The Cincinnati Post is reporting that Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich, who has agreed to be a candidate for Lt. Governor on the ticket with Attorney General Jim Petro, recently completed 12 hours of gun training and says he will apply for an Ohio concealed handgun license.

From the story:

"I've always been a strong advocate for gun rights and I fought for the law that allows Ohioans to carry a concealed handgun," he said.

"If you're going to talk the talk, you should walk the talk. That's why I'm going to get a license. I probably won't carry a gun, but I want the option to do so."

In 2003, Heimlich attended the state's first Open Carry Defense Walk in Cincinnati, and was one of only a few elected officials across the state to attend one of the 20 grassroots-organized Walks that helped encourage the legislature to pass Ohio's concealed carry law.

Toledo's 13 Action News (ABC) is reporting that an employee of Ohio-based Owens-Corning was getting something out of her trunk in the company parking lot in downtown Toledo Friday when a man with a gun hit her, took her keys and car.

From the story:

A woman was carjacked in broad day light at work. Police say it happened at the parking lot of Owens Corning around ten this morning in downtown Toledo. Detectives say that a woman was getting something out of her trunk when a man with a gun hit her, took her keys and car. An hour later police believe the same suspect may also have robbed the Charter One Bank on Glendale and Byrne. The suspect is still on the loose. He was last seen in the woman's Dodge Stratus.

Ohio law may give this corporation immunity from civil liability for enforcing a policy which renders workers like this poor woman defenseless, but they can never, ever escape their moral responsibility.
Contact information for Owens Corning and other dangerous locations is available on OFCC's Do Not Patronize While Armed database.

She can vote. She can join the Armed Services in defense of her country. But in the eyes of Ohio law, she cannot be trusted to carry a firearm in defense of her dignity.

Dayton's WDTN is reporting that a University of Dayton woman was kidnapped and repeatedly raped near the U.D. Campus, and police are still looking for the three men who attacked her.
From the story:

Police say the attackers picked out their victim when she was walking out of a Brown Street bar early Wednesday morning.
When the 20-year old got to a nearby parking lot, three men in a dark S.U.V. drove up and grabbed her.
The trio took her to a house and repeatedly raped her for four hours.
At five in the morning, they drove back to campus and dropped her off.
She was able to walk home and call a friend to take her to the hospital.

According to WDTN, hearing about the attack has put fellow students on alert. Nikki Lawson told the news channel "I'm probably more aware of where I'm going. And, like tonight, with other people. So, that I'm in a group and not alone, especially after dark."
The report also says University of Dayton officials say they've alerted all students and staff. In a mass e-mail, they told the community what happened and reminded students to be aware and travel in groups.
Too young to qualify for a CHL, and traveling in places where guns are banned. The law and society has ignored that she is not too young to become a victim of one of the worst types of crime for a woman. Other students seeking safety in numbers may have a false sense of security. Avoiding traveling alone may deter rapists in some cases, but there are also examples of one armed attacker subduing two or more victims. Additionally, one cannot stay in a large group all the time.

So the campus has alerted students. This is the very minimum they could do, and certainly not enough. What about announcing that CHL-classes will be given on class, and encouraging students old enough to legally qualify to obtain a license? What about sponsoring classes, such as NRA Refuse To Be Victim, for those students who are not old enough to obtain a CHL?

In 1966 the police in Orlando, Florida, responded to a rape epidemic by embarking on a highly publicized program to train 2,500 women in firearm use. The next year rape fell by 88 percent in Orlando (the only major city to experience a decrease that year); burglary fell by 25 percent. Not one of the 2,500 women actually ended up firing her weapon; the deterrent effect of the publicity sufficed." (Congressional Record, 90th Cong., 2d sess., January 30, 1968, p. 1496, n. 7) Five years later Orlando's rape rate was still 13 percent below the pre-program level, whereas the surrounding standard metropolitan area had suffered a 308 percent increase.
UD's response appears to fall well short of providing any real security for students.

