When Dan Williamson broke the story that Senator White admitted he had the votes to override a Taft veto on HB12 back on November 27, we had hope that he was one of the more objective reporters in Ohio. But in this, his latest story on the subject, it's more of what we've come to expect from Ohio's liberal media elite.

It's tough to know where to begin with this piece. At times, it reads more as if Senator Fingerhut did the writing than Williamson, because the extreme rhetoric doesn't quit outside the quotation marks.

Williamson/Fingerhut's main points, in summary:

• the poor farmer-types are good for some things in state legislature, but they are really a bother when it comes to defending the Constitution as it pertains to guns.

• the 'enlightened' urbanites are worried about country yockels coming into the big city and negligently shooting people because they "misperceived the situation".

• urban Republicans who voted for HB12 didn't do it out of conviction or because they thought it would deter crime. They were "scared of the gun lobby" or of their Republican colleagues.

• that stuff from the Ohio Supreme Court about bearing arms for defense and security being a "fundamental individual right" never happened. Figment of country boys' imagination.

Of course, these claims are totally baseless.

One bright note in the story - it highlights what we've been lamenting for months and years - liberal Republicans are as much responsible for keeping Ohioans defenseless as are gun abolitionists like Fingerhut.

We'd like to think that most of Ohio's urban dwellers are aware of the fact that it is they who will benefit the most from concealed carry legislation. Experience in other states has proven that crime drops more rapidly in cities than in urban areas. City dwellers like Taft, Fingerhut, Goodman, etc. ought to be thanking their rural colleagues for their considerate effort to put others before themselves.

If you have the stomach for it, click on the "Read More..." link below for Williamson's piece.

Handgun secrecy is a cynical joke

Dayton Daily News Editorial
December 26, 2003

A MEMORABLE SCENE IN A CLASSIC MOVIE SET in the old West has comic legend W.C. Fields holding forth in the back of a moving passenger train that's clacking past desert cactus and sagebrush.

He regales fellow travelers with a tale of personal bravery. The exchange goes something like this:

"I was surrounded by 20,000 Indians," he said. "And all I had was a knife and a revolver."

A small man, eyes narrowing, interrupted: "Why, they didn't have revolvers in those days."

Mr. Fields was taken aback, but only for half a beat. "I knew that," he said. "But the Indians didn't know it."

And, so, Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder tries to justify keeping Ohioans in the dark about who receives licenses to carry concealed handguns under legislation now before Gov. Bob Taft.

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

As you read this article, we recommend you keep these words at the front of your mind: "Ohio's gun control laws are a colossal failure."

Former police officer's son 75th victim in city

By Jane Prendergast
The Cincinnati Enquirer

(edited for space- click here to read the entire story in the Cincinnati Enquirer)

BOND HILL - A day after a bullet made his stepson Cincinnati's 75th homicide victim of 2003, former assistant police chief Ron Twitty was making plans for two things: A funeral and a new community effort to stop the city's escalating violence.

Cincinnati has seen its most murderous year in 26 years. And for the fifth straight year has recorded more killings than in the year before.

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

Privacy issue stalls gun bill
Taft, House at odds over access to conceal-carry permit lists

December 30, 2003
Lee Leonard
Columbus Dispatch

For the second December in a row, Ohioans are within an inch of being
allowed to carry concealed handguns under limited circumstances.

Standing in the way of enactment of House Bill 12, which has
overwhelming support in both chambers of the Ohio legislature, is Gov.
Bob Taft.

What’s blocking the bill is not one of the usual issues — where the guns
can be carried, safety and training requirements, or protections for
police and citizens — but a public-records dispute.

In December 2002, conceal-carry was headed toward the governor’s desk
when the two-year session expired and sponsors had to start over. Only
the opposition from the State Highway Patrol kept that bill from
reaching Taft.

The patrol’s opposition has melted since lawmakers satisfied troopers’
objections to sections dealing with the handling of weapons in motor
vehicles and gun carriers’ legal defenses in court.

Although Taft has promised to veto House Bill 12 as passed Dec. 10,
staff-level talks are taking place to rescue the bill and avoid the
embarrassment of a Republican-dominated legislature overriding the veto
of its own governor.

The key is finding a compromise between the House and the governor on
the issue of disclosing names of conceal-carry permit holders.

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

December 27, 2003
Columbus Dispatch

The editorial, “Taking the Heat,” imploring Governor Taft to veto HB12 was not only factually flawed but proved the Dispatch editorial staff is vehemently anti-gun.

Ohio’s longtime ban on concealed weapons has only served criminals well - allowing them to prey on unarmed and unsuspecting victims for far too long, leaving Ohioans vulnerable to violent attack without the means for self defense.

You point use supposed errors in the permit issuing process in Texas to prove the need for oversight, but show no evidence they had a detrimental effect on public safety - a convenient omission designed to give validity to your unsubstantiated argument.

Also omitted is the fact that the provision in HB12 allowing media to check permit holders names on a case by case basis is the same access allowed to police and firefighters' information.

Not publicly disclosing their personal information is designed to protect them against criminal vendettas and permit holders who might use a legally carried firearm to stop a violent attack deserve the same protection. Hunters, on the other hand, clearly do not need to fear revenge from their intended prey.

In previous editorials, The Dispatch stated that Taft should veto concealed carry legislation opposed by law enforcement. That is not only giving non-elected law-enforcement officials control over the legislative process but also claiming the same group is unable to adequately administer the permit system.

