The NBC4 Columbus is reporting that Columbus radio talk-show host Cornell McCleary shot two men, seriously injuring one of them, last night while working as a security guard at an East Side apartment complex.

According to the report, police questioned McCleary, 51, then released him without filing charges.

From the story:

The shooting happened at about 6 p.m. at an apartment complex on
Vineshire Drive on the city's east side.

The guard said the men were causing problems, refused to leave and then
became violent, and that he acted in self-defense, Garcia reported.

Police said the incident started as an exchange of words but quickly
turned into a gunfight.

A woman said her nephew had just returned home from work when he
allegedly was approached by a group of young men. She said he was
approached because he was wearing a red shirt.

"It's a damn shame that you can't wear what you want to wear," she said.
"The guy approached my nephew thinking he was in a gang."

That's when police said a security officer at the apartment complex got
involved. Columbus Police Detective Jim Day said the guard told the
group of men to leave, but they didn't.

Day said the guard was punched in the face. That's when the guard said
he pulled his gun and shot the two men he said were attacking him.

According to the story, both men were hospitalized in stable condition.

The Columbus Dispatch's coverage of this story, reporter Matthew Marx reports that McCleary, who hosts a talk show Sunday nights on WTVN (610 AM), "has a weapons permit" and is a licensed armed guard.

It is unclear whether Marx was trying to say that McCleary is a concealed handgun license-holder when referring to a "weapons permit," but several OFCC supporters have advised us that McCleary has identified himself as a CHL-holder several times on his radio show.

OFCC will continue to follow this story.

Judging by recent coverage in the Toledo Blade, city officials are beginning to contradict themselves publicly as they struggle to decide how to deal with an activist who has announced he will challenge the city's ban on carrying firearms for self-defense in parks next week.

Yesterday, Toledo City Councilman Wilma Brown told the newspaper she would try to stop the parks department from issuing a permit for the gathering by claiming it carrying firearms in the park would be a political statement. She said that is prohibited in a public park.

But today, city law director Barb Herring contradicted Brown, announcing that advocates of the state's concealed-carry law can gather at Toledo's Ottawa Park next week, even though the event's organizer does not have a permit.

From the story:

Bruce Beatty does not need a permit as long as it remains a small gathering April 9, city Law Director Barb Herring said. Still, Mr. Beatty's plan to carry his 45-caliber, semi-automatic handgun to the park won't be tolerated, she and others said.

"We want to be sure that our citizens feel safe in the parks. If need be, we will provide an appropriate response," Mayor Jack Ford said in a written statement.

If Mayor Ford truly believes bans can prevent criminal activity, it is cause to wonder why he didn't order the posting of "NO RAPING CHILDREN" signs in Toledo parks last summer after an 11-year-old girl was sexually assaulted at Toledo's Danny Thomas Park.

That aside, other contradictions by city officials are creeping into news stories.

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

March 30, 2005
St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press

By Mark Yost

In the week since teenage gunman Jeff Weise walked into Red Lake Senior High School and killed five students, a teacher and a security guard before killing himself, the usual voices from the usual precincts have been asking: What can we do to keep this from happening next time? How about arming security guards, as well as a handful of administrators and teachers who volunteer to be properly trained?

I can hear the gasps echoing from Mac-Groveland to Crocus Hill. But if we think any legislation is going to stop the next Jeff Weise, we're fooling ourselves. Indeed, the idea that with the right legislation and an unlimited pot of money we can take the risk out of any of life's endeavors is simply wrong.

There's no arguing that Weise had a tragic life. And the search for possible explanations and missed clues runs the gamut. Was it the music he listened to, the movies he watched, the video games he played, the Web sites he visited or the medication he took (the most plausible)?

As for possible remedies, typical were those posited on these pages by Dan Gartrell, a former Head Start teacher at Red Lake. According to him, Weise would have been just fine if teachers "had time to greet students in the morning, easing them through conflicts since the previous day that may be getting them down." He went on to suggest that we need full-time mental health professionals in our schools, from preschool through college.

What's ironic is that Gartrell's advice came just two weeks after another professor — Robin Magee of Hamline University — took St. Paul police to task for carrying Tasers in schools. She argued that police need no more than "a stern command" to control unruly schoolchildren. Red Lake Senior High School security guard Derrick Brun tried that. His funeral was Monday.

Click here for more of this excellent commentary from the St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press.

Gun Grabber's Letter to the Editor:

Fewer guns in fewer hands - not the opposite
…"Instead of expressing sympathy for felons, Morris, how about showing concern for the nearly 30,000 victims of gun violence every year in the United States - the highest rate of gun deaths in the developed world? How about speaking out against immunity for gun manufacturers and dealers (once again before Congress)? How about advocating for an assault weapons ban, or for closing the gun-show loophole, or for other sensible measures to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, terrorists and disturbed children?"

How about telling us how any of that would have stopped Jeff Weise, Karen?

