Perhaps the very best thing about pro-Second Amendment grassroots activists is that so many of them work out of a passion for the issue, and not to make a buck. While Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence director Toby Hoover is busy raking in over half a million dollars from the anti-gun Joyce Foundation in the name of gun control extremism, there are many other true grassroots volunteers in Ohio are making a far greater impact on people's lives. One such person is a firearms instructor named Randy Garcia.

Last spring, Randy Garcia announced that his company, Buckeye Firearms Training, LLC, would be offering a free handgun and training to a select number of women who have been victims of violence.

From May 2005 to May 2006, Garcia's company is providing a free handgun and concealed handgun training to one woman per month. Training is being provided to women who are documented victims of violent crimes.

While the announcement was timed to coincide with the first anniversary of Ohio's concealed carry law, Garcia is also using the initiative to promote his commitment to helping women defend themselves and take advantage of concealed handgun laws.

“We want to show that we are declaring an all-out war against the abuse of women,” said Garcia.

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The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that two Ohio municipalities have enacted bans on sex offenders in public parks, and that the ACLU is none-too happy about it.

From the story:

No dogs. No ball playing. No skateboarding. And now no sex offenders allowed in Brook Park's city parks.

The Cleveland suburb earlier this month became perhaps only the second community in Ohio to ban registered sex offenders from city parks and recreation centers.

Cuyahoga Falls banned sex offenders from city parks in June.

The story goes on to say that the ACLU of Ohio is looking into a constitutional challenge to the ban.

Kevin O'Neill, a law professor at Cleveland State University and former legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, said the Brook Park and Cuyahoga Falls laws raise several constitutional issues.

The new laws might be challenged on the basis that they restrict freedom of movement or that they deny equal protection in that such laws single out convicted sex offenders for separate treatment even after they've served their time.

Why is it that the ACLU is so willing to defend the rights of convicted sex offenders, and so absolutely unwilling to defend the rights of law-abiding Ohio concealed handgun license-holder who wants to take a jog on a secluded park trail without having to disarm (thereby giving those same sex offenders an easier target)?

Why is the ACLU so willing to look the other way when certain city governments in Ohio enforce what amounts to a ban on self-defense in a public park, especially when Ohio law so clearly prohibits a ban on concealed carry in these places, and when the Ohio Attorney General has intervened in a lawsuit arguing same?