Letters to the Editor: What Bob Taft refuses to understand

A number of excellent letters to editor have appeared across the state in recent days. Apparently these pro-self-defense letter writers have a better handle on the facts surrounding the concealed carry reform debate than does their Governor.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for summaries and links to the letters.

Sciotoville's RICK JONES: Bill allowing concealed
weapons is way off target

House Bill 12 as passed by the Ohio Senate is the second most devastating move that has ever come out of the Ohio Senate. The most devastating one came late last year when an almost identical passage came from the Senate regarding the same bill.

If this bill would accidentally become law, it would make it worse on the citizens of the state of Ohio. Under current law, people who feel the need to carry a concealed weapon in their vehicle could use affirmative defense in a court of law. Under the proposed bill, the use of affirmative defense would be totally eliminated for everyone except for persons given restraining orders. This in itself would place more citizens in danger.

The carrying of concealed weapons is intended for use in case of a major emergency only when there is no other way out and to deter criminals because they won’t know who is armed and who is not. With the new Senate version it would be quite easy for a criminal to determine who is and who is not armed. A vehicle with children in it would be made totally defenseless under the senate version of HB12 because it is stated that the weapon would have to be locked up with children under 18 in it. A carjacker is looking for a victim, which one would they choose: a law abiding citizen with a weapon locked up with children in car seats or another law abiding citizen, alone, who could be possibly armed?

This same type of profiling took place in Florida before that state permitted tourists to carry a concealed weapon. Gov. Taft should be ashamed for allowing certain law enforcement departments to influence his decisions in such a manner.

Columbus' KARL PETZINGER: Gun bill must be based on facts, not emotion

The two key words in Eleanor Helper’s June 15 letter regarding the shooting at Case Western Reserve University and the proposed concealed-carry bill — House Bill 12 — are probably and imagine.

The facts are that outside Ohio, there are several million concealedcarry permit holders, and there is no evidence any of them is involved in "pandemonium" or in causing "numerous casualties." Passage of the bill should be based on facts and evidence, not imagination.

Akron's FRANK S. KARL: Concealed-carry fears unfounded

[The Beacon-Journal's] June 8 editorial against legalizing a system to allow citizens to apply for permission to carry a concealed weapon (``Aiming for passage'') was baffling. Are Michiganders more trustworthy than Ohioans? Do Indianians have some sophistication we lack? Are Kentuckians, West Virginians and Pennsylvanians more law-abiding than we are?

You (and many of our politicians) appear to believe this, as those states allow their citizens to carry a concealed weapon. My trips to them failed to show any difference between their citizens and Ohioans.

Columbus' RICK TROWBRIDGE: Having ready weapon is asset for protection

I respond to Eleanor Helper’s June 15 letter, "Armed citizens are not a foregone asset," because it lacks justification.

Her opinion is based on the flawed assumption that those who would legally carry a concealed firearm would not know how to use it. Forty-three states, aside from Ohio, have some form of provision that allows concealed carry, and statistics have shown few problems as a result.

Helper says that within minutes, police were on the scene at the shooting at Case Western Reserve University. If I saw a deranged fellow approaching me, I’d rather depend on the two to three seconds I would likely require to dispatch the threat than the few minutes it would take for the SWAT team to arrive.

Lima's GAIL HARMON: Ohio gun bill full of problems

I read with interest the article in Lima News about the concealed carry bill. Although I am a fairly liberal woman and a Democrat, I am a member of Ohioans for Concealed Carry. I believe in taking a position on each issue as I see it.

As a woman, I have extra concerns for my safety, especially when driving alone at night. I believe that the right to self-defense is fundamental. Unless the police can follow me around to furnish me with protection (something I would not relish for other reasons), I should be able to have the means to protect myself. I do not feel that government restriction of this right, without extenuating circumstances, is constitutional.

The Associated Press article published in The Lima News focused on Gov. Taft's change of heart to now approve the bill. I don't believe he had a change of attitude. The Senate has again ruined the bill in order to appease Taft and certain police organizations, all of whom are paranoid, believing that law-abiding citizens are a threat to the police.

The story did not mention the objections by Ohioan's for Concealed Carry to the changes made in the Senate. Is the media trying to further the destruction of this bill in the Senate by promoting this new version?

There are many problems with the bill, and they have been created by the Senate. They are trying to make it difficult to have a gun for defense in a vehicle. But that is a place where it may be needed, and a place where it could be used effectively to prevent a tragedy. Why are existing affirmative defenses for those traveling in a personal vehicle being removed? Why are parents not allowed to protect their children? What if criminals profile potential victims by choosing cars with children present like they did by targeting tourists in Florida, knowing they were unarmed?

Philo's BILL CARPER: Disgusted all over again

The concealed carry bill as it is "stinks!"

"Locked away"! What is that gun for? I guess it is not to protect myself, and my family, I guess I am supposed to let some "punk" kill all of us and take my car! There is some thing very! very! wrong with this. Why can't our law makers understand, and get it right? Concealed carry is just that, concealed, and it is no one's business if I am carrying a weapon or not!

What I have seen so far of this so called concealed carry bill, makes me tend not to trust my law makers, and makes me feel they are not competent in being able to put together a law this complex and important.