March 29, 2005
Dayton Daily News

Re "Bullet-riddled block pleads for help," March 14:

Only a city boy writer for the Dayton Daily News could:

• Make a .22 rifle into an automatic weapon.
• Pretend that school buses are targets.
• Turn one .22 slug into a bullet-riddled neighborhood.
• Make a .22 hole in a window look a foot wide.
• Ignore countless shootings in Dayton, but denigrate Waynesville country folk.

When did a broken window in Dayton last make front-page news? Has the DDN's anti-gun stance made Dayton safer?

I have to admit, the reporter's writing is colorful. The editor of this foolish yellow journalism had to know what a crock he was stirring. We dumb country folks know hot-pink Big Brother socialism when we read it.

I have been a target shooter with a good backup: a hill 80 feet high. I found that my bullets went underground, skipped along the top of some shallow shale rock, re-emerged at a high angle, and went over the hilltop. The day I found out, I complained to the neighbor on the other side of the hill that I could hear his ricochets going over my head. He told me that mine did the same thing to him. We readjusted our shooting. We are still friends. Nobody was a criminal.

We didn't need a posse, the sheriff, the school superintendent, and the Dayton Daily News to fix the problem.

Chuck Layton
Wayne Twp.

March 29, 2005
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John R. Lott Jr.

While murder rates have been falling or have been flat for years in the rest of the country, Philadelphia's rate has been rising. Last year's murder rate was the highest since 1993, and Philadelphia replaced Chicago, the perennial leader, as the top 10 largest city with the highest murder rate. With 85 murders in the first 88 days of 2005, the city's murder rate is well ahead of even last year's.

Mayor John Street's solution? He's doing little about fixing the city's declining arrest rates for murder. Instead, he blames the law-abiding citizens who have permits to carry concealed handguns. He announced on Thursday that the city will deliberately begin delaying issuing new concealed handgun permits. Gov. Rendell's proposed crime task force promises to examine the issue further.

No reporters seem to have asked Street or Rendell the obvious question: If permit-holders are the problem, how many of those 85 murders were caused by a person with a permitted concealed handgun? When I asked, the city police and mayor's office were unable or unwilling to answer that question, but my guess is zero.

Click here for the entire op-ed, originally published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

For Immediate Release
March 29, 2005

OhioCCW is a success!

CLEVELAND - Ohio's Concealed Handgun License program is one of the most successful consumer protection programs in state history, according to a first-ever report released today by Ohioans For Concealed Carry, the state's largest grassroots organization focused solely on protecting and improving Ohioans' right to bear arms for self-defense.

In the 2005 Ohio Concealed Handgun License Report, OFCC observes that, according to numbers released by the state Attorney General, about 175 people are taking advantage of this program daily by applying for licenses. As we mark the first anniversary of the law's activation, approximately 50,000 Ohioans are now licensed to carry concealed handguns for their defense and security.

"The results speak for themselves," said Jeff Garvas, founder and president of OFCC. "Ohioans have applied for licenses at a rate far exceeding other states with recently-passed concealed carry reform laws. Furthermore, they are proving to be an even more law-abiding group of people than even we predicted they would be. This report gives the General Assembly all the proof they need that some of the egregious restrictions forced into the bill by anti-gun lobbyists, and the politicians beholden to them, must be removed."

In addition to an analysis on license-issuance and how various appointment schemes utilized by a few sheriffs are influencing application rates, the report analyzes claims made by the gun ban lobby prior to passage of the law, and compares them to comments made about the implementation of the law by Ohio's sheriffs.

"This report puts it in black and white," said OFCC PAC Chairman Jim Irvine. "Legislators put their faith in the citizens of Ohio to be as responsible as those in other states, and their faith has been rewarded. Additionally, the report makes it clear beyond any doubt that the adjacent county provision is essential to ensuring a few sheriffs cannot completely restrict citizens' ability to apply for a license."

As Ohio's primary concealed carry reform advocate, OFCC has been and continues to be in constant contact with Rep. Jim Aslanides, and other lawmakers, to assure that the rights of Ohio's law-abiding gun owners, and our members, are protected.

It is accepted by most law enforcement agencies, attorneys and pro-gun organizations that the open carry, or "plain sight", provision for motor vehicles is a legal black hole that is in desperate need of change. Most other states allow concealed firearms in cars, and have experienced no threat to law enforcement. Ohio's gun owners should be afforded the same right.

We are also working to remove the Media Access Loophole provision, which is currently being abused by newspapers and television stations statewide.

Finally, because many municipal governments are currently enforcing gun control laws restricting Ohio's CHL law, which was enacted as a general law of the state, Ohio needs to pass legislation stressing that Ohio's self-defense initiatives preempt all local gun control.

Ohioans For Concealed Carry looks forward to continuing our work with Representative Aslanides, and hope that Governor Taft recognizes that the current law is in need of reform.

Click here to download (.pdf file) OFCC's 2005 Ohio Concealed Handgun License Report.