More Guns, Less Road Rage in Ohio

By Chad D. Baus

The Associated Press is reporting that Ohio State Highway Patrol figures prove road rage is on the decline in Ohio.

While there could be many causes for this good news (Patrol spokeswoman Anne Ralston speculates that reduced travel due to higher gas prices is having an effect), one truth is certain:

Gun ban extremists' dire warnings about what would happen if Ohio passed a concealed carry law have failed to come to pass.

From the story:

The State Highway Patrol says 156 assaults were reported on state-owned highways and at rest areas during the first half of this year, down 19 percent compared to the first six months of 2007.

Is this the type of news gun ban extremists told Ohioans to expect after passage of Ohio's concealed carry law?

Quite the contrary.

In 2001, Toby Hoover, who often appears to be a one-woman show at the Ohio Coaltion Against Gun Violence, told the Cincinnati Post "A person who has a gun sees danger. We will have more shootings, more accidents."

After hearing Hoover testify against concealed carry in 2001, one Columbus Dispatch reporter summarized her testimony like this: "Gun-control advocates said it would put too many guns in malls, parks and workplaces, causing fights and accidental shootings."

In 2003 Hoover sat next to Handgun Control Inc.'s John Shanks at the Statehouse, where Shanks told Senators "we believe immediate access and availability enhances chances for firearms violence. When you introduce firearms, a situation that would not normally result in deadly violence can be tragic."

Also in 2003, Lori O’Neill of the 'Million' Mom March in Cleveland wrote of pro-gun groups that "it's all guns all the time, regardless of how many children, law enforcement officers and ordinary people die each year because of easy accessibility to firearms.”

On January 8, 2004, then State Sen. Eric Fingerhut (who is now an official in Gov. Ted Strickland's administration) told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that "It's going to lead to tragedies and accidents of all kinds."

In April 2004, just as Ohio's concealed carry law was taking effect, Toby Hoover told a Gannett News report that "if we have more use of guns, then we're going to have more people who are injured and die."

So whose pre-concealed carry law predictions were correct?

In a April 2003 Columbus Dispatch op-ed, Dr. John R. Lott said as follows:

"A year after the right-to-carry law is enacted, Ohioans will wonder what all the fuss was about. Claims that Ohioans' safety is endangered will lose credibility once people see that criminals, not law-abiding citizens, have the most to fear from Ohioans' increased ability to defend themselves."

Indeed. And as countless examples of these types of predictions are documented on this website, we won't labor to document them all here.

The bottom line is this: As Ohioans call on their elected officials to continue the move to restore gun rights to law-abiding citizens, legislators must keep in mind just how wrong gun ban extremists have been, even as they shamelessly repeat these same warnings again and again and again.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.