By Chad D. Baus

The Toledo Blade is reporting that Toledo police are seeking information about the sexual and physical assault of a 16-year-old city girl last week at Highland Park in South Toledo.

From the story:

The teenager was approached by two suspects about 7 a.m. as she was putting air into a tire on her vehicle at South Avenue and Spencer Street, police said.

She was shoved into the vehicle, robbed, and forced to drive to the nearby park at South and Champion Street, where she was assaulted. A black handgun was brandished, police said.

Got that? Those pesky rapists went and ignored a Toledo "no guns in our city parks" sign, which city officials claim are oh, so important to prevent, well, rape at gun point, for instance.

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(Columbus) – Ohio sportsmen leaders will be rubbing elbows and voicing their
concerns as they meet with lawmakers next month at a special reception being
hosted by the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance.

The reception will be March 13 at the Athletic Club of Columbus from 5:30 to
7:30 PM. The Athletic Club is located at 136 E. Broad St. in downtown
Columbus. Ohio legislators will field questions and listen to opinions of
their sportsman constituents in an informal atmosphere.

“The 2007 Legislative Reception comes at an opportune time,” said Rob
Sexton, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance vice president for government affairs. “A
new state budget will soon be proposed. In years past, state legislators
have tried to divert sportsmen’s dollars, which are reserved for
conservation purposes, to fund non-conservation programs. Sportsmen must
speak with their lawmakers to ensure that conservation funds are secure.”

Legislative co-hosts include Sen. Steve Buehrer, R-Delta, Sen. Joy Padgett,
R-Coshocton, and Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green. Each is an avid supporter
of hunters’ rights.

Click on 'Read More' for the entire press release.

By Dean Rieck

Force Science News recently reported on a landmark 5-year study of cop killers conducted by the FBI and detailed in a 180-page summary called “Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers.”

While the study focused specifically on criminals who have assaulted officers, the facts emerging from this study are a damning indictment of the entire gun control movement and proof of what gun rights activists have long known about violent criminals.

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By Jim Irvine

Attorney General Marc Dann has released the concealed handgun license statistics for the fourth quarter of 2006. There were 4,232 regular licenses, and 13 temporary emergency licenses issued, bringing the total to 86,973 Ohioans issued a licensed to carry a concealed handgun. Nearly 19,000 law-abiding citizens obtained their CHL in 2007.

There have been no shootouts over fender-benders, no license holders shooting up stores because they were unhappy about something, no honest citizens turned cop killers at traffic stops and no "shootout at the OK Corral", such as the anti-self-defense zealots claimed would happen. They simply have no credibility left. The media elite never let the facts get in the way of pushing their agenda though, so expect the good fight to continue.

License-holders continue to quietly go about their lives. They carry their guns like their insurance policy. Quietly, calmly and professionally. Rarely is anyone else even aware of their protection. But when things go wrong, they are prepared, and survive. They win their violent encounter. And when they help police take a criminal off the street, it makes the all of society safer. That is something to be applauded.

A Federal district Court has ruled that a former Ohio UPS employee’s case alleging wrongful termination for a firearm at work may proceed.

The court found that the public policy of Ohio permitting citizens to bear arms, as stated in Article I, Section 4 of the Ohio constitution, is clear enough to form the basis of a wrongful termination claim.

From Volokh.com:

A federal district court has just applied this principle to hold that Ohioans — even ones employed by private employers — are presumptively protected from being fired for off-employer-property (and presumably off-duty and lawful) possession of guns.

Plona, an Ohio resident, was employed by UPS at a facility in Cleveland, Ohio.... Plona ... was terminated in April 2006, allegedly because UPS discovered that Plona had a handgun in his vehicle while at work. Plona alleges that he had the handgun, which was disassembled and unloaded, and locked in his car in a public-access parking lot used by both UPS employees like Plona and non-employees/customers of UPS. On the day of his termination, UPS announced that law enforcement would be conducting a routine search of all persons and property on UPS premises for contraband. When Plona informed law enforcement about the handgun locked in his car, and the handgun was then discovered, he was terminated....

