Op-ed: Cleveland Plain Dealer gun law editorial a shame and a sham

January 8, 2008
Xenia Gazette

By Larry S. Moore
Guest Columnist

The Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial, “Clean up the Streets” [which was republished in this newspaper] would be laughable if it were not so deadly serious. The headlines scream “Gun laws need to be strengthened and enforced to keep criminals disarmed”. At least the last half of that sentence is true, current gun laws do need to be enforced. That is about as much truth as is contained in the entire rest of the editorial.

Click 'Read More' for the entire op-ed.

The editorial laments that the big city assault weapon ban ordinances were made obsolete with the passage of HB 347. Any big city, and especially Cleveland’s, assault weapon laws were a joke. They were mostly a misdemeanor crime which meant that the more serious felony charges usually involved with an arrest were prosecuted. So just how effective was the assault weapon ban in Cleveland?

I was part of a public records request for the City of Cleveland (and others) to disclose the arrest and court records regarding assault weapon ban cases from Jan 1, 2004 to Sept 1, 2007. Care to guess how many people in Cleveland were charged with violating this great crime fighting tool? How about three people charged and no conviction? That’s right, only three people charged without a conviction.

It took the City of Cleveland over two months to disclose this public information. Even then the city could only locate the police reports on two of the three. I could go into details that would be shocking how criminals who violated assault weapon bans, assault charges, domestic protection orders, straw purchases, and other federal felony gun level charges are back on the street after posting a minimal bond.

The lack of gun laws is not the problem in Cleveland or any other big city. Straw purchases are both a federal and state violation. Possession of firearms by felons is a federal and state violation. Firing weapons upon, along or across public roads is a state violation. Violation of protection orders is a state violation and if firearms are involved it becomes a federal violation. How many more laws should be passed that Cleveland would only continue to ignore?

The lack of enforcement is a problem. Apparently record keeping in the Cleveland Police Department is also a problem. Criminals are released without even rudimentary checks for outstanding warrants performed. Warrants that a simple civilian public records check revealed! The Cleveland Plain Dealer should be screaming for Mayor Jackson to clean up his administration, improve the professionalism of the police department and stop turning criminals back onto the streets. It is apparently easier and more politically correct to attack guns or blame the General Assembly than to take a tough stance in a big city.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer demonstrated a total lack of honesty, knowledge of Ohio law and journalistic integrity in their editorial. That is exceeded only by the Greene County Dailies, and many other Ohio media outlets, re-printing the editorial without questioning the truth. Such actions are why gun owners do not trust the mainstream media. It is, at the very least, disappointing to see my hometown newspaper fall into this trap.

Larry Moore resides in Greene County. He writes for the Greene County Dailies’ twice-monthly Outdoors page.