According to a new academic study, and as reported in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal, ‘no-guns’ signs have a negative emotional effect on whomever passes by -- employees and customers alike.

Stephen Morgan, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at Concordia University-St. Paul, told the newspaper he felt "weird and ill at ease" whenever he passed one of those signs. So he decided to find out whether other people felt the same way.

From the story:

Morgan conducted an experiment in which he added one of the signs to a building entrance, then asked students to rate the emotional value of a set of photographs of people's faces. He used some stock photographs that had been "validated" by researchers as showing a set range of emotions -- sad, angry, happy, etc. All things being equal, people rated those photographs the same way.

Morgan's test group -- those who did not walk by the "bans guns" sign -- rated the faces in the standard way.

But students who had walked by the sign rated the faces as "significantly more negative" than the test group. The angry faces were rated as more angry, the sad faces were rated as more sad, and the happy faces were rated as less happy.

Morgan said these negative ratings are a subtle measure of the emotions of persons taking the test. In psychology, it is called projection -- negative people interpret their environment in a negative way.

Last week, OFCC PAC reported that gun ban extremist Toby Hoover, who fronts what often appears to be a one-woman show at the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, had sent an email listing some of the recent incidents of gun violence around Ohio.

And as we have done in the past, OFCC PAC set about to reveal the truth between the li(n)es in Hoover’s missive.

We pointed out just some of the many gun control laws that were broken in the commission of the crimes Hoover listed, and we asked the question: “Just what exactly does Toby Hoover believe passage of MORE gun control laws will solve, anyways?”

Hoover hasn’t seen fit to answer our question, but she has responded, in an email claiming entitled “Ohio gun boys don’t know the question”.

OFCC PAC Commentary inserted in blue:

From: Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005

Ohio gun boys don’t know the question:

The Wooster Daily Record is reporting that neither Wayne or Holmes County sheriffs have experienced problems relating to the new law.

“From time to time, an officer will have the opportunity to engage in a traffic stop with a CCW [license] holder, but we’ve had no negative consequences as a result of that, and they all have been in compliance with the CCW law at the time of the stop,” Wayne County Sheriff’s Capt. Doug Hunter told the newspaper.

The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office had issued 732 licenses by the end of 2004, and Hunter is quoted as saying they had originally expected about 1000 by year’s end.

“It seems that many people interested in getting a [license] have taken a wait and see attitiude and may obtain a [license] at a later date,” Hunter told the Daily Record.

Both Hunter and Holmes County Sheriff’s Captain Pam Akins report they have also issued licenses to a number of Stark County residents.

Hunter told the newspaper he suspects the number of businesses that have posted signs prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons have deterred some people from applying.

"Most citizens feel, 'what's the use'" in disarming before entering a business, Hunter is quoted as saying.

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

February 27, 2005
Henderson (NC) Daily Dispatch

Much is written about gun violence in America, and many sets of teeth are gnashed over prevalence of firearms in society.

Then we see how guns in private hands can save human lives.

During an incident in Charlotte Friday, an unnamed shoe store clerk fought off a group of would-be armed-robbers, killing at least one of the thugs in the process. Escaping afraid but unharmed were a number of shoppers, including Ramon Lopez and his 4-year-old son.

"It was mad, crazy," Lopez told The Charlotte Observer. "One (robber) came to the back and started searching us. I said, 'Please, don't shoot my son.'"

The robbers did start shooting, and that's when the clerk - who remains unnamed at this point by police - reached for a firearm and shot back, according to Lopez. One robber was hit and fell in the store's doorway, later to die at a hospital. Another was struck by the clerk's gunfire, and though he escaped with at least one other robber in a vehicle stolen at gunpoint in the parking lot, he is believed to have turned up shortly thereafter at a different hospital for treatment of wounds that are considered life-threatening.

Surely this is not a story with a non-violent or "happy" ending. But it might be the best ending under the circumstances.

Click here for the entire editorial.

Editor's Note: The person who submitted this story, who is in a position to know, informed OFCC that the husband was using an "illegally obtained 22.cal" pistol, and that his body was found last week with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

WTOV9.com (NBC Ch. 9 Steubenville) is reporting that a Jefferson County woman who was shot and survived talked to News 9 about her dramatic experience.

According to reports, Sean Kmatz abducted his wife at gunpoint last Tuesday. Brenda was at a state-mandated "no-guns" bowling alley in Amsterdam, Ohio when she says her estranged husband Sean showed up with a gun.

From the story:

Brenda tells News 9, "my girlfriend said Brenda and I turned around and there he (Sean) was. He said I need to talk to you and I walked over and he pulled a gun out and threw me outside on the cement and told me to get in the van. He had the gun to my head and told me to get in the van." From the bowling alley Brenda says Sean drove to a nearby field in Carroll County, "we drove about 90 miles an hour up through the back road and drove us over the hill, threw the field and over the hill." Brenda says she could not leave because he had a gun with him at all times which she says he used to shoot her in the back of the head. She also says when he went to reload she found her chance to escape, "I climbed through the window and ran about four miles up a hill through a field to these older couple's house and called 9-1-1 and stayed in their basement until they came.

Brenda told News 9 she filed for divorce earlier this month which she believes triggered the attack. She is out of the hospital and doing well.

Elsewhere in another state-mandated "gun-free" victim zones last week:

The gun ban lobby is forging ahead with calls for banning an expensive and rare pistol, despite having been proven to be selling a lie just last month.

