May 13, 2004
The (Cleveland) Sun Press

"No guns allowed" signs popped up at local municipal buildings and schools laws month when Ohio's new concealed carry weapons law took effect.

(Accompanying photo contains the following caption: "Signs such as this one outside the Chagrin Falls library will soon be as common everywhere as no smoking signs.")

Enter gun safety advocate Lori O'Neill and her Chagrin Falls-based O'Neill Marketing Strategies.

O'Neill is marketing a line of no-concealed-carry-weapons signs that focus on safety and peace, rather than guns.

Her three signs are designed for outside places of worship, daycares, and private businesses.

"None of the signs shows the image of a gun with a slash though it," O'Neill said. "Instead, they focus on customer and child safety for businesses and daycare centers, and peace for places of worship," O'Neill said.

"We deliberately steered clear of images of guns on our signs because showing a gun with a slash through it may alienate permit holders, and promote controversy surrounding the new law," she said.

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

The Ohio Newspaper Association is encouraging it's members to publish every name of citizens who choose to obtain a concealed handgun license. They say it's in the "public interest". We are beginning to wonder if it is in the public interest to publish the home addresses of every Ohio newspaper editor. After all, they can be quite dangerous...

May 13, 2004
Springfield News-Sun

WILMINGTON, Ohio — The editor of the Wilmington News Journal was arrested early Thursday and charged with kidnapping a woman, police said.

Jeff Hibbs was accused of forcing his way into the woman's car Wednesday afternoon and ordering her to drive to Sugar Grove Cemetery, police Chief Michael Hatten said in a news release.

Police said they had been notified at 3:13 p.m. that Hibbs was in the cemetery with a gun.

The woman, who was not identified, later told police that he prevented her from getting out of the car several times, but eventually she got free, Hatten said.

Hibbs was arrested at Cowan Lake State Park by Clinton County sheriff's deputies and was being held at the county jail, police Sgt. Bob Martin said.

Messages seeking comment were left for executives at Brown Publishing Co., which owns the News Journal.

Wilmington is about 40 miles northeast of Cincinnati.

Related Stories:
Ohio Newspaper Association advising members to compile lists of CHL applicants

CAN WE TRUST REPORTERS?

Op-Ed: If the media is watching Big Brother, who is watching them?

As news of OFCC's Do Not Patronize While Armed list was reported across the state and even across the nation (including USA TODAY) this week, we have received an increasing amount of emails from people who seem to need a few anger-management classes.

The following person didn't have the courage to leave his real name or email address:

How pathetic are you people? Let me guess- you are so bitter about being such a fat waste of a life, that you have to hide behind a gun! Do you really have nothing better to do? Don't you have jobs? Families? You really spend this much time and money fighting so you can carry a gun into Arby's? If someone wants to steal your Beef'n'Cheddar, are you going to shoot them? Are you going to accidently shoot me in the process as I'm trying to enjoy my Jamocha shake? You are so pathetic that you have to carry a gun into a Mall or an Amusement park. I can't even imagine how weak minded you have to be to actually make such a big deal about carrying a gun in PUBLIC! I hope you boycott every business on this list. Don't you get it? That's why they put the signs up, because they don't want your business! They don't want deadly weapons in their safe workplace! Do us all a favor and boycott the entire State of Ohio! We don't want you here, you pathetic fat rednecks.

If you are confronted by angry, hate-filled people like this on your daily life, we suggest you consult Lesson #3 in the the OFCC PAC Education Guide.

'Raging Against Self-Defense' is an excellent essay by Dr. Sarah Thompson, Executive Director of Utah Gun Owners Alliance, and a columnist who writes a monthly column on individual rights. Thompson's essay examines the anti-gun mentality from a psychiatric perspective. Not only does she explain how such people think, but she gives excellent advice on how to better communicate with them. The following is from her opening thesis:

"About a year ago I received an e-mail from a member of a local Jewish organization. The author, who chose to remain anonymous, insisted that people have no right to carry firearms because he didn't want to be murdered if one of his neighbors had a "bad day". ...What he was really saying was that if he had a gun, he might murder his neighbors if he had a bad day, or if they took his parking space, or played their stereos too loud. This is an example of what mental health professionals call projection – unconsciously projecting one's own unacceptable feelings onto other people, so that one doesn't have to own them."

Related Story:
Proof positive: Anti-gun extremists are the true sufferers of paranoia

After initial holdups over a misunderstanding about what was necessary to complete mental health records check (see Athens Co. Sheriff needs help with the definition of ''OR'', things seem to be moving right along now in Athens Co.

May 12, 2004
Athens Messenger

Sheriffs' offices throughout Ohio are being accused of approving concealed carry licenses too slowly, but not in Athens County.

Ohioans were permitted to give their fingerprints to sheriffs' offices to begin background checks to obtain a concealed carry permit on April 8. Since that day, about 270 applications have been submitted to the Athens County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff's Office Administrative Assistant Michelle Williams said so far, about 150 applications have been approved or are in the process of being approved. Since the initial rush of applications — 120 in the first few days — Williams said the sheriff's office is now able to approve a permit in about one week.

Sheriff Vern Castle said it took about two weeks to approve the permits [received] in the first few days.

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