What the Dispatch editorial staff, Governor Taft and anti-gun extremist can not accept is legalized concealed carry lowers crime and allows innocent Ohioans to protect themselves. It works in other states and the Dispatch must have a low opinion of Ohio citizens and law enforcement to think that it won’t work here.

Gerard Valentino
Pickerington

Click here to read the letter in the Columbus Dispatch.

December 28, 2003
By Jim Provance
Toledo Blade

(edited for space- click here to read the entire story in the Toledo Blade)

COLUMBUS - Gov. Bob Taft and the General Assembly spent much of Ohio’s bicentennial year fighting over guns and what became the largest tax increase in state history.

But then they stood together to trumpet passage of a unique prescription-drug discount program that could benefit as many as 1.7 million senior citizens and the uninsured.

The bulk of the attention went to the fighting, a fact not lost on Democrats.

"We’re going to sit back and let [Republicans] bloody each other, and then we’ll send a fruit basket to Ken Blackwell," said House Democratic leader Chris Redfern (D., Catawba Island).

Despite the fighting, Sen. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green), the second-highest-ranking member of the chamber, said 2003 was a year of bipartisanship, at least in terms of final votes.

"If Republicans want to take credit for maintaining funding for Passport [home health care for the elderly], Democrats can say, ‘Not without us you didn’t,’" he said. "If Democrats want to say, ‘The Republican majority raised taxes in Ohio,’ Republicans can say, ‘Not without you we didn’t.’"

The year began with the governor and lawmakers arguing over what taxes to raise and by how much in the face of fading tax collections.

The year ends with the filing of a voter initiative driven by Republican Secretary of State Blackwell to force the General Assembly to roll back that penny-on-the-dollar "temporary" hike in the sales tax. The resulting debate is likely to dominate the General Assembly in 2004, a legislative election year.

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

December 27, 2003
By Jeff Garvas, OFCC President

Ohioans For Concealed Carry has been at the forefront to enact concealed carry reform legislation for nearly five years. We've worked with organizations like the Second Amendment Foundation, the Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association, the Ohio Gun Collector's Association, the National Rifle Association and many other grassroots gun owners and organizations on numerous projects.

The goal at all times has been to enact concealed carry legislation and bring public attention to the issue and its impact on Ohioans. We've succeeded on many fronts, and we've played a serious role in contributing to the language in House Bill 12.

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

His eleventh hour meddling having delayed concealed carry yet again, Bob Taft is spending another Christmas, whether in the Governor's mansion or in his private family retreat in socialist Canada, safe behind a wall of armed protectors.

Meanwhile, the defenseless citizens of Ohio continue to be victimized by criminals who are undeterred by Ohio's current ban on concealed carry, or by any other gun law.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for some of the many recent headlines.

Officials in Michigan are crediting a new tough-on-gun crimes policy, modeled after Project Exile in Virginia, for inspiring part of the downward trend in crimes committed with firearms in Detroit. As we recently reported, the FBI has observed a 10.5% drop in crime across the state of Michigan in the first two years since passage of a concealed carry law there. For the first time in 40 years, Michigan's crime rate has dropped below Ohio's.

According to the Detroit News, reported shootings in Detroit through November this year are down 2 percent from last year and down 21 percent from November 2001. The city’s murder rate has fallen 11 percent so far this year.

Some residents are noticing the drop in crime in their neighborhoods, said Lorraine Ozment, a longtime east side activist. But many feel protecting their safety is something they largely have to do for themselves, she said.

“A lot of people still feel like they have to protect themselves,” Ozment said.

At least they have that legal choice in Michigan. In Ohio, there is no way for a person to bear firearms for self-defense without risking criminal arrest and prosecution. And the result? Crime is up 5% in Ohio in the same two year period in which Michigan's dropped, and cities like Cincinnati are experiencing a record-high number of homicides.

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

December 23, 2003
Gannett News Service

One would like to be a senator and the other would like to have another two years as a state representative.

Joy Padgett, executive director of the Governor's Office of Appalachia, and state Rep. Jim Aslanides were at the Muskingum County Elections Office filing their intentions to run for the respective offices Monday.

Padgett, a lifelong resident of Coshocton, has served Gov. Bob Taft as the executive director for the Office of Appalachia for nearly five years. She wants to replace state Sen. Jim Carnes in District 20, which includes Athens, Coshocton, Guernsey, Meigs, Morgan, Monroe, Muskingum, Noble and Washington counties.

Carnes will step down from his Senate seat, possibly as early as Dec. 31, to accept a post as deputy director at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Padgett is expected to be appointed to the position.

"The local needs of these counties are very specific in each and every county," Padgett said. "I believe that all my years in public service and teaching have provided me with the tools to assist the residents and I know where the resources are for them to help themselves."

She previously served four terms representing Muskingum and Coshocton counties in the Ohio House of Representatives. She was offered an appointment to the Senate about 10 years ago to replace Bob Ney, but declined, citing family obligations.

Aslanides, 43, is seeking his fourth term as state representative for the 94th District. He also is from Coshocton.

"I'm more excited about running this time then I was the first time," Aslanides said.

Aslanides is proud of the bills he has helped introduce and then watched become law.

"I'm very proud of how I've fought to defend small businesses in the area and the concealed carry weapon bill is now before the governor," Aslanides said.