will make it through the process).

As the candidates enter this pre-primary phase in earnest, the coalition of supporters each have been working to build are beginning to become apparent, and will obviously become much more visible in the coming months.

OFCC PAC has learned that Attorney General Jim Petro's campaign is distributing a letter this week authored by State Senator Joy Padgett. Padgett has expressed her support and endorsement for Petro, and highlights the gun issue as one that has specifically influenced her decision.

As the campaign kicks into high gear, the OFCC PAC will continue report such news on ALL the potential candidates whenever it becomes available.

To download Senator Padgett's letter of endorsement and request for funds, click here (.pdf).

To read the letter online, click on the "Read More..." link below.