By Chad D. Baus

"Anonymous" doesn't like me very much...

Or is it the truth s/he don't like?

Date: 16 Dec 2004 00:51:00 -0000
Subject: Lets make Ohio look more stupid!!!!

To Chad Baus:

First of all using this senseless crime for your personal soapbox is
disgusting!!!!

Second of all : Let''s look at this brilliant statement...let 250-300 people
"pack heat" in a bar...wtf????

Then the headline could have read: 200 Dead at the Alrosa Villa.

Your laws and your dumbass stance isn''t going to better the situation only make
it worse. Then to post this to a media outlet that the world reads, thats great,
Ohio already has a very big blackeye over this and now you put some bone-headed
comment out there like this, I''m embarrassed to reside in the same state as
people like you and Nathan Gale....pretty soon we will all look like red-neck
idiots that live in Ohio.

Way to go!!!!!

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Anonymous

The map at right indicates (in red) states which "Anonymous" may chose to move to, since s/he is too embarrassed to live in Ohio. These are the only states left that do not have some form of legal mechanism for citizens to bear arms for self-defense. S/he should probably hurry, because at least three of them, having seen the success of these laws across the country, are actively considering passage of similar laws in their own states.

Most of the rest of "Anonymous'" bigoted, hateful, rage-filled letter is not worth responding to, save for a statement s/he quoted, which was attributed to me in the Cleveland Scene today:

"If each of the 250 people rocking Alrosa Villa had been packing heat that night, reasons OFCC spokesman Baus, one of them could have blown away the perp. Or at least sparked a very impressive imitation of a Fallujah firefight."

The author of this piece, Mr. Erich Burnett (Erich.Burnett@clevescene.com), knows quite well that nothing like this was said during our lengthy conversation on Friday.

On the other hand, a great deal was said about the fact that 90% of multiple victim public shootings happen where guns are banned, and about how many other states allow CHL-holders to carry in places where liquor is served (without problems!).

Burnett must have missed that part (too focused on making up some of the short bit he did publish?). To his credit, he got this quote right:

"Nobody's trying to say we know for sure what would have happened if a [concealed-carry] license-holder had been there, but we are saying that people deserve the right to defend themselves no matter where they are."

On Monday, Burnett was emailed information that supported the suggestion that a single CHL-holder could indeed have made a difference in this tragedy. Of course, he failed to mention this too. Probably short on a deadline, right?

But never fear, there is always the next issue. So will Erich Burnett have the guts to cover the rest of the story?

Will he interview Roger, the Gulf War veteran and CHL-holder, or his wife (also
a CHL-holder), who stood just five feet away from Gale when he pulled his gun
and began shooting?

Will he try and tell Roger and his wife they were better off to stand there and
watch people die?

OFCC PAC Education Guide:
Raging Against Self Defense - A Psychiatrist Examines The Anti-Gun Mentality

December 15, 2004
Cleveland Plain Dealer

After high-profile crusades for tax cuts and against gay marriage, Secretary of State Ken Blackwell now leads the two other Republicans who want to be Ohio's next governor, according to a poll of GOP voters commissioned by Blackwell's campaign.

Of the 511 people surveyed, 36 percent supported Blackwell for the nomination, 21 percent favored Auditor Betty Montgomery and Attorney General Jim Petro trailed with 18 percent.

Blackwell released the poll one year after a Montgomery survey showed 32 percent of GOP voters favored her candidacy. Blackwell placed second with 23 percent; Petro finished last with 17 percent.

Since then, Blackwell has courted his party's conservative wing by leading efforts to add a gay-marriage ban to the Ohio Constitution and arguing for lower taxes.

His message resonated well, especially among voters in his home of Cincinnati and those in the upper-income brackets, according to the survey.

Pollster Fred Steeper said voters' growing concern over moral values puts Blackwell in a position to continue to gain support.

Click here to read the entire story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Related Story:
Secretary of State Blackwell Addresses Group

Anti-gun police spokespersons are fond of endorsing the idea that it is better to be a good witness than to actively try to defend yourself when robbed.

This theory comes to a crashing halt when a criminal decides it would be better not to leave any witnesses behind.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer first reported on this tragedy Tuesday, and followed up with an in-depth report today. The story goes like this:

Low on formula for their newborn, Rebecca and Francisco Cordoves drove through the snow Monday to Tony's Delicatessen.

Rebecca kissed her husband, then hopped from the car and hustled into the deli before it closed while Francisco circled the block, month-old Samantha and year-old Stephanie snuggled in car seats in back.

One loop around the block and Rebecca was dead.

Police Commander Edward Tomba said three men who swaggered in after the young mother apparently came to the corner deli on Scranton Road for money. And they brought guns.

He said they killed Tony's clerk Jorge Santiago, 36, because he didn't open the cash register fast enough. Then they shot Cordoves, 21, in the back, killing her, as she ran.

Francisco Cordoves pulled up to find his wife on the sidewalk.

The story goes on to detail how a second witness, who exited the store ahead of Cordoves, was also the target of the criminals' bullets, but managed to escape.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more on how defenselessness citizens have fared in crimes around Ohio this week.

The Dayton Daily News reported Wednesday on yet another in a series of DDN employees being victims of crime in 2004.

