AGAIN: Will Cleveland Plain Dealer's third abuse be the charm?

7:57am Friday, November 26, 2004

When the CHL-records "media access loophole" was created, Bob Taft's office joined the Ohio Newspaper Association in suggesting it was necessary to ensure that licenses were not being given out to the "wrong people", thus promoting the false idea that allowing law-abiding citizens the right to bear arms for self-defense was a disaster waiting to happen.

But as OFCC pointed out at the time, the idea that we will be unable to know about crimes committed by license-holders is ludicrous.

Sec. 109.731. (D) states that "...Not later than the first day of March in each year, the commission shall submit a statistical report to the governor, the president of the senate, and the speaker of the house of representatives indicating the number of those licenses that were issued, renewed, suspended, revoked, and denied in the previous calendar year and the number of applications for those licenses for which processing was suspended...in the previous calendar year. ...The statistics and the statistical report are public records for the purpose of section 149.43 of the Revised Code."

In fact, the implementation of Ohio's concealed carry law has gone even better. Attorney General Petro's office released statistics after the first 90 days.

Other states have been providing similar statistics about their concealed carry laws for years. In nearly all states, less than 1% of licenses have to be revoked (and the vast majority of those are for reasons completely unrelated to misuse of a firearm). Certainly in the rest of the country and already in Ohio, the overwhelming evidence shows that law-abiding citizens can be trusted with carrying firearms for self-defense.

So just how long will these anti-gun forces be allowed to continue to promote a lack of trust in the ability of Ohio sheriffs to do their jobs in weeding out prohibited applicants as an excuse to violate the privacy of thousands of CHL-holders?

And why then, do Cleveland Plain Dealer editors, led by Doug Clifton, continue to operate on the premise that CHL-holders are dangerous individuals worthy of suspicion? Why have they acted, for a third time, to publish the names of law-abiding citizens?

On November 22, Clifton's newspaper published the names of thousands more concealed handgun license-holders who have broken no laws, violated no other persons' rights, and who simply wish to exercise their constitutional right to self-defense.

Concealed handgun license-holders continue to take this violation of privacy and abuse of the media access privilege very seriously. There are many reasons why it will NEVER become a non-issue.

For example, Ohio gun-ban extremist Toby Hoover is on record encouraging employers to consider whether or not a potential new-hire is a CHL-holder before hiring.

Instances of criminals targeting particular locations they know to contain specific valuables (such as firearms), and staking out or casing residences to make sure no one is home, are common and well documented.

Some persons who seek to bear arms for self-defense are trying desperately not to be found - such as battered wives hiding from their former husbands.

What if the violent stalker who was shot by this Indiana woman had known in advance that she was carrying? ''God's grace'' (and concealed firearm) saves Indiana woman's life.

What if this armed criminal had known in advance this Toledo CHL-holder had just received his concealed handgun license? Clerk says he shot to save his life in robbery.

Editors at the Cleveland Plain Dealer apparently care nothing for people like this in Ohio, much less about your opinion.

Early this year, after the Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel raided the privacy of concealed handgun license-holders, and "outed" a few high-profile people, the editors at the News-Sentinel were kind enough to ask their readers if they believed the paper should proceed with plans to make the entire list of Allen Co (IN) CHL-holders available online (something news editors at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, Lorain Morning Journal, NBC24 Toledo, Sidney Daily News, Toledo City Paper, Troy Daily News and Warren Tribune Chronicle haven't had the courtesy to do!).

95% of News-Sentinel readers told the paper to trash their idea. Could this be why members of the Ohio Newspaper Association haven't bothered to ask?

Rep. James Aslanides (R-Coshocton), the concealed carry bill's original sponsor, said in conference committee and during a short floor speech in January that he would lead an effort to roll back the media access if the "privilege" is abused.

"If they abuse the privilege, we can cause them to lose the privilege," he declared, pointing out that the Pennsylvania Legislature struck a similar provision after a newspaper published a list of permit holders.

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Sen. Steve Austria seconded this warning, adding that publishing the names of license-holders would be the exact kind of abuse they're referring to, since publishing these names would threaten the safety of the very men and women who have chosen to bear arms for self-defense.

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"I don't think we need to worry about journalists doing their job," state Sen. Marc Dann, a Youngstown area Democrat, told Mr. Aslanides.

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Rep. Aslanides has already expressed interest in modifying the law to correct this abuse. Sens. Austria and Dann have not, as far as we are aware, provided public comment in the wake of these newspapers' actions. All three men were reelected earlier this month.

It is time, honorable legislators - it is past time.

Letter-writer: Plain Dealer practices ''life threatening, dirty journalism''

Plain Dealer's Clifton a part of Ohio Supreme Court PRIVACY Subcommittee

Clifton: Why we printed the list

Cleveland Plain Dealer and New York Times have a lot common

Taft supports not ''stigmatizing'' ex-cons; insisted on stigmatizing CHL-holders

OFCC Supporter: Excuse for public records demands left twisting in the wind