Archive

Open Letter to OSHP Superintendant Paul McClellan: You Can't Have it Both Ways

To Ohio Highway Patrol Superintendant Paul D. McClellan: In December 2001, OSHP Major J.P. Allen offered defense testimony in the Hamilton County concealed carry ban constitutionality lawsuit, on behalf of the state of Ohio and as your official representive. In March 2003, OSHP Capt. Bordman testified before the House Committee on Criminal Justice, again as your official representative. So why...

Letter to the editor: Stanford University professor skews gun-crime data

On June 10, we published a Capital University professor David Mayer's response to a letter to the Columbus Dispatch editor from anti-gun extremist John J. Donohue III, and wondered aloud of the Dispatch would have the courage to print it. They did. The Dispatch printed Dr. Mayer's letter in the Friday, June 13 edition. Click here to read the letter in the Columbus Dispatch (subscription site -...

Toledo Blade: Ohio ranks 6th in nation for bank robberies

Banks still a target June 14, 2003 FBI crime statistics for 2002 show Ohio sixth highest in the nation, for the number of robberies of its financial institutions. The state ranked third in 2001. Toledo, with 41 holdups last year, was second only to Cincinnati among major Ohio cities, with 44. Cleveland had 35, Dayton, 27, and Columbus, 25. Already this year another 19 holdups have occurred in...

Cincy Post: ''Guns kill 1, hurt 1 in West End''

Two Friday the 13th shootings two blocks apart in the West End left one person dead and one person wounded. The fatal shooting occurred at the Parktown Café at 1726 Linn. The other shooting occurred less than six hours earlier and two blocks to the south. There are several points to raise from this article in Saturday's Cincinnati Post . 1) Just from reading the headline, "Guns kill 1, hurt 1 in...

HB12: 7th Senate hearing on HB12 scheduled for June 17

House Bill 12 has been added to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Criminal Justice's agenda for invited testimony, possible amendments, and a possible vote out of committee on Tuesday, June 17 at 11:00 a.m. in Room 110, Second Floor, Senate Building. If necessary, the hearing may continue after session in the Senate Finance Hearing Room. The purpose for Tuesday's hearing for HB12 is, essentially...

Letter to the Editor: 'Million' Mom's claims ''dishonesty born of desperation"

The Cleveland Free Times recently printed an anti-self-defense op-ed from Lori O'Neill, president of the "Million" Mom March's Cleveland chapter. Unfortunately, the op-ed is not available on the Free Times' website (though we've probably heard it all before). Click on the "Read More..." link below to view a response, written by pro-CCW supporter Chris Morton. We hope the Free Times has the...

Meigs Co. Sheriff will go it alone starting Saturday

Consider the first two paragraphs of this Columbus Dispatch article, and ask yourself why this newspaper's editorial board continues to advocate a ban on a practical self-defense law for Ohioans. Thursday, June 12, 2003 "If there’s big trouble during the wee hours of the night, Meigs County Sheriff Ralph Trussell warns it may require a few rings to rouse him from bed and a minute or so for him to...

Letter to the Editor: Protect right of self-defense

June 13, 2003 To the editor of the Mansfield News Journal: Regarding the May 26 article, "Bill limits backyard guns," which refers to House Bill 180. If you are a law-abiding gun owner, you need to call your state representatives and tell them to vote this bill down. This bill would do more damage to your gun rights than the Clinton Gun Ban and the Brady Bill. House Bill 180 would allow township...

Youngstown ''assault weapons'' ban gets first public hearing

Wednesday's public hearing in city council chambers on a proposed ban on possession or sale of assault firearms brought out raw emotion on both sides. More than four dozen people attended the unusual pair of hearings, arranged by Artis Gillam Sr., D-1st, council's safety committee chairman. Massive feedback on the proposed law led him to set aside two hours in the afternoon and two hours in the...

