To the Editor: Concealed-carry stand was wrong

The following letters to the editor of the Toledo Blade were published on April 3, 2014 in response to an editorial calling on the Ohio Senate and Governor Kasich to oppose H.B. 203:

Your March 24 editorial “Standing down” asserts that Ohio House Bill 203, which would remove the “duty to retreat” from a violent attacker who is threatening one’s life, “would almost surely encourage gun violence — something Ohio and its cities don’t need — and lead to more needless deaths.”

These words come almost exactly 10 years after The Blade made similarly wrong predictions about Ohio’s concealed-carry handgun license law. Your readers have a decade of proof that you were wrong in your sky-is-falling predictions then. Why should anyone listen to you now?

CHAD BAUS

Archbold, Ohio

Residents need to protect selves

The Blade always opines that there will be more violence, shootings in the street, road rage shootings, and the like. When concealed-carry legislation was signed into law, you predicted that there would be mayhem. You were wrong.

You must not read your own newspaper. With frequent shootings and robberies, and authorities unable to get gang violence and other crime under control, residents have the right and the need to protect themselves from being victims. Gov. John Kasich should sign the stand your ground bill.

KENT SNYDER

Westbrook Drive

‘Standing down’ not wise advice

There is little proof that “stand your ground” legislation leads to increased gun violence, except in a few instances that the media choose to report on.

Existing laws do not stop criminals. Police do not protect citizens from crime, but only investigate crimes after they occur.

A threatened person cannot always call the police. And if police officers are called, there often can be a wait of five minutes or more.

RAYMOND ELIEFF

Suder Avenue