The Chillicothe Gazette is reporting on problems concerning the “plain sight” provision in Ohio’s concealed-carry law, which governs CHL-holders while traveling in motor vehicles.

From the story:

When a licensee steps into a motor vehicle or onto a motorcycle, the gun on his or her hip has to go one of three places: holstered in plain sight on the person, into a locked glove box or a locked case in plain sight.

That's just asking for accidents, said Gerard Valentino, central Ohio coordinator for the group Ohioans for Concealed Carry. The safest place for a gun is holstered on someone's body, and when you ask them to move it around when he or she gets into a car, the chance for something to go wrong increases.

The law's sponsor, State Rep. Jim Aslanides, R-Coshocton, also said there are problems with that provision, which he said is discriminatory. Women generally don't wear belts, he said, making it difficult to keep it on their person, and keeping it in a purse is illegal unless the purse locks.

The original authors of this provision, which has no precedent in a single other state’s concealed carry law, were Ohio State Highway Patrol bureaucrats. So is it any surprise the OSHP plans to oppose removal of this useless provision?:

Lt. Rick Zwayer, a spokesman for the State Highway Patrol, said the law is fine how it is.

"We haven't seen a negative effect one way or another, and I think that's obviously a good thing," he said.

Maybe they’re just not looking very hard:

After a number of thinly-veiled swipes by several Gannett-owned newspapers that appeared an attempt to lessen the impact of the success of OhioCCW in its first year, the Chillicothe Gazette has published a story examining an issue that has had a negative effect on application rates.

From the story:

For the people who fought for Ohio's concealed weapons law, the fight isn't over.

As the law currently stands, licensees' names and county of residence are available to working journalists, and that leaves a sour taste in some people's mouths.

Rep. Jim Aslanides, R-Coshocton, sponsored the bill that would become the concealed weapons law, but he's expected to propose some revisions this summer.

"Our office is getting a lot of calls," he said. "There are many people who are not getting their applications and not applying because they don't want their names printed in the paper for no reason. That's the biggest complaint we're getting, that newspapers are abusing the privilege, the right or privilege to print names."
Newspapers in northeast Ohio commonly print the names of people granted licenses, Aslanides said.

But Frank Deaner, executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association, said the law is too restrictive.
"As far as we're concerned, permits for carrying concealed weapons should be public documents just like all other permit applications in other areas, and we're encouraging the legislators to keep that access open to the general public," Deaner said.

Gov. Bob Taft accepted an 11th hour compromise, Deaner said, that brought access to the records from open to the general public to open to the media only.

Gerard Valentino, central Ohio coordinator for the group Ohioans for Concealed Carry, said if a license-holder commits a crime, their status as a licensee should be available to the media.

But there's no need to gather the names of licensees, he said. With the criteria required to qualify for the license, one can have a "reasonable assumption" the licensee will obey the law.

His group issued a statement in concert with the one-year anniversary comparing the public disclosure of licensees to the restrictions put on sex offenders.

"There's no public safety issue here," he said.

This story marks the first time a newspaper has bothered more than a scant mention of the many issues behind the push to close the Media Access Loophole - issues that are typically ignored or impugned by the likes of the ONA’s Frank Deaner.

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

The Mansfield News-Journal is reporting that when a man tried to steal her 1994 Buick Saturday outside Bob Evans at U.S. 13 and Interstate 71, a 54-year-old Mansfield waitress pulled him from her vehicle and punched him several times.

From the story:

"I didn't want him to take my car," Mutchler said Sunday from her home. "I don't steal. I work. I don't bother anyone. I didn't want him to take my car. It's not the best car, but it gets me to work."

Mutchler was working her normal waitressing shift at Bob Evans when a co-worker pulled into the parking lot at 8:45 a.m. Saturday. The co-worker saw a man in Mutchler's vehicle. Using a cell phone, he called into the restaurant to warn Mutchler.

"I thought he was joking," she said.

She went to the back door, where she saw a man sitting on her maroon upholstery and using a screwdriver to pry off the steering column in an effort to hot-wire the car.

"I yelled at him from the door," she said. "I yelled twice. I said 'Hey, get out of my car!' The third time, I didn't handle it well. I punched him and pulled him out of my car."

All the while, the man called her names, she said. Although he never threatened her, Mutchler -- who has had surgery on her back -- said he pushed her several times.

Then, the man broke the window of another vehicle, a 1995 Oldsmobile with Pennsylvania plates. As he attempted to hot-wire that vehicle, Mutchler continued to struggle with him, trying to stop him from leaving, she said.

But he managed to get the car started. Mutchler said she tried to pull his hair, but he was wearing a blue cap. She stood holding the cap as the man lurched forward in the Ol[d]smobile, almost striking her.

While escaping, the man hit a pickup just entering the parking lot, Mutchler said. She yelled to the pickup driver to stop the thief. The culprit rammed the car into the door of the pickup and fled onto Interstate 71, where Ohio Highway Patrol troopers began chasing him.

That’s the story before the story Ohioans heard all weekend – that of a screwdriver-wielding criminal who had been shot by a state trooper on the highway, and of another OSHP trooper who had been injured by a stray bullet from her partner’s gun. That’s the story of a woman who refused to be a victim, and who is fortunate her carjacker was not armed with something more than a screwdriver.

Again, from the News-Journal:

Mansfield police Lt. David Nirode said officers were really impressed with Mutchler.

"How many people would have actually done that?" he said.

Mutchler said friends have called her, asking her to be their bodyguard. She said now that she has had time to reflect, she is a little shaken by the experience.

"I was shaking so bad afterwards, I told my boss somebody had to take me home for my heart pill," she said. Her husband took her home, where she took her pill. Then she returned to work, because it was a busy day and she couldn't take time off.

"What was he thinking?" she said. "What was I thinking? I should have let him have the car, I guess. But I said 'no way.' "

UPDATE: Patrol: Fighting attackers is risky

April 11, 2005
Cleveland Plain Dealer

As The Plain Dealer's paroxysms of elation over Connie Schultz's Pulitzer Prize slowly abate, it is instructive to look at exactly who it was that made the award to her.

Seven judges decided the prize for newspaper commentary. Four were women. Females have a tendency to relate to those needing a helping hand, so that explains why the judges liked the fact that Schultz's columns "provided a voice for the underdog and underprivileged."

Let's look at the credentials of the judging panel: The four women were an associate editor of the Houston Chronicle, the editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, the editor of the Buffalo News and an assistant professor of journalism at Columbia University. The three men were executive editors at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Keene (N.H.) Sentinel, and the Anniston (Ala.) Star. That isn't exactly a pantheon of journalism luminaries.

Quite illuminating is what John Simon, theater critic of New York Magazine, had to say about award competitions. In an interview at Broadway.com, Simon said: "I've always thought the Pulitzer was the worst prize in existence, and I've said it to one of the Pulitzers himself. . . . Let's face it - all prizes, starting with the Nobel, are questionable. But some are worse than questionable. Some are appalling."

Ronald Khol
Lyndhurst

Related Story:
Plain Dealer columnist wins Pulitzer for, in part, commentary bashing OhioCCW

The Akron Beacon-Journal is reporting that a gunman robbed a Romig Road Subway shop Thursday evening.
A man who entered the restaurant around 7:15 p.m. displayed a handgun, told employees to get on the floor, took cash and fled on foot. Police told the newspaper the robbery was similar to the Tuesday holdup of the Long John Silver's restaurant at 2520 Romig Road.

Whether or not this Akron store had posted such signs, this incident should show the other Subway stores on the Do Not Patronize While Armed list just how much they are endangering their employees and customers.