Letter to the Editor: Concealed-carry bill makes parents targets

More for the "What Bob Taft refuses to understand" file - this mom doesn't like the idea of having a bulls-eye painted on her car to appease the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Columbus Dispatch
July 3, 2003

I completely concur with Dispatch Senior Editor Joe Hallett's stance on the concealed-carry issue, as stated in his June 22 column. Hallett is correct that substitute House Bill 12, as written, should die, and if it doesn't, "more Ohioans will."

However, these Ohioans will not die as a result of the permissiveness of the concealed-carry bill, but the restrictions — specifically those related to the concealing of a firearm in a vehicle.

The bill does not allow those of us with children under 18 to use a firearm for self-defense while traveling with them in our cars. How long does Hallett think it will take Ohio’s criminals to figure out that people with children in their vehicles are easy targets? After all, because most permit-holders will be law-abiding citizens, those of us traveling in cars with our children will be unarmed. This law effectively invites the criminals to prey upon us.

I hope those readers with children will get active and involved with this issue. Force Ohio’s legislators and governor to pass a bill that allows us to protect our loved ones no matter where we are. I, for one, refuse to sit back and allow a bull's eye target to be put on my car and my life and that of my children to be put in harm’s way.

ELLEN WICKHAM
Columbus

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