LTE: Newspaper opinion on concealed handguns is antiquated

Editor's Note: As we recently reported, there is a coordinated (and misguided) effort to oppose SB239 (Restaurant Carry & Car Carry Rules Fix) on the editorial pages of Ohio newspapers. The following letter was published in response to a recent editorial published by several Gannett-owned newspapers.

To the Editor:

Your continued bias against law-abiding Ohio citizens having the basic right to carry a concealed handgun to protect themselves is once again manifested in the News Journal's March 21 editorial, "Tweaking conceal, carry increases danger."

The new proposal seeks to simplify the current, complicated protocol as to how guns are legally carried in an automobile and to allow properly licensed patrons to carry a concealed handgun in a restaurant that serves alcohol so long as the armed citizen doesn't drink.

You concede that the "small 'no guns' sign" some merchants place on their front doors will not stop a "robber or someone aiming to create problems." Well, no more so than a sign requiring a gunman to leave his ski mask at the front desk would be obeyed. Crazy killers aren't so stupid as to open fire in a gun shop; no, when they read the "no guns allowed" sign duly posted by the naive, they know the only guns really permitted are the ones that they have. They know that law-abiding citizens leave their guns at the door because they abide by the law. And that's how restaurants (yes, even the ones that serve liquor), schools, churches and workplaces get turned into killing fields. Killers rely on the old adage: When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

On Jan. 11, 2004, you opined that the then new CCW "gun law doesn't make much sense" and did a little hand-wringing about anticipated "shootouts" and even advised "turning over your wallet" to a crook instead of defending yourself with a gun. Six years later, you concede, "... There haven't been shootouts in the street or on freeways. Workplace violence hasn't increased because employees could carry guns to work. Criminals who never follow gun laws ignore this one too" You were wrong then and you're wrong now.

And as far as your predicting the drunken "shootout" scenarios that the new "tweaks" would wreak on society, I'd consider trading in your old crystal ball for a new one. That old clunker hasn't been working too well.

Donald G. Ludwig
Ashland