Newspaper: CHL-holder ''wins case'' against Toledo police, gets his gun back

The Toledo Free Press is reporting that Toledo Police have finally returned a Toledo CHL