Submitted by reader as PAC news...

This bright and beautiful morning could have turned ugly in an instant and I was reminded how quickly a situation can change.

As I exited my local Circuit City (Best Buy is still posted with the NO GUNS sign) I found myself a few feet from a guy sitting on broken glass and ripping out a stereo from a new Lincoln Navigator. It was parked in the very first spot, closest to the front door of the store. I stopped in my tracks and observed all I could, then wrote the license number down on the box of the item I had just purchased. There was eye-to-eye contact as he threw the stereo in his car and sped off.

I was able to give store security the information and was told it was the third smash and grab this week!!!

After I had a little while to think about what had just taken place, I realized how important it could have been to defend myself had the thief chosen to not leave behind a witness writing down his license number. While I had that ability at Circuit City, the situation could have been quite the opposite at Best Buy where my gun would have been locked in my truck and I could have been totally at the mercy of the thief.

We never know when and where the need to defend oneself will arise. Today, it could have been late morning in a "nice" part of town only a few feet from the front door of a store. This incident will help me be more aware of my surroundings and be more resentful of businesses that deny me the right to defend myself if needed.

Ed Killoran
Canal Winchester, Ohio

June 7, 2005
Columbus Dispatch

The May 24 Dispatch article "Missing daddy" was extremely powerful, especially to me. If it weren’t for my father-in-law having a Tennessee permit to carry a concealed handgun, an article in Nashville back in 2000 might have been headlined, "Missing papa," the name my kids have for their grandfather.

After shooting another driver in the face after she gave him her purse, an armed criminal approached Papa’s small pickup with a gun during a traffic jam. Fortunately for us, Papa was armed. He disarmed the criminal without having to fire a shot and held him at gunpoint for 30 minutes until the police arrived.

As it turns out, the criminal was already wanted for another murder and was carrying a stolen gun. Papa got $1,000 from CrimeStoppers, but that didn’t stop the nightmares and fear of retaliation from the gangbanger’s friends or family.

My father-in-law’s experience is what prompted me to realize that, had I been in that situation, I would have been unable to defend myself or my family. So I learned to shoot. I obtained a license to carry my firearm with me. And when I moved home to Ohio, I went looking for an organization that was trying to help ensure that Ohioans didn’t have to be caught defenseless in such a situation. I joined Ohioans For Concealed Carry (www.ohioccw.org).

In 2004, the General Assembly finally voted for legislation that ensures no qualified Ohioan should have to be defenseless. More than 52,000 people already have taken the necessary steps to ensure that if they are put in a similar situation as Papa or Daddy, they will have a fighting chance.

Thanks for this excellent article. Danielle Schmalenberger and her children will be in my prayers.

Chad D. Baus
Archbold

Today, June 7, 2005, will be my final day posting daily news stories to this website. I have found it necessary to take on a reduced volunteer role at OFCC, and plan to spend more of my time on family, firearms and self-defense instruction and my family business. I do hope to contribute a story now and again, when something piques my interest and when time allows.

Many thanks to those of you who have sent in news stories, helped investigate local reports, and provided encouragement to me over the past several years. You are what makes grassroots efforts to protect our self-defense rights so successful.

Although daily news stories may not be posted to www.ofccpac.org until campaigns for 2006 elections come into full swing, please check back regularly for campaign-related updates, and sign up for the OFCC PAC Alert so that you will receive urgent campaign-related news in your Inbox.

The volunteers at OFCC PAC will continue to make preparations for the 2006 campaign season, and we would appreciate your continued support through donations, which are used to educate voters about pro-self-defense candidates.

I will continue to be available at cbaus@ofccpac.org.