Cincinnati's WCPO.com is reporting that several shootings in the Tri-state in recent days have prompted community leaders to look for a way to stop the violence. In just the past two days police and paramedics have assisted at least five gunshot victims. And on Wednesday night police responded to two more shooting scenes -- one in Evanston on Blair Avenue and the other at the Fay Apartments.
The shooting at Fay Apartments in North Fairmount, five days after a man was found shot to death in a car there.
When concealed carry became law one year and one day ago, gun ban extremists predicted we'd be reading stories like these. But there is one small problem for these anti-self-defense zealots: in all likelihood, not one of the above incidents involved a CHL-holder.

According to WCPO, investigators throughout the city are having a difficult time finding witnesses who will talk. And they say many who live nearby the shooting scenes are worried about their safety. "It's very frightening, a murder has taken place right in front of our house," said one College Hill resident about Tuesday's fatal shooting.
The gun ban lobby would have people believe that there is more to fear from a woman who has obtained a concealed handgun license to protect herself from an abusive spouse than from the criminals with illegal guns who are perpetrating these crimes. Frightening indeed.

The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that Patrick Daly, who was shot trying to help KMart shoppers escape a violent criminal named Paul Faith last August in Cincinnati, has filed suit against KMart Corp., two unidentified employees who he says recklessly chased Faith through the store, Faith's estate, Faith's unidentified mental health care provider and the unidentified gun shop where Faith bought the gun he used to shoot two people.
From the story:

The Dalys, of Mount Healthy, were at the Kmart store on Colerain Avenue in Groesbeck doing back-to-school shopping Aug. 24, when they heard gunshots.
Faith, 25, killed store employee Paul Heid, then turned on Daly, shooting him twice as Daly helped others escape.
The spree ended with Faith killing himself after leaving the store.

The newspaper notes that Daly's suit was filed just hours before a new law limiting the amount of money people can seek in personal injury lawsuits took effect in Ohio.
At the time of the shooting, a Hamilton County Sheriff's spokesman, told the Associated Press that Paul Faith had no license to carry the 9 mm semiautomatic handgun that was used in the shooting. According to Hamilton County court records, Faith had been convicted of carrying a concealed weapon in 1997.

The media never revealed whether or not this KMart had posted itself as a "no-guns" victim zone, rendering customers defenseless. What is known is that KMart bars employees - like the deceased, Paul Heid - from their right to self-defense while at work. As such, while it would be tempting to root for the idea of seeing an anti-gun business (KMart and its spokesperson Rosie O'Donnel have long taken a position against law-abiding gun owners) held accountable for such an incident, it is important to note that Daly did not stop at suing KMart. Somehow Daly and his attorney believe a medical professional and gun store are to blame for the actions of Paul Faith.
Self-defense advocates know that since there is no way to control when or where you may be attacked, the safest course of action is to be prepared. The same principle applies to homeowners who purchase fire insurance, drivers who purchase collision insurance, etc. While there may indeed be examples of businesses who deserve to be held liable for rendering customers defenseless, it would seem Daly is seeking to blame everyone else but himself for being caught defenseless when trouble came calling.

April 5, 2005
Columbus Dispatch

I respond to the March 19 Dispatch editorial "Zero tolerance." I had to check the masthead to make sure I was reading The Dispatch. It was there in black and white: an editorial with a favorable reference to the National Rifle Association.

The message quoted in the editorial was taken from the NRA’s Eddie Eagle firearms safety training program. Many schools, however, don’t (or won’t) take advantage of this program. Is it really any wonder then that "curious children only 6 and 7 years old," brought up on a steady diet of shoot-’em-up TV, movies and video games, sometimes bring their guns to school?

If The Dispatch advocates "zero tolerance" for these children, then shouldn’t it take the same stance for adults?

I suggest taking a survey of local schools to identify those that have firearms-safety training programs in their curricula. If a principal hasn’t included such training, then remove him or her for one year. Of course, retain the appeals process "so special consideration can be given in cases that warrant it."

Bud Cohan
Gahanna

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LTE: Gun-safety program should be mandatory

Why I have a low tolerance for ''zero tolerance''