AP: Where Are They?
January 18, 2004 - At least 40 inmates who escaped from Ohio prisons, some decades ago, remain at large and in some cases are no longer the subject of arrest warrants, the Akron Beacon Journal reported on Sunday. The two
agencies most accountable for prison escapes -- the State Highway Patrol and
the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction -- can't agree on the number
of escapees they're looking for. Ohio's fugitive list, as detailed by the
prison system, includes seven convicted murderers, three sex offenders and
nine robbers. All walked away or escaped between 1952 and 1999.

Lakewood woman shot under a bridge near East 55th
January 14, 2004 - A Lakewood woman who was shot on her way to work Tuesday morning was apparently the victim of a robbery. "...He just stepped right in front of me, pulled a gun out of his pocket and shot and demanded my purse," Mencke said. One bullet hit her arm and then moved to her chest, barely missing her vital organs.

Man steals from Columbus
department store, carjacks driver
January 19, 2004 - Police said that a man stole several clothing items from a Lazarus store Sunday before carjacking a driver to help him get away. Security officers attempted to stop the man, but he threatened them with a gun and then ran out to Hamilton Road, Dal Ponte reported. The man then hopped into a car that was stopped at a traffic light and ordered the driver to take him to Wilson Road and Main Street, where he got out of the car and ran away, police said.

Two face charges in Akron robbery

January 20, 2004 -Police responding to a report of shots fired found a Cuyahoga Falls man who said two men robbed him at gunpoint, taking his wallet and cash at the Elks Lodge 1594 on Moore Street.

Cincinnati women practice arts of defense
January 18, 2004 -Practice dummy "Scum Bag Bob" received his share of kicks and punches at the Landen Station Police Station Tuesday evening during the first Deerfield Township Women's Self-Defense class. "It was absolutely great,'' said Fran Klatte, a Deerfield Township resident who took the class. "It dealt with punches and kicks and being aware of where you are.'' Scum Bag Bob...hmmm, now why is that name so familiar?

Jan. 16, 2004
Akron Beacon-Journal

Convicted felon says he was surrendering when Akron officer fired gun
Police union says suit has no merit

A man shot during a break-in last January filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming the Akron police officer who opened fire had no reason to do so.

In his suit in Summit County Common Pleas Court, Christopher Sample says he followed officer Jason Bailey's orders and raised his hands to surrender but was shot anyway. The suit claims Sample was wounded "without warning, explanation or provocation.''

Police said Sample hesitated and made the officer think he had a weapon.

Sample pleaded guilty and served six months in prison for the Jan. 15, 2003, break-in at a Kenmore Boulevard business, but the 27-year-old Akron man has repeatedly denied being a threat to police that night. Officers did not find a weapon on Sample.

Bailey, who had been with the police department for a year when the incident occurred, shot Sample several times in his arms and legs. Sample was hiding inside a cabinet.

Officers on the scene said Sample showed his hands and appeared to be surrendering, but then pulled his hands back and slid them into his coat.

Summit County prosecutors found the shooting was justified.

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

The following essay was published early last year at gunasandammo.com. The issues discussed are certainly things Ohioans intending to obtain their CHL should keep in mind.

Carry At Your Own Risk

By John Hay Rabb
www.gunasandammo.com

Contrary to many earlier predictions, the right to carry a concealed handgun is spreading across the country like a prairie fire. [At the time of this writing], there are 33 states that have so-called "nondiscretionary" or "shall-issue" concealed carry weapons (CCW) permit laws. Another 11 states have "discretionary" CCW laws. The remaining six states and the District of Columbia are content, at least for now, to maintain their no-CCW-permit status.

While the citizens of nondiscretionary states may now enjoy seemingly unfettered rights to carry concealed handguns, they must also wrestle with some thorny but very important questions: Which areas are permitted and prohibited for concealed carry weapons? What constitutes justifiable use of a handgun for personal protection? May a handgun be used to protect other individuals? May it be used to protect property?

The task of addressing these issues is further complicated by the veritable crazy quilt of laws and court decisions governing handgun use in the individual nondiscretionary states. It is indeed discouraging to realize that, while a CCW permit may appear to solve a crucial personal-defense problem, in actuality the permit holder must be exceedingly careful to ensure that he does not find himself in serious legal jeopardy as a consequence of exercising his Second Amendment rights. While the Founding Fathers may have intended rights and responsibilities to go hand-in-hand, they could never have imagined the situation that exists today.

Click here to read the entire essay in the OFCC PAC Education Guide.

Ohio's gun ban extremists are fond of saying that they have a "right to know" if they are in the presence of someone with a gun. And so, they argue, the public should have access to the entire list of concealed carry license holders, so that they can steer clear of friends and neighbors who make the decision to take responsibility for protecting themselves and their families (also, according to a recent Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence email, so they can encourage employers to discriminate against employees or potential hires).

But as (inadvertantly) pointed out in this recent Columbus Dispatch story about a car theft sting operation, Ohioans have been in the presence of "hidden guns" for years, and they just don't know it.

In the two days the Dispatch reported on in this story, police apprehended 10 car thieves. Four of them (40%) were illegally armed!

Forty percent is much higher than the percentage of population who are concealed handgun license (CHL) holders in any state. Furthermore, CHL holders are proven to be some of the most law-abiding citizens there are (typically, less than 1% commit crimes, and only a very small percentage of those are anything other than petty misdemeanors that usually don't involve their firearms at all).

Yet it is these law-abiding citizens which the Dispatch, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Elyria Chronicle have committed to harrassing in their newspapers. Not one of these editorial boards have committed to printing the names of criminals who carry "hidden guns" illegally.

Now that's some information that could really do society some good. Because as the story proves, Ohio's citizens have been in the presence of those people with guns for years, and will continue to be, with or without the liberalization of firearms laws for Ohio's law-abiding citizens.

Related Story:
Dayton police officers shot by burglar after missing gun in pat-down

January 18, 2004
Toledo Blade

Types and jail terms vary, but crime numbers alike in U.S., Canada

BOWLING GREEN - Projecting two images onto a large screen, Rosemary Gartner presented the common perception of the settlers of both the American and Canadian frontiers.

One drawing showed an unarmed Canadian mounted policeman, typically known as a "Mountie." The other depicted a gun-slinging cowboy.

"There is a longstanding belief among Canadians and Americans that Canada is a more law-abiding, peaceful nation than the United States," said Ms. Gartner, a professor of criminology and sociology at the University of Toronto.

"Here, the cultural hero is the disciplined, uniformed Mountie with no gun in sight versus the American gunslingers. These are the two stereotypes that reign in many people’s minds."

But although Canadians have been portrayed to be more law-abiding than their southern neighbors, Ms. Gartner told more than 100 attendees of the 17th Reddin Symposium yesterday that the statistics don’t necessarily support the theory.

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

January 18, 2004
Toledo Blade

by Marilou Johanek

Ohioans held hostage by the Republicans

Tom Ridge should issue a red alert just for Ohio. We live in a perpetual state of emergency. Columbus is the cause of our distress. We're being held hostage by the Republican leadership. Officials elected to act in the people's best interest are little more than scoundrels in suits who have only special interests at heart. They fiddle like fools while population and jobs steadily leave the Buckeye State for greener pastures.

There's no better proof of public duty abdicated on a grand scale than the recently passed concealed-carry legislation. It replaced a law that had served Ohioans well for 145 years with one that introduces risk to everyday life. Citizens used to be banned from secretly carrying guns in public. The prohibition was sound, sensible, protective public policy.

Commentary by Chad D. Baus inserted in blue.

The public thought so, too. There was never any huge outcry by voters that the concealed weapons ban be lifted.