Chad D. Baus

The preceeding message was posted at ofccpac.org, and mirrored at ohioccw.org, as were more than 2500 stories, op-eds, and news commentaries written by me between 2002 and 2005. At the time, plans for renaming and refocusing the OFCC PAC as Buckeye Firearms Association did not exist. - Chad D. Baus - 2006

Commentary by OFCC TeamLeader John Salyers

The Sandusky
Register ran a story recently on what it takes to survive a stalker.
Unfortunately they left out the one best defenses that law-abiding
Ohioans now have as an option. That is the right to obtain a license and
carry a concealed handgun for self defense.

While stalking cases may not make the news and be as high profile for
everyday citizens as other crimes. There are cases like these happening
to average people quite often throughout the country.

From the story:

One in 12 women, and one in 45 men, will be stalked at some point
in their lives, according to statistics from the National Center for
Victims of Crime."

It seems that when most people think about stalking cases they tend
to believe that those types of things only happen to movie stars or
other highly visible people.

Again from the story:

When actress Rebecca Schaeffer was killed in front of her
Hollywood home in 1989, by a mentally ill man who had obtained her
address from state motor vehicle records, it sparked greater public
awareness of stalking cases.

It also spurred the Los Angeles Police Department to launch its Threat
Management Unit, which focused exclusively on stalking crimes and
prevention.

Linden Gross, author of "Surviving a Stalker" and creator of the
stalkingvictims.com Web site, said that when the unit first started it
expected 90 percent of their cases to center on celebrities, and 10
percent on the general public.

"As the guy who started the unit told me, 'We had the numbers right, we
just had them backwards,'" Gross said.

In Ohio these days it seems ironic that a news paper would mention
the Rebecca Shaefer incident. Rebecca Shaefer was an actress who was
stalked and murdered by Robert John Bardo because
driver's license information was easily obtained for a small fee. This
prompted federal legislation making the dissemination of such
information illegal if the driver opts to protect it.

Even with the knowledge of that case in hand as well as several other
warnings about publishing CHL-holder information, legislators allowed
Bob Taft's dangerous media access loophole to be included in the current
concealed carry law.

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

Columbus' NBC41.com is reporting on yet another violent encounter inside a "no-guns" United Dairy Farmers location in Ohio. And this time, the incident was caught on camera.

From the story:

Shortly after 12:30 a.m., police said Kaya Horn and Bradley Treneff were ordering ice cream inside United Dairy Farmers, located at 530 S. Hague Ave.

Police said that when Horn opened her wallet to pay for her order, a man attacked her by knocking her to the floor and attempted to steal her wallet.

Treneff then came to Horn's aid and knocked the suspect off her, police said.

The two men then became involved in a fight inside the store, causing displays to be knocked over. Police said Treneff suffered a broken hand from punching the suspect, who then ran away from the store.

Police said the would-be-robber was a white man in his 30s, around 5 feet 9 inches or 5 feet 10 inches tall with a heavy build. He was bald and had a goatee, and was wearing a white T-shirt and gray shorts.

The suspect may have visible injuries to his face and head, according to police.

Click here to view still images from the latest UDF attack.

Is United Dairy Farmers Director of Security John W. Osborne still under the delusion that “no-guns” signs can keep UDF patrons and employees safe? Can his boss still have confidence in Osborne after all the evidence to the contrary?

United Dairy Farmers
Robert Lindner Jr., President
3955 Montgomery Rd.
Cincinnati,Ohio 45212
www.udfinc.com

Phone: 1-800-833-9911
Email: consumerrelations@udfinc.com

The Toledo Blade is reporting that a would-be purse snatcher thought he had an easy mark: a frail-looking elderly woman. But Saturday afternoon, says the Blade, "when the thief approached 91-year-old Katherine Woodworth in a West Toledo parking lot and demanded her purse, he got more than he bargained for. He got a whuppin' instead."

From the story:

Angered by the thought of being robbed, Ms. Woodworth, a tiny woman with gray hair and glasses, who normally wears a hearing aid, turned her purse into a weapon and repeatedly struck the man until he fled.

"He just made me mad," Ms. Woodworth said. "I wasn't really thinking, I just hit him."

