Letter to the Editor: Armed citizens are happy, free people
February 4, 2004
Toledo Blade
Drivers never expect to need the air bags in their car, but we are grateful for them when the unexpected happens.
No one wakes up thinking, "today I will be robbed, beaten, raped, or murdered." But when the unthinkable occurs, a concealed firearm is often the best - and only - insurance that person has to survive a violent encounter. Marilou Johanek claims the 145-year-old prohibition against concealed firearms has served Ohio well. But has it?
The (anti-gun) Journal of the American Medical Association found that the vaunted Brady Bill has had no effect in reducing murder rates, despite its supporters' histrionics. The (anti-gun) Centers for Disease Control could find no correlation between strict gun-control laws and lowered crime rates in a recent study.
By contrast, John Lott's magnum opus, More Guns, Less Crime, conclusively demonstrated - with hard data, not demagoguery - that our states are safer when citizens are allowed to arm themselves for their own protection. Further, no state that has "shall issue" licensing provisions has experienced the dire consequences predicted by anti-gun elites.
Armed citizens are free citizens - happier, safer, and more productive - than those living in the socialist utopias championed by anti-gun liberals.
Toby Hoover, Ms. Johanek, and others are not simply wrong on this issue. They are morally complicit in hundreds of crimes against individuals by their obstructionism. Lacking any credible evidence for their position, one has to wonder if they are simply ignorant or pro-actively wicked.
At minimum, they have an obligation to acknowledge the truth. Better, they owe gun owners an apology.
JOHN RANDALL
Bowling Green
Not all Toledo Blade readers are so well-informed. Click on the "Read More..." link below for two examples.
Toledo needs jobs, governor, not guns
Toledo needs jobs, governor, not guns
Great column by Marilou Johanek. It's about time somebody from Toledo holds Gov. Bob Taft's feet to the fire. Other people with clout from Toledo should be doing likewise. Jobs for Toledo, not guns! Mr. Taft needs to stop shelling out millions of taxpayers' dollars to Fortune 500 companies and spread the money around to entice new companies to Toledo, before we wind up like Youngstown!
VIRGIL MATNEY
East Florence Avenue
We've got news for Mr. Matney. Toledo already IS like Youngstown, in two respects, at least: tight (and failed) gun control laws, and the higher crime that results from rendering citizens defenseless.
CCW: What was legislature thinking?
I was waiting for a stop light at a busy Maumee intersection. I heard yelling, and noticed that the driver of the vehicle in front of me, and the driver of the vehicle in the left turn lane next to him were having a heated discussion regarding their respective driving skills. It occurred to me that if this were April when "Concealed Carry" becomes legal in Ohio, these two gentlemen would be able to draw their six-shooters and settle this difference of opinion on the spot with the winner later claiming self-defense.
With all of the real issues facing Ohio, it just amazes me that our "leaders" in Columbus could possibly conceive of passing such a ridiculous piece of legislation. What were they thinking?
D.L. DiSALLE
Maumee
The Legislature was thinking that since evidence from 45 other states indicates that road rage incidents do not ramp up to shoot-outs in the streets with passage of concealed carry reform laws, there is no reason think Ohioans will be any different.
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