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By Larry S. Moore

Jim Robey’s recent Dayton Daily News article about an encounter with wild canines raised an interesting discussion about the need for allowing concealed carry during hunting. As I recall, Mr. Robey was grouse hunting and could not get to their firearms before being attacked by a pack of wild canines.

This article also drove home a similar experience for me with a coyote. Although in my case, it is not a concealed carry issue, it still drives home the need to be appropriately armed when venturing into the wild.

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By Captain Denny Breslin, National communications chairman; First officer Mike Karn, chairman, Committee for Armed Defense of the Cockpit; Allied Pilots Association - Fort Worth Texas.
A heavy, fuel-laden aircraft departing for an international destination is a ripe target for terrorists. But under current agreements, specially trained pilots have been prohibited from carrying weapons on international flights U.S. asks to arm pilots abroad.
Currently there is no surefire method of defending the cockpit from a team of terrorists on a plane over the North Atlantic, three hours from any airport. That is why it is imperative that the U.S. government expand agreements with foreign governments to allow armed pilots.
Critics, such as aviation security consultant Rich Roth, say pilots just "feel better" carrying guns. Roth says he doubts they could thwart a hijacker. He is dead wrong.
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NEWS FLASH!!!!!

Buckeye Firearms Association is pleased to announce that the Ohio Division of Wildlife is responding to our efforts and sportsmen requests to allow hunters with a valid concealed handgun license to carry a concealed handgun while hunting.

Buckeye Firearms Association volunteers have been working with Assistant Chief Dave Graham and Jim Lehman, Law Enforcement Executive Administrator.

We have been advised that the Division’s goal is to have draft language available for review and comments at the March 4 open houses.

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By Ken Hanson

The Toledo Blade reaffirms their lack of credibility on gun crime issues in their coverage of the murder of Toledo Detective Keith Dressel. The bias in the story is almost as outrageous as the murder itself.

Too often readers are facing bias in news coverage, whether they realize it or not. Since we are facing a very real danger of being desensitized to this bias, it is critical to expose it when it is found, and have readers ask very pointed questions of the editors.

First, we would encourage you to read the article by Blade Staff Writer Robin Erb, prior to reading this commentary. It can be found at:

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070222/NEWS03/702220394/-1/NEWS

Before we even begin to examine the bias of the story itself, let us look at the editorial bias underpinning the story. It is no secret that the editorial policy of the Toledo Blade is rabidly anti-gun. This is their prerogative – they are entitled to editorialize however they see fit. Where this bias crosses over into tainting and slanting the news coverage, clearly journalistic ethics are being sacrificed at the altar of their anti-gun beliefs.

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By Tim Inwood

As I watched the news reports on the shooting at the
Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City, I was saddened
but not surprised by how the obtuse, liberal anti-gun
media continues to miss the real message of what
happened. They should not have missed it, as it is
nothing new. A well meaning dullard who owns private
property (in this case a shopping mall) tells people
you can’t carry a gun here for defense and - surprise, surprise - some one with criminal intent ignores it and
kills many unarmed victims who obeyed the dullard’s
rules. In other words, the misguided policys of stupid
Hoplophobes is getting us killed.

That’s right, I blame not only that crazed idiot
Sulejmen Talovic, who was doing the shooting, but also
the fool who decided to post rule #10 on the doors of
that mall saying you could not carry a weapon on their
property. You see, the law abiding citizen obeys those
laws, deranged criminals do not. Luckily for the folks
in that mall an off-duty police officer named Ken
Hammond ignored that sign and was carrying his gun
that night. Sadly, it took him several minutes to get
to where Talovic was shooting innocents and stop the
carnage. By then 5 people were already dead and
another 5 were wounded.

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