Another tired anti-gun editorial

By Jim Irvine

Many papers have recently done stories noting the success of the concealed carry licensing system. The Lorain Morning Journal, on the other hand, has published another editorial crying about their limited access to license holder’s personal information.

Well over 99% of license holders licenses have flawless records carrying their guns. Contrary to what the Journal editorialized for years leading up to passage of HB12, there has been few problems.

Click on 'Read More' for the complete commentary.

From the story:

This cloud of secrecy is supposed to be for the protection of the permit holders and their families, according to concealed carry supporters. Though why anyone would want to mess with a known armed householder is beyond us. It also leaves us wondering why anyone would want to have a concealed gun permit if it apparently puts them in so much danger that they need their identity shrouded.

Doesn't all this purported danger surrounding concealed guns and their ownership make it even more important that their unarmed neighbors should be allowed to know about this risk in their midst?

Ironic, isn't it, that there is no mention that law endorsement homes are often targeted for theft, precisely because criminals know they are likely to find guns there. Because criminals can’t buy guns legally, and because they are, well – criminals, they tend to steal things, including guns.

The paper fails to note that licenses are revoked for benign reasons like a license-holder moving out of state or passing away. They want you to think that every revocation is for some serious crime.

They also fail to mention that many of the suspended licenses are reinstated. There are many reasons a license may be suspended ranging from paperwork errors or omissions to a criminal charge. These are reinstated after the issue is resolved, or revoked if it is not.

There have been several licenses suspended because law enforcement did not understand the law. Once these issues are worked out, the license is reinstated.

Further is seems that editors for the Morning Journal are only concerned with gun licenses. They are uninterested in reporting all the reasons a drivers license is suspended or revoked (7.15% in 2005!). Neither have they taken interest in revocations of medical licenses, or real estate licenses, or business licenses, all of which are revoked at rates far in excess of concealed handgun licenses.

Of course that is because none of these other things involve guns. And to the Morning Journal editorial board, guns are evil because they don’t like or understand them. Maybe they know they are wrong, and that is why they don’t sign their editorial, or tell us where this person lives and all the laws they have been accused of breaking. They think they are entitled to all that information about you.

Fear is likely also a factor. They have Hoplophobia – a fear of guns. Like fear of the dark or flying or heights, it’s a fear that can cause great anxiety in the person affected. Like the other fears, it’s a problem they should deal with. Until they are properly diagnosed and treated they are likely to continue to experience fears which cause them to ignore truth and logic and continue to produce unimportant and irrelevant work.

Related stories:
Hoplophobia explained
Lorain newspaper continues to rage against self-defense