From the story:

New Jersey's two senators, Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg say they will be introducing a bill that would make it illegal for anyone except police and military officials to purchase or use an assault pistol that fires bullets capable of penetrating bulletproof vests.

"There is absolutely no reason anyone other than law enforcement or the military should possess firepower capable of piercing protective body armor," Lautenberg said.

But as OFCC PAC reported last month, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) has stated that the ammunition used in FN Herstal's "Five-SeveN," is "not armor piercing" under Federal law.

BATFE also noted that in tests by FN--one of Europe's most respected firearm manufacturers--bullets from the Five-SeveN wouldn't penetrate two kinds of soft body armor (you can see BATFE's statement at: http://www.atf.gov/firearms/firearmstech/fabriquen.htm).

Why do media outlets like Newsday continue to dutifully report this news without noting the BATFE's corrections?

February 26, 2005
Columbus Dispatch

Columbus City Councilman Michael C. Mentel’s effort to enact a ban on socalled assault weapons has less to do with the safety of residents and police officers and more to do with justifying his existence on City Council as chairman of the Safety and Judiciary Committee.

If he truly cared about the safety of citizens and officers in Columbus, he would ban motor vehicles in the city, which have always been a bigger killer than guns of any type ever have.

If the hype and hysteria generated by Mentel were to be believed, it wouldn’t be safe to leave your house because armed throngs of machine-gun-toting rebels would be gunning down people on a daily basis. By having the police stage a demonstration with the media in tow, he is misusing the media to advance his agenda, while playing on the fears of the general public.

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

Apparently, Ohio laws banning sexual predators from school zones and day-care centers work about as well as those banning violent predators with guns... Which is to say they do not work at all.

February 24, 2005
Zanesville Times Recorder

When Genesis Healthcare Systems chose 534 Taylor St. as the location for its new day-care center, the picturesque neighborhood dotted with small homes and well manicured lawns seemed to be a perfect location.

The area has plenty of trees, grass and fresh air. But it also has a registered sex offender living on the same block.

William Caldwell, of 515 Taylor St., is listed on the Muskingum County Sheriff's Office Web site as a sexual predator. If the new Genesis child-care facility goes up, his home will be directly across the street.

However, having a sex offender close to a day-care center is not limited to Taylor Street. Most Zanesville area child-care centers listed in the telephone book have sexual offenders residing within a one-mile radius, according to research by the Times Recorder.

Click here to read the entire story in the Zanesville Times Recorder.

February 21, 2005
Meridian (CT) Record-Journal
By Mike Roberts

Instead of legislators taking their time to try and take various firearms away from honest gun owners, why don't they use that time to insure proper measures that would prevent children from using video games and CDs that promote just about every type of gun violence and mayhem imaginable? Why don't they make more laws protecting children from pedophiles that destroy their lives forever? And better yet, why don't they enforce the existing laws? We have enough of them, including gun laws!

We don't have to look any further than the four major TV stations in our area to get one program or other that simply reeks of gun violence yet they are shown when kids can tune them in whenever they want.

Oh, sure, they play a warning on the tube before their gun-toting mobsters and terrorists come on the screen. Big deal. The only thing they are concerned with is the big advertising bucks these violent shows bring in and nothing more. They say the onus is on the parents if they do not want their kids watching some of the crap they provide for public viewing. Who is Juan Manuel Alvarez?

These same anti-gun legislators who claim they are trying to make my world (and yours) safer don't have a clue as to where the dangers lie. If they did, they and thousands of others would not be thundering down our highways while trying to answer a cell phone or dialing one. I have had to jump for my life while simply taking a walk in our fair city while some yahoo whizzed by so close if I hadn't jumped back they would have clipped me while they gabbed on their cell phones.

Yet I have never had a problem because of some honest gunowner taking a whack at me with a legal firearm. Still, I am told they are doing this (trying to outlaw various firearms) for my own safety. Thanks, but I'd rather take my chances with honest gunowners. Who is Juan Manuel Alvarez?

Click here to read the entire op-ed in the Meridian (CT) Record-Journal.

February 19, 2005
Washington Times

Congress is again attempting to shield the firearms industry from civil liability lawsuits filed by third parties seeking damages for the criminal use of a gun.

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act is likely to pass the House much the same way it did when first introduced in 2003, on a bipartisan vote of 285-to-140. The bill never made it out of the Senate.

Democrats tacked on amendments to the bill that would have extended the assault weapons ban, required sellers at gun shows to conduct FBI criminal background checks, as well as made mandatory the inclusion of trigger locks with all handgun sales.

Extending the assault weapons ban is a deal breaker for a majority of Senate Republicans, said the bill's Senate sponsor, Sen. Larry E. Craig. "I don't think any of those amendments have value," the Idaho Republican said. "The industry, to protect themselves, is voluntarily including trigger locks already, so I don't see where that's necessary."

He said the argument to close the so-called gun show loophole is an attempt to undermine "a valuable commerce tool."

All federally licensed gun dealers are required to conduct criminal background checks on their customers, Mr. Craig said, but private citizens selling firearms at gun shows are not. He said such a requirement could push people out of the shows and into the streets, where the government loses all ability to track the sales.

Senate Democrats are expected to oppose the bill outright and introduce some of the same amendments with some alterations.

Click here for the entire article from the Washington Times.