The Port Clinton News Herald is reporting that Ottawa County Sheriff Robert L. Bratton has been surprised by the number of women who have obtained licenses to carry concealed handguns in his county.

According to the story, eleven percent of those who have gotten permits to carry concealed guns from the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office are women.

"We've had a lot of women come through, at least a surprising number for me," Bratton is quoted as saying. "You look at the society and where we're going today. I suppose you've got business women and women traveling. It's like a security measure."

This is indeed good news. According to Dr. John R. Lott, Jr., "murder rates decline when either more women or more men carry concealed handguns, but the effect is especially pronounced for women. An additional woman carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for women by about three to four times more than an additional man carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for men."

None of the Ottawa County license-holders have been charged with crimes, Bratton told the newspaper. "We have not had any problems at all. I would say the program on our end is going very well."

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

The Gongwer News Service is reporting that the Ohio State Highway Patrol is petitioning for additional funding.

Citing increased costs of providing security during the 2004 presidential campaign among other factors, the news service reports the State Highway Patrol will seek Controlling Board approval Monday for a $1.5 million boost in its security and investigations budget.

Ohio's 88 county sheriffs are the highest law enforcement entities in the state. They make twice as many traffic stops as the OSHP does, and they deal with far more violent crime investigations than does the OSHP, which is focused primarily on enforcing traffic laws. Ohio's sheriffs deserve better.

It’s time to start sending funds back to the county sheriffs, instead of burning $1.5 million more at the OSHP.

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According to the Associated Press, the church member who opened fire on his congregation in the “no-CCW” state of Wisconsin had time to empty one magazine, reload, and empty another. No one was capable of resistance, and he finally took his own life.

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In all, this man murdered seven church-goers, and injured four more.

Last year, concealed carry legislation was vetoed by Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle, and a veto-override attempt failed by one vote, when Democrat Representative Gary Sherman, who had originally voted for the bill, switched sides at the last second, reluctant to veto a governor of his own party.

Thanks to the Ohio legislature and the gun ban extremists whose advice they took, a massacre like this could happen in any church in Ohio, unless the church acts to make its members aware that CHL-holders are welcome.

This simply should not be.

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Time Magazine is reporting that, two weeks after intelligence officials confirmed that Osama bin Laden had sent a message to terrorist Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, urging him to plan attacks on U.S. soil, information gathered from interrogation of a top al-Zarqawi aide indicate the terrorist has talked about hitting "soft targets" in the U.S., which could include "movie theaters, restaurants and schools."

It should surprise no one that our enemies would target some of the softest targets in the United States – places where gun ban extremists have succeeded to a large degree in obstructing the human right of self-defense via bans on carrying concealed firearms.

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

ThisIsLondon.com is reporting that a 61-year-old man was bludgeoned to death with an axe in a broad daylight attack in an upmarket area of north London.

From the story:

Shocked witnesses described how the victim's head was turned to "mush" after he was set upon in Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage.

Nick Blackford, 20, said the "calm and precise" killer seemed unworried as he handed himself over to armed police.

Other witnesses had told him how the attacker shouted "you've had this coming for 20 years" before he bludgeoned his victim to death with the 2ft weapon. Two workers from a nearby building site arrived carrying iron bars to try to stop the attack but were too late.

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If all the guns in the world were magically erased from existence (as is the gun ban extremists’ fantasy), criminals intent on harming others would just use whatever other tools at their disposal to commit their attacks. The British government’s great social experiment to attempt to lower crime by banning handguns is a dismal failure, and with each passing day, the Parliamentarians’ hands become soaked with more blood.

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