According to the newspaper, this latest incident occurred when a black-and-gray 1986 S10 Chevrolet pickup truck belonging to a Dayton Daily News reporter was stolen about 6 p.m. Tuesday from a downtown parking space and used in a robbery of a pizza business by two armed men.

The reporter told the DDN he was approaching his truck, parked at Sixth and Ludlow streets, when he saw one man near the vehicle and one in the passenger seat.

When he told the one man to get away from his truck, one of the men, described as being in his 20s, brandished a gun.

The reporter said he retreated, and returned to the DDN offices.

Dayton police Lt. John Bardun told the newspaper the two then drove to 3600 Germantown St. and robbed a Papa John's Pizza outlet.

This robbery follows a pattern of other attacks on DDN employees:

74 year-old newspaper carrier shot in carjacking

AGAIN: Dayton Daily News employee robbed

Another DDN employee victimized in a gun crime

All the while, the DDN continues to prohibit their employees from defending themselves and continues their anti-gun editorial stance.

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If the gun ban extremists truly believe banning inanimate objects can save lives, where are their calls for bans on cars?

Vehicles kill more officers than guns
Columbus Dispatch, December 12, 2004

The deadliest weapon law-enforcement officers face isn’t a gun.

It’s a moving vehicle.

In the past decade, traffic-related incidents have overtaken gunshots as the leading cause of officer deaths in the United States.

From 1999 through 2003, 44 percent of officer deaths were traffic-related; 34 percent were caused by firearms.

Officer Dave Daugherty, a 10-year veteran of the unit, said his cruisers have been struck seven times, putting him in the hospital three times.

"When we make a traffic stop and approach a car, we worry more about being run over than we do about being shot," he said.

The good news, Floyd said, is that the on-duty death rate for officers is on the decline.

In the 1970s, officers were killed at a rate of about one in 1,500, he said. Today, the rate is about one in 6,000.

Hmmm...and the number of legally-armed citizens has increased exponentially in the same time period.

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The gun ban lobby embraced bans on self-defense with firearms in Ohio for 150-years. Why no calls for banning self-defense with a Tazer?

Taser-toting felons top self-defenders
East Valley (Mesa, AZ) Tribune, December 14, 2004

A marketing campaign by Scottsdale-based Taser International urges people to buy its latest dartshooting stun gun 'to safely protect your home and family.'

However, news reports from the last three years show more people are using electroshock weapons to commit crimes than to defend against muggers or rapists. In a computer database search, the Tribune found 11 national reports in which police said stun guns were used by criminals in attacks. Two other criminal cases, detailed in a Nov. 30 Amnesty International report, involved parents who shocked their children as a form of discipline...

Sec. 2923.16. (E) No person who has been issued a license or temporary
emergency license to carry a concealed handgun under section
2923.125 or 2923.1213 of the Revised Code shall do any of the
following:

(1) Knowingly transport or have a loaded handgun in a motor
vehicle unless the loaded handgun either is in a holster and in
plain sight on the person's person or it is securely encased by
being stored in a closed, locked glove compartment or in a case
that is in plain sight and that is locked; (emphasis added)

The articles keep coming, but no advice is given on how CHL-holders are to comply with Ohio's "plain sight" requirements while observing what law enforcement officers agree are essential robbery avoidance tips...

If a CHL-holder either works at or has no choice but to visit a criminal protection zone (business which posts "no-guns" signs), and if their vehicle does not have a locking glove box, Ohio law mandates that they leave their firearm in a locked case in plain view to would-be thieves.

Prime time for thefts is upon us, police warn
Columbus Dispatch, December 11

The Christmas season is when police annually warn motorists about vehicle break-ins, but the problem occurs yearround and citywide.

"No place is immune," said Bill Wolfert, a Columbus burglary detective.

Throughout the year, compact-disc players, cell phones, laptops, purses, stereos and tools left in plain view in vehicles are frequent targets for theft. During the holidays, thieves often look for gifts and packages visible in cars.(emphasis added)

Break-ins are usually "crimes of opportunity," meaning the victims left themselves vulnerable. Wolfert said that if thieves don’t find prospects in one car, "They probably would’ve walked on and found something in somebody else’s car."

In 2003, 1.2 million thefts from cars were reported to police around the nation, an increase of 9.4 percent from 1999, according to FBI statistics.

Columbus ranked 53rd of 336 metropolitan areas with 8,597 reported thefts in 2003, according to statistics compiled by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Actual break-in numbers are probably higher than reported thefts because some motorists don’t file a police report if the amount of damage or property stolen is less than their insurance deductible.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more 'Tis the season -- for thieves' stories inadvertantly revealing the absurdity of Ohio's "plain sight" storage provisions for CHL-holders.

Armed robbers net more than 30 guns in pre-opening Targetworld raid

Compiled t.v. news reports from Cincinnati's WKRC and News 5 paint an increasingly suspicious picture of a construction worker at Targetworld who says he was forced to give access to four armed, masked criminals who then stole a large number of guns.

According to WKRC, a call came into 911 around 8:30 a.m. yesterday. A temporary construction worker by the name of Jeno Ashley told the operator he was taking a smoke break when four men stormed the store and took the guns.

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