News

Taft aides meet with lawmakers about weapons bill

6:49am Wednesday, June 25, 2003
The two lawmakers in charge of getting a concealed weapons bill through the Legislature met with Governor Taft's top aides to try to work out an agreement that will satisfy all sides on the matter. Representative Jim Aslanides, a Coshocton Republican who sponsored the bill, and Senator Steve Austria, a Beavercreek Republican who carried the bill in the Senate, met for about an hour with Taft's...

Seneca Co., OH: Vermont/Alaska for 5 months and counting - ''NO PROBLEMS''

8:35pm Tuesday, June 24, 2003
Sheriff, police chief see little impact from ruling on concealed-carry ban Local law-enforcement officials say a February ruling in Seneca County Common Pleas Court which found Ohio's law against carrying a concealed weapon to be unconstitutional has had little impact on day-to-day operations. Judge Michael P. Kelbley threw out a concealed-weapons charge against a Fostoria woman caught with a gun...

Letter to the Editor: 'Gun lobby' won't arm everybody

8:12pm Tuesday, June 24, 2003
June 24, 2003 In her Sunday guest column arguing against concealed carry in Ohio ( "Permit legislation puts safety at risk" ) Toby Hoover said "the gun lobby's single-minded campaign to arm every man, woman, and child in the United States." Is this truly the intention of the "gun lobby"? Let's think rationally here. Her statement clearly ruins her credibility and shows that she is thinking in an...

Hamilton Co. judge speaks out about Ohio's concealed weapons laws

7:59pm Tuesday, June 24, 2003
A Hamilton County judge who has a history of dismissing concealed weapons charges, says he may continue dismissing the cases unless the state legislature comes up with a "reasonable" law allowing people to carry a gun for self-protection. Click on the "Read More..." link below for more. Judge Robert Ruehlman told 9News exclusively Thursday that current concealed weapons proposals have too many...

OFCC submits opposition detail to House conference committee members

2:20pm Tuesday, June 24, 2003
The following was submitted as a cover letter to House members of the Conference Committee on Am. Sub. HB12, by request, and details our principle points of opposition to Am. Sub. HB12. Accompanying this letter was a line by line commentary on the Senate's changes. Anyone who is contemplating the merits of "taking what we can get" with Am. Sub. HB12 should read this! Serious Problems With...

Website Editor: Back in the Saddle

12:36pm Tuesday, June 24, 2003
As regular readers know, OFCC PAC's Vice Chairman, Chad Baus, publishes the lion's-share of news articles and opinion pieces on this website. A serious family illness took Baus out of town (and away from the Internet) on what became a definitive weekend for self-defense activists on Ohio. Special thanks to the volunteers who stepped in to post essential stories and updates on this website, and...

Car-Jacker Protection: Bob Taft writes newspapers to justify his position

by Chad D. Baus
12:14pm Tuesday, June 24, 2003
This letter to the editor from Governor Bob Taft says it all. Taft likes to claim in one breath that he has been a " strong supporter of the Second Amendment" and all of the "rights that it grants ." Yet he goes on to write an editorial that proves he is more interested in limiting your rights to the best of his ability. Concealed carry with limits OK After reading your recent editorial, I feel...

AGAIN: Senate goes round and round and back again

by Chad D. Baus
10:10am Thursday, June 19, 2003
It's hard to believe the Ohio Senate just voted to return us to the same impass they created with HB274 just 6 months ago. We have a new Senate President, and a new committee chairman. Thanks, in part, to the efforts of the OFCC PAC, the Senate Republican caucus won a super-majority last November. Two more states have become shall-issue right-to-carry states this spring, and Alaska's legislature...

Am. Sub. HB12 to be considered by House today

by Chad D. Baus
8:42am Thursday, June 19, 2003
Amended Substitute House Bill 12 has been added to the House calendar for consideration of Senate amendments. The session will be held today, June 19. UPDATE! The session has been rescheduled for 7:30 p.m. this evening. The purpose for Tuesday's floor action on Am. Sub. HB12 is to consider and vote on whether or not to concur with Senate amendments. A concurrent vote would send the Senate's...

