Alphecca

So, Marilou, Is That a Pistol in Your Purse?

*Ugh* Marilou Johanek writes a totally repellent op-ed in the Toledo Blade:

Like a nagging headache that won't go away, the gunslingers of the state are again pushing pliable politicians in Columbus to make Ohio's onerous concealed-carry law even more so. They could care less that consistent majorities of Ohioans have opposed the notion of carrying concealed handguns in public, according to several Ohio polls conducted over the years by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati.

Single-minded gunslingers say they have a God-given American right to bear firearms hidden or otherwise. Besides the principle part, there's the public safety spin that insists law-abiding citizens need to have a gun at the ready just in case danger intrudes. How generations of Ohioans ever survived without a hidden handgun in every purse or holster we'll never know.

Two years ago the persistent band of guns-are-good activists, backed by a powerful army of National Rifle Association lobbyists, succeeded in making Ohio the 45th state to allow residents to carry hidden guns. But the dubious distinction wasn't enough to make them hold their fire for harmless target practice. They began gathering ammunition to convince easily led lawmakers that Ohio's concealed handgun law had to be tweaked.

They don't much like the fact that Ohio is the only concealed-carry state with restrictions on how permit holders must carry their guns in cars. The provisions that require concealed-carry permit holders to keep their guns out in the open or locked away in their vehicles were put there at the insistence of the State Highway Patrol. No trooper making a routine traffic stop, especially at night, wants to be surprised by what somebody might be hiding under a seat or in an unlocked glove box.

Rather than play to the irrational fears of people who don't really understand the pros and cons of concealed carry, perhaps Blade columnist Marilou Johanek should look at the facts:

1. Every jurisdiction in which concealed carry has been passed has experienced a reduction in crime, especially violent crime.

2. Since the passage of Ohio's concealed-carry law two years ago, there has not been a single instance of a "bad shoot" by any licensed carrier.

3. No other state has required concealed-carry license holders to jump through hoops to keep their pistols "in plain sight" or locked up in a vehicle. Extra handling of firearms increases safety risks and a locked-up firearm is useless in the kind of emergency that influences people to have them in the first place.

4. The efficacy of concealed carry for reducing crime depends, in part, on people not knowing who is armed and who is not. That way, all potential victims are potentially armed and criminals are deterred. Making public the information about who is armed takes away that advantage from those who are not.

5. Concealed-carry license holders are one-third as likely as the average citizen to commit any crime. They are one-seventh as likely as the average citizen to commit a violent crime.

6. Concealed-carry license holders must pass a thorough criminal-records check in order to be licensed. Can you say that about the person standing next to you in the checkout line, the one who is, perhaps, carrying illegally?
--Marc K. Myers

Law-abiding citizens exercise their right :
In response to Marilou Johanek's rant and her extreme dislike of a constitutional right, I ask her what is the problem with licensed individuals who pass a state and federal background check carrying a concealed gun? These people who jump through all the hoops and training to get a license have proven that they are the most trustworthy and law-abiding of citizens.

We are not talking about criminals here, as in Ms. Johanek's complete disdain for anybody who believes in this right would have us think. Licensed concealed carry for the State of Ohio is a law that does need some fixing. What good is this state law if cities can circumvent or make up their own laws? I can't understand why she is so opposed to law-abiding people exercising a right when we all benefit because the criminals in society don't know who is or who isn't armed.

I thank our founders for adding that pesky Second Amendment to our Constitution.
--Jim Szych