June 26, 2004
Cleveland Plain Dealer

The June 20 pdQ article "Ohio concealed-weapon law carries its own smoking gun" portrayed a 12-gun-toting, villainous fictional character, "Captain Ohio." I see this as another misrepresentation of the character of law-abiding citizens who have earned the privilege to carry concealed weapons.

To carry a concealed weapon, one must first get an application from the local sheriff's office, successfully complete a minimum of 12 hours training in firearm safety and practice-range shooting, be fingerprinted, present a photo I.D. and submit to a criminal background check. This does not fit the profile of a 12-gun-toting "Captain Ohio."

Ivan G. Nassar
Cleveland Heights

The June 20 "smoking gun" item looks like a blatant at tempt to instill fear in the general populace regarding CCW permit holders. Yes, it is theoretically possible to carry that many guns, but not likely.

Aside from the fact that few people can afford that many handguns, someone carrying them would look very lumpy and obvious. Ask any law-enforcement officer how hard it is to properly conceal one weapon when leaning over or reaching for something.

Dave Leeds
Cleveland Heights

Related Story:
Another Plain Dealer news story fit for the editorial page

June 20, 2004
Gun Week

Late June marks the anniversary of the first issuance of a “shall-issue” concealed pistol license (CPL) in Minnesota, and in the past 12 months, none of the gunfights in the streets, shootouts at traffic lights or any of the other dire predictions from anti-gunners has come to pass.

“I think the big story,” observed St. Louis Park attorney David Gross, “is that there is no story. Relatively seamless; reasonably good cooperation with law enforcement.”

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

June 24, 2004
TownHall.com

By Mike S. Adams

Last semester, one of my students told me that he was down on America. In fact, he said that he was ashamed to be an American. He didn’t keep me guessing as to the reason for his shame and depression. He immediately disclosed that he had seen “Bowling for Columbine,” on one of the two occasions the Women’s Center sponsored its showing last year.

It is bad enough that the Women’s Center uses its budget as an excuse to campaign against conservative public policies, even when the policies have little to do with the women’s movement. But in the case of promoting Michael Moore, it is worse because the information Moore proffers is usually irrelevant and often completely inaccurate.

The thesis of “Bowling for Columbine” is sometimes difficult to ascertain because Moore frequently contradicts himself in the movie. Nonetheless, I think that he is trying, above all else, to assert the following:

The United States has more crime than other countries (like Canada).
The United States has more guns than other countries (like Canada).
Therefore, guns cause crime and, of course, more gun control is necessary.

I have encountered similar simplistic thinking from the right in my eleven years as a college professor. For example, some students have made the following argument, usually in my introductory criminal justice course:

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

June 23, 2004
National Review

Medical journals trade science for antigun propaganda

By Timothy Wheeler

The gun-control movement's stock has tanked. Violent crime overall has continued to drop, leaving partisans to fret over the much smaller problem of accidental gun injuries. Most of the holdout states have now passed laws allowing citizens to carry personal-protection firearms — and civilization as we know it has not ended. The 1994 Clinton ban on semi-automatic rifles is set to expire in September, and even some of its biggest supporters now agree that the law failed to cut crime.

Still, gun-control foot soldiers in organized medicine churn out articles for relatively obscure scientific journals. Their message is increasingly devoid of any useful findings; it is mostly an attempt to paint gun owners as sociopaths or Neanderthals.

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

On Thursday, OFCC made readers aware of the fact that Ohio-based Carter Lumber is discriminating against its Ohio customers who choose to bear arms for self-defense by posting signs, but that the company does not and has not post signs in other concealed carry states such as Indiana and Pennsylvania.

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One of our readers is the woman who fronts the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, Toby Hoover. On Friday, Hoover sent an email advisory (without crediting OFCC) begging recipients to call Carter Lumber and thank them for being "willing to take a business risk in order to provide your family safety we should thank them and let them know we appreciate their concerns for us."

Her pleas about Carter Lumber continued:

LET THEM KNOW YOU WILL SHOP THERE !

The gun carriers will threaten to boycott them and responsibile businesses need to hear from us.

There is an expected 25,000 people that will get a license to carry a loaded weapon in public in Ohio this year.

There are 7 million adult Ohioans that will not.

Businesses need to hear from those 7 million of us that will shop at their stores.

Hoover's claim that 25,000 CHLs will be issued this year are grossly underestimated. Given the number of licenses issued, and including the number of applications in the pipeine, OFCC can report that number will be reached in a matter of weeks.

Consider some of the OFCC News this gun ban extremist has NOT informed her email list about this year:

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