Senate OKs concealed-carry bill

6:09am Thursday, June 19, 2003
A much worked-over bill that would allow Ohioans to conceal weapons passed the Senate yesterday, despite lukewarm support from its backers. It may be changed more before it reaches the governor's desk. Officials from the National Rifle Association - who until Tuesday were the bill's leading proponents - stopped short of opposing the measure but hinted that revisions must be made to win back their...

Amended Substitute HB12 passes Senate, moves to conference committee

by Chad D. Baus
3:10pm Wednesday, June 18, 2003
The Ohio Senate followed up yesterday's surprise committee passage of Sub. HB12 with a floor vote today. House Bill 12 passed with a 22-10 Senate vote. The first amendment was proposed by Sen. Ray Miller (D, Columbus). While addressing his amendment, Miller offered the typical warnings of blood in the streets, and mentioned anecdotal stories about children who are dying in Columbus, and pointed...

Seneca County: Appeal of weapon ruling heard

2:45pm Wednesday, June 18, 2003
When he rose in opposition to Sub. HB12 on the floor of the Senate today, Sen. Eric Fingerhut (D, Cleveland) told Senators that "no one has, in all these debates, shown me a case where the [existing law concerning] affirmative defenses present a problem." Apparently Fingerhut doesn't read the papers much. June 18, 2003 Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune LIMA, Ohio - Seneca County’s prosecutor argued in...

TAFT CONCEALED CARRY PLAN DEEMS CHILDREN UNWORTHY OF SELF DEFENSE

6:19am Wednesday, June 18, 2003
CLEVELAND, June 18, 2003 /PRNewswire/ -- Ohioans For Concealed Carry has informed the Senate of its formal opposition to amended HB12, as passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee for Criminal Justice. In it’s current form, the bill is no longer recognizable as concealed carry reform legislation. HB12 as passed by the Senate Criminal Justice Committee makes Ohio law worse than it is today, by...

Senate Committee passes Amended HB12 in surprise move

12:59pm Tuesday, June 17, 2003
In a surprise move, the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee on Criminal Justice today passed an amended House Bill 12 today on a 8-1 vote (vehemently anti-CCW Senator Goodman, was the lone dissenter) Initially, it was reported that the Ohio Senate planned to follow up with an almost immediate floor vote today. That appears now not to be the case. The amended bill is, in almost all respects, identical...

Ohio cities experience violent crime increase

9:48am Tuesday, June 17, 2003
There are two trends in this nation which Ohio is not following, and they are related. First, 35 states now have shall-issue right to carry laws, and another 9 have may-issue laws. Trend #1 is for states to liberalize their laws to make it easier for more law-abiding citizens to carry concealed firearms for self-defense, and as a crime deterrent. Ohio, under Gov. Taft, continues to buck this...

Op-Ed: Less Citizen Opposition Means More Guns

4:01pm Monday, June 16, 2003
On Friday, we were informed that an anti-concealed carry op-ed, written by "Million" Mommer Lori O'Neill, had been printed in the Cleveland Free Times. The letter is not available online, but we did print one of what will likely be many responses from readers . Now, thanks to a self-defense rights supporter and Free Times reader, the O'Neill letter has been transcribed, and can be read below...

CWRU victim's mom: ''Trouble! Call the guys with the guns. No, not THOSE guys'

3:48pm Monday, June 16, 2003
It's such a weak, flawed argument, it's almost not worth addressing. But not quite... Eleanor Helper, who told Senators she became an "instant gun control advocate" when her daughter was shot at Case Western University, has written a letter to the Columbus Dispatch editor. Click on the "Read More..." link below for the letter, and comment. Armed citizens are not a foregone asset Sunday, June 15,...

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

3:46pm Monday, June 16, 2003
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

5:33am Sunday, June 15, 2003
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

12:26pm Saturday, June 14, 2003
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''

11:14am Saturday, June 14, 2003
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

4:41pm Friday, June 13, 2003
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"

4:04pm Friday, June 13, 2003
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

3:23pm Friday, June 13, 2003
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

12:44pm Friday, June 13, 2003
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

10:47am Friday, June 13, 2003
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

1:02pm Thursday, June 12, 2003
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!''

11:40am Thursday, June 12, 2003
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

10:17am Thursday, June 12, 2003
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...

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