Ohio gun ban creates victims

Here is an editorial in today’s The Lima News: (www.limanews.com)

(The following editorial appeared in The Lima (Ohio) News on 9 January 2002):

Ohio gun ban creates victims

If ever there were a good example of why the Ohio General Assembly
should expedite legislation repealing the state’s unconstitutional
ban on carrying a concealed weapon, the deadly shootings Thursday
would qualify.

If just one of the victims in the house at 503 E. Eureka St. had been
armed, Jala Grant, 3, and Leneshia R. Williams, 17, might still be
alive today. In fact, the possibility that there could be guns in the
house might have deterred the killers from even attempting their
crime. But the General Assembly continues to drag its feet in
allowing law-abiding residents their natural and constitutional right
to carry a concealed weapon for self-defense. The delay is
unconscionable. Too many people are dying because the government will
not allow them the simple right of defending themselves.

A decision is expected no later than Thursday on a lawsuit filed by
the Second Amendment Foundation to overturn Ohio’s unconstitutional
ban. There are also several bills in committee in the General
Assembly that would bring Ohio’s concealed-carry law in line with
most of the rest of the country.

Still, there are those who are so blinded by ignorance and emotions
they fail to see the truth that allowing law-abiding citizens their
natural and constitutional right to defend themselves is the best way
to deter crime. Laws to the contrary merely turn law-abiding citizens
into victims.

The common argument put forth by the gun-control crowd is that more
guns equals more violence. But nothing could be further from the
truth.
States that honor the God-given right of their residents to
self-defense see a marked decline in gun violence. The argument that
more guns on the streets only leads to more violence is a
simple-minded analysis that does not hold water under examination.

Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe wrote in a column last week: “Yale
Law School scholar John Lott analyzed 18 years of crime data from all
3,054 U.S. counties, and discovered that nothing was more decisive in
lowering violent crime rates than the passage of ‘shall-issue’ or
‘right-to-carry’ gun laws. In the biggest counties, those with
populations of 200,000 or more, concealed-carry laws led to an
average drop in murder rates of more than 13 percent.”

How can you argue with results like that?

In the United States, 44 states recognize the natural right of their
residents to carry a concealed weapon. In those states, the number of
crimes committed by permit holders has been miniscule, contrary to
dire predictions by the gun control crowd.

Phillip Morris, associate editor of The Plain Dealer’s editorial
pages, noted Tuesday: “A recent study out of Kentucky, for instance,
showed that of the nearly 60,000 Kentuckians who have applied for and
received gun permits since the state adopted its CCW law in 1996, a
statistically negligible number have committed gun crimes.

“In 2000, Kentucky police filed only four weapons-assault charges
against permit holders, and three of those involved assaults on
family members, not strangers, as gun detractors routinely predict.”

Ohio Gov. Robert A. Taft II said he would not sign a concealed-carry
law unless the state’s law enforcement organizations agree to it. But
those organizations do not necessarily represent the views of their
members.

The Ohio Fraternal Order of Police, Ohio Association of Police Chiefs
and the Ohio Troopers Coalition are opposed to concealed carry.
Yet, a recent national survey of police chiefs and sheriffs showed
that more than 60 percent of the nation’s top cops support concealed
carry. Similar studies have shown that the majority of police
officers support this basic right.

Each day the General Assembly drags its feet on repealing the state’s unconstitutional ban, it puts lives in jeopardy. That lesson was reaffirmed last week in Lima with the death of two girls.

——————————————————-
Freedom is a gift from God, not a political grant
from government. Freedom is neither license nor
anarchy. It is self-control. No more, no less.

Thomas J. Lucente Jr.
Editorial Page Editor
The Lima (Ohio) News