City of Toledo: Saturday Night Special ban sunsetting

The City of Toledo's three year ban on so-called Saturday Night Specials is sunsetting, and interested Toledoans will have the opportunity to voice their opinion on the law's renewal at a hearing early next month.

In the Ohio Coalition of Gun Violence's call-to-action to other anti-gun extremists, Toby Hoover states that "we will be expected to prove that the Toledo SNS ordinance is worthwhile and effective."

The Toledo Blade recently reported that burglaries in Lucas Co. are up 24 percent, robberies are up 27 percent, and car theft is up 34 percent. Wasn't rising crime the reason Carty and the Toledo city council made lawful firearms ownership nearly impossible in Toledo in the first place?

Hoover and the OCAGV may have a very hard time justifying this ban, and have no proof that it was effective. But that won't stop them from trying, as the typical course of action from groups like these, when the facts are against them, is to twist them into something they're not. The Toledo City Council won't see the error of their ways unless the other side is presented by people like you.

The ban is planned to be reintroduced to the Council on December 3, with a hearing on the 5th or the 9th (not yet finalized). If you are in the Toledo area, please consider carefully whether you can contribute at this hearing, and contact us if you'd like more information about the hearing schedule when we get it.

Commentary by Chad D. Baus:
Meanwhile in Kennesaw, Georgia, where every household has been required by city ordinance to own a handgun since 1982, crimes like these have remained at record lows ever since they plunged following passage of the law. In fact, the number of some crimes in Kennesaw declined amid soaring population growth. Kennesaw had 54 burglaries in 1981 – the year before the gun ordinance – with a population of 5,242. In 1999, with a population of 19,000, only 36 burglaries were reported. The rate of violent crime is approximately four times lower than the state and national rates.