Alltel 911 cell calls misdirected to Kent

File this under the "only you can protect you" category: 6.11.03 The Kent Police Department recently found itself answering misdirected 911 calls from as far away as southern Ohio. The calls came from Alltel cellular phone users. When a call was pointed to a certain number -- in this case, 911 -- it was being incorrectly translated by the local telephone company, SBC, said Nina Gagliardo,...

Letter to the Editor: ''Gov. Taft is right!''

An anti-self-defense letter to the editor from Toby Hoover has been published by the Middletown Journal. The letter contains many of the same false statements Hoover made in Senate testimony last month. Commentary by Chad D. Baus inserted in blue . 6.12.03 ‘Right choice for Ohio’ Gov. Bob Taft stated, after the Columbine massacre in 1999, that he would veto concealed weapons legislation if law...

Alaska's new concealed carry law

Law allows Alaskans to carry concealed guns without permit By MIKE CHAMBERS Associated Press Writer JUNEAU--Alaskans will no longer need a permit to carry a concealed weapon under a bill signed into law Wednesday. In signing the bill, Gov. Frank Murkowski lauded the work of the Legislature and the National Rifle Association in protecting the Second Amendment rights of Alaskans. The bill would...

Tale of Two Cities: 20th Toledo bank robbery this year; Louisville robber killed

A man with dreadlocks yesterday robbed the National City Bank branch at 3890 Monroe St. of an undisclosed amount of money in Toledo's 20th holdup of a financial institution this year. The man entered the bank about 10:20 a.m. and handed a teller a note demanding money. The teller gave him the cash, and then fled the branch in an easterly direction. No weapon was seen, and the robber didn't...

Bowling Green police provide nightly escort to bank for Burger King employees

Burger King employees here are taking no chances of being robbed again. After the manager of a south side restaurant was robbed June 1, employees at that Burger King and two others in the city have been making a habit of calling local police each night before they close. When Bowling Green police receive the call, an officer heads to the respective Burger King and follows the store manager to a...

Tale of Two Cities: Elderly Cincinnati woman raped, Col. Springs woman defends

A 17-year-old Over-the-Rhine boy who is being prosecuted as an adult on a charge that he beat and raped his literacy tutor has been found competent to stand trial. Next week, Wilkins is scheduled for a hearing where a trial date will be set unless he enters a plea. Wilkins is charged with rape and felonious assault in connection with a March 7 attack against a 57-year-old woman in a basement...

Columbus grandfather saves grandson from pit bull attack

Anthony English, 24, told Columbus police that a pit bull chased him three blocks about 10:40 a.m. before he reached his grandfather’s porch at 682 Stanley Ave. Buford English, 58, who was washing his car, got a 9 mm handgun, came back and fatally shot the animal, Officer Dennis Byrd said. "His grandson said the dog jumped a fence and was on its heels trying to bite," Byrd said. Sonya Garvin said...

Editorial: Aiming for passage

The Akron Beacon-Journal has printed it's latest anti-self-defense editorial. The editors, of course, ignore proponents concerns with making further changes to HB12, while outlining opposing groups' suggested Senate amendments in detail. After reading the closing line, you may not find it necessary to read the entire editorial : "The Ohio Coalition on Gun Violence has it right -- any law...

Letter to the Editor: Daddy, why do you sell guns?

June 9, 2003 In 1958, a first-grader learned a fact that is beyond the comprehension of Sarah Brady and anti-gun radicals. "My teacher asked everyone what their father did for a living. When I explained my father owned a gun shop, I immediately saw the negative reaction in my teacher's face.'' That evening, Nancy First asked her father: "Why do you sell guns? They're bad.'' The father's reply: "...

Capital University Law School Professor responds to Donohue-will Dispatch print?

A Capital University Law Professor has responded to John J. Dononue III's letter to the editor (which contained at least one blatantly false statement) with a letter of his own. Whether or not the Dispatch's anti-CCW editorial board chooses to print the letter, you can read it here, by clicking on the "Read More..." link below. UPDATE! The Dispatch printed Dr. Mayer's letter in the Friday, June...

Senator Schuler Supports HB12 as passed by the House

I recently sent Senator Robert Schuler (7th District) a letter concerning HB. 12. In my letter to the senator I explained that my vote would be based on the ccw issue more so than any other issue in the legislator including the budget. Here is a verbatim copy of the main paragraph of the senators reply letter. "I'm in favor of concealed carry and supported it when I was a member of the House. I...

Can Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers be trusted with their firearms?

Last week, we reported about Trooper DeLong, a woman who has failed to qualify with her firearm on two separate occasions , has been suspended for abusing the law enforcement database for personal use, and has been fired (then reinstated) from a post at the Statehouse for sleeping while on duty. We also told you about Trooper Burd, a three-time "trooper of the year" who has been fired from his...

Letter to the Editor: Statistics show concealed carry won’t reduce crime

In the final days before anticipated Senate votes on HB12, the Columbus Dispatch has printed a response to Dr. John Lott's April 24 op-ed, and in doing so, Dispatch editors signaled they're ready to do their best to aid anti-self-defense extremists in a last ditch effort to defeat HB12. UPDATE! In the hours following the publishing of the letter, it has been confirmed by Ohioans For Concealed...

The evidence OSHP Superintendant Paul McClellan can't find

At the behest of the Taft administration, Ohio State Highway Patrol leadership has repeatedly voiced its opposition to any concealed carry reform law that allows persons to exercise their right to self-defense in an automobile. In opponent testimony before the Ohio House Criminal Justice committee, Capt. John Born argued in favor of keeping in place a ban on carrying loaded weapons in cars ,...

Tale of Two Cities: Columbus man kidnapped/robbed; CA jeweler foils attempt

Saturday, June 07, 2003 Police were searching for three men who kidnapped a North Side man yesterday and forced him to drive to his Westerville workplace, where they made him open the safe. Authorities were also looking for a fourth man, who drove the getaway car. The four got away with an undisclosed amount of money. The kidnapped man escaped uninjured. The three kidnappers grabbed the man just...

Columbus homicide rate climbing

Murder is on the rise in the capital city. There have been 5 murders in 2 weeks in the Columbus area. Since January, 47 people in Columbus have been the victim of a homicide. If the violence continues as this pace, the murder rate will top last year's numbers. Eighty-one people were murdered in Columbus in 2002. After months of record-setting pace in Cincinnati homicides, a bit of reprieve has...

Dispatch: Trooper went too far, Zanesville motorist says

Melody Butts concedes she deserved a ticket for unthinkingly passing a stopped school bus on Rt. 40 east of Zanesville. However, the nurse says she did not deserve the face full of Mace and night in jail that followed the arrival of a state trooper at her home later that day to write her up for the offense. "She was treating me like a criminal for a traffic violation,’" Butts said of her May 28...

Enquirer: Cincinnati's record pace of homicides slows

Cincinnati Police Chief Tom Streicher is crediting that city's tougher stance on criminals who use guns in the commission of their crimes for slowing what was a record pace of homicides this year. The program, known as Project Safe Neighborhoods, was created nearly two years ago in response to the city's most violent summer in decades. Streicher says the homicide numbers, while only a modest...

Tale of Two Cities: Akron deliverymen robbed; Pittsburgh robber shot

As the weather warms, crime against restaurant delivery workers tends to rise. Robbers are more comfortable lurking outside in the shadows, waiting at a phony address, having provided a bogus phone number, police say. ``Although there hasn't been a significant change, there does seem to be a rise in restaurant delivery robberies,'' said Capt. Daniel Zampelli of the Akron Police Department. ``Our...

Loud and Clear

As the hour of Senate adoption of a substitute House Bill 12 approaches, we thought it'd be healthy to review the circumstances under which HB274 died, as well as the major moments for HB12 in the days leading up to now. This exercise will serve to remind all involved in the State House that it would be a serious mistake to repeat history with HB12. Click on the "Read More..." link below for more...

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