Ms. Woodworth said yesterday she didn't feel like she did anything special in fending off her attacker in the Kmart parking lot on West Alexis Road.

She said she arrived at the store about 3:45 p.m. to pick up some items when a man walked up to her and announced he was taking her purse.

"I didn't have my hearing aid in and I thought he said that he was going to take my pulse," Ms. Woodworth said with laugh.

"Then he said it again that he was going to take my purse and I said, 'No, you're not.' "

According to the report, the would-be purse-snatcher ran away but by that time another woman in the parking lot noticed the struggle and took a description of the suspect's vehicle and a license plate number. Police told the Blade the suspect is Matthew C. Spradlin, 20, of Walbridge. The newspaper says Spradlin was arrested shortly afterward at the Kroger Food and Pharmacy, 833 West Alexis Rd., where store employees accused him of taking a purse from a shopping cart inside the store before customers and employees ran him down.

align="right">
As is typical for Toledo police after incidences of successful self-defense, Sgt. Tim Hanus told the newspaper he "does not recommend that elderly women start taking up arms against youthful purse snatchers."

Hanus said the best policy is to play it safe and get a good description.

"Your health and safety is more important than any possession that you have," Sergeant Hanus said.

Ms. Woodworth doesn't consider herself brave.

"I'll be 92 in August and I guess I've got more nerve now than when I was younger," Ms. Woodworth said with smile.

"I felt sorry for him because I don't like to see anyone get in trouble, but I guess he had it coming. What a waste of life and time," she said.

Related Stories:
When awarding citizen heroes, why did Toledo PD forget the CHL-holder?

Violent crime UP in Toledo last year

Grandma: ''If people don't fight back, it's gonna continue"

In an incident that recalls memories of the carjacking murder of Tony Gordon in 2003, the Dayton Daily News is reporting that two men shot the owner of a tricked-up late-model GMC Yukon during an attempted carjacking outside of a state-mandated victim zone on West Third Street early Saturday.

From the story:

The victim, shot twice, was in extremely critical condition following emergency surgery at Miami Valley Hospital, police said.

The incident occurred outside the VFW Post at 3200 W. Third St. shortly after midnight.

Dayton police said two men in their 30s were leaving the post when two men armed with high-caliber handguns ordered them into the SUV at gunpoint. The gunmen robbed the owner of a diamond ring, cash, and the car keys, then shot the driver twice in the upper body.

A passing police cruiser heard the shots and called backup to the scene. The gunmen noticed the cruiser and ran off, allowing the second victim to escape without injury.

Police teams tracked the suspects into a field, where they arrested two men, aged 37 and 40, and a .45- caliber handgun.

Both men were held at the Montgomery County Jail pending charges.

According to WHIOTV.com, authorities say they believe the men are career criminals from the state of Georgia, and that they believe the men may be responsible for a series of robberies. Ohio law currently bans bearing arms for self-defense in places where alcohol is served with a Class D license, such as this VFW Post. There is no reason to doubt that career criminals such as these are smart enough to figure out where easy (defenseless) marks can be found.

In August 2003, James A. "Tony" Gordon was carjacked by criminals who wanted the expensive custom wheels off of his 1987 Ford Thunderbird, which he had been laboring to restore. In the wake of his death, the Gordon family marched in several open carry "Defense Walks", including a walk in the hometown of Senate President Doug White, who was at the time acting as an obstructionist to House Bill 12. The Gordons also participated in a Walk outside the Governor's Mansion in Bexley. Tony Gordon's murderers have still not been apprehended.

On Friday, attorneys for Ohioans For Concealed Carry, and (separately) for Attorney General Jim Petro, filed additional Motions in Ohioans For Concealed Carry, Inc. v City of Clyde. The Motions, which can be downloaded from links at the end of this story, mark another stage in written arguments, and put the case on a time-line for a ruling in mid-July.

The Fremont News Messenger is reporting on the developments with a simple headline: "Petro: Clyde is wrong".

From the story:

Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro says Clyde's interpretation of state law on concealed weapons in parks is wrong.

In a brief filed Friday in a court case, Petro argued that if Clyde is allowed to ban weapons in its parks, it could set a precedent that would render the state's concealed-carry laws useless.

Petro's brief said Clyde was misinterpreting the law.

"Concealed carry is meaningless if citizens cannot carry on public sidewalks and streets," it said.

If Clyde's law is upheld, it said, "then the City of Clyde would also have the ability to prohibit concealed carry anywhere within its borders."

That would defeat the whole purpose of the law, the brief said.

The Dayton Daily News has published an interview with what police say is the first CHL-holder in Dayton to have fired their weapon in self-defense since OhioCCW became law last year.

From the story:

Facing two armed teenagers intent on robbing him early Friday, Mark Hill pulled out his Glock 23 handgun, then hesitated.

"These kids reminded me of my kid," Hill said Saturday. "Then I really had to protect myself after that."

Hill fired several shots, hitting one of the gunmen. The shooting was the first by a holder of a concealed weapons permit in Dayton, police said.

Hill, 40, a lifelong resident of Dayton, said the two teenagers then opened fire on him, but missed.

Hill returned fire, struck one of his attackers, who then fled. Shortly after the 12:45 a.m. shooting, Dayton police told the newspaper, a 17-year-old showed up at Good Samaritan Hospital in a stolen Jeep. He was admitted with gunshot wounds to his leg, abdomen and arms, who were contacted by hospital officials.

Again, from the story:

The 17-year-old was with two 16-year-olds. Police said all three matched the description of the gunmen and a male seen by Hill in an alley north of Riverview Avenue and Catalpa Drive, where the attempted robbery occurred.

Police arrested the younger teens as they tried to leave the hospital. They were taken to the Family Court Center, pending delinquency charges of aggravated robbery and receiving stolen property.

Hill had been walking to a local store when two teenagers wearing dark clothing approached him. One shoved him, he turned around, and both flashed handguns, according to a police report.

The two males demanded money, Hill said in an interview Saturday. He grabbed one gunman's weapon, then let go and backed away with outstretched hands when he realized another gun was targeting him, he said. He then pulled his weapon and, after hesitating, fired.

Hill said he's a single parent of a 20-year-old son, teaches martial arts, and was robbed 20 years ago while working at a convenience store on Gettysburg Avenue near Necco Avenue — all factors in his decision to obtain a concealed weapon permit.

"I wish we all would have missed each other," Hill told the Dayton Daily News. But he added, "I want to live, too."

The Youngstown Vindicator is reporting that the fatal shooting of a man across the border in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania early Saturday has been ruled by police to have been an act of self-defense.

From the story:

Robert Flynn of 531 Cedar Ave., Sharon, was shot when he broke into the home of Kevin McEwen at 36 N. 11th St. at about 3 a.m., police reports said.

According to the police statement, Flynn was waving a gun and threatening the occupants of the residence.

McEwen "shot Mr. Flynn in self-defense and in defense of others present at the residence," the statement said.

Sharpsville police, along with Sharon and Hermitage police, investigated the shooting, and the Mercer County District Attorney's office determined that the killing was in self-defense.

Contrast this man’s successful defense of his life (and others in the home) against the experience of this Finneytown (Cincinnati) couple, who walked in on two burglars robbing their home:

Man shot after walking in on burglars

From WCPO.com:

Police say a couple came home to their apartment in the 900 block of North Bend Road around 3 a.m. Friday and found two men in ski masks ransacking their apartment. The startled burglars struggled with the man and shot him. The two men in ski masks got away. The victim was rushed to the hospital but his condition has not been released.

These incidences, and their alternative outcomes, should serve as reminder that the police cannot be there to protect you when needed most. Only you can protect you. Be prepared. Purchase a firearm. Get training, and get your CHL today!