Strike Two: Another PD editor tries to justify discriminatory actions

Those who catch the headline of Phillip Morris' latest column in the Cleveland Plain Dealer may gain the impression that at least one member of the editorial board is coming to understand how damaging its decision to publish the names of concealed handgun license-holders has been. Some may believe it is evidence that the paper has been asking itself what role it played in the death of Bill Singleton.

But as deeper into Associate Editor Phillip Morris' column, it becomes quickly apparent that any such pangs of guilt are resulting in the production of spin in the Plain Dealer editorial room that would make Bill Clinton proud.

OFCC's Chad Baus responds in blue:

August 10, 2004
Cleveland Plain Dealer

CCW permit listings hurt the innocent

Steve is a gun enthusiast, and he watched closely as the concealed-carry debate dominated the Ohio General Assembly for years.

Finally, this past session, a law was passed giving Ohioans the right to carry concealed handguns in public.

The law, a long-overdue correction of Ohio's ambiguous and poorly constructed "affirmative defense," which made a criminal out of anyone who carried a handgun - regardless of the reason - was cheered by Steve and thousands of other Ohioans who believe that the state and federal constitutions mean what they say about the right to bear arms.

It was a victory for the good guys - guys like Bill Singleton, 59, a Cleveland merchant who was shot and killed Tuesday morning outside of his Collinwood check-cashing store, but not before he performed a public service by killing one of his assailants. That assailant was Rhyan Ikner, 17, a violent and habitual delinquent who was arrested in March on aggravated robbery charges.

Absent from Morris' mention of the brutal ambush of "good guy" Bill Singleton is any attention to the question of whether or not his attackers knew he was armed, perhaps due to his being named in the Plain Dealer just days before.

And it was a victory for law-abiding people who felt the need to carry a gun and wanted the right to defend their lives with deadly force, if needed.

But Steve, an engineer, hasn't raced out to apply for a permit to carry one of his weapons. In fact, he's bitter about the way the CCW ordeal has played out. He has decided that the law is not worth the paper it's printed on.

He has decided he would rather remain unarmed than to subject himself to having his name printed as a permit holder in Ohio's largest daily newspaper.

80% of persons responding to an online poll at www.buckeyefirearms.org believe that the Plain Dealer has published these names for this very reason - out of a hope to deter people from obtaining licenses. If they're right, Morris' opening comments could be paraphrased as "mission accomplished."

Steve is mad at The Plain Dealer. I feel his angst. A private man with a strong libertarian bent, Steve, a skilled martial artist who can easily defend himself without a weapon, believes the point of the permit is to give the law-abiding citizens the same edge that the armed criminal currently possesses - the element of surprise.

Violent thugs who tote guns, like the deceased Ikner and thousands of others like him, are hardly concerned with seeking permits and then being identified as people who carry weapons in public. They carry guns secretly because that gives them the edge on the street and allows them to bully, rob or kill with greater efficiency.

Why should the law-abiding be denied the same edge, Steve asked me last week. Why should they be singled out? Why should criminals, especially gun thieves, be given a cheat sheet on where to go "shopping" for weapons? Why should battered wives or stalked women be identified as having taken steps to defend themselves?

Apparently, Morris feels Steve's angst about like Bill Clinton felt our pain, as the rest of his column will continue to argue for legislation making it even easier for the destruction of the element of surprise.

I don't have convincing counters to those questions. Perhaps it's because I agree with him. But his anger, with its focus on The Plain Dealer and the other large newspapers around the state that have recently published the names of people who have received CCW permits, is misplaced.

Instead of blaming the newspapers, Steve's anger should be directed at the legislators who passed the law that made the permit process secret to everyone but the news media, and at Gov. Bob Taft, who signed it.

By doing so, the governor and the legislature insulted the 99.999 percent of Ohioans who don't have press credentials.

The irony, of course, is the names probably would not have been published if lawmakers had not gone out of their way to shield the identities of those who received permits. The state issues hundreds of permits and licenses. But with the notable exception of freshly minted lawyers, when was the last time you saw newspapers run the names of those who were licensed for anything?

Morris deserves respect for at least admitting he cannot defend his employers' discrimination against law-abiding citizens, even suggesting that he may agree that these people do not deserve to be singled out.

But in trying to shift blame away from himself and his newspaper, Morris had better be careful: there may be an outcry from the international community about how he has tortured logic.

Let's get see if we can figure Morris' arguments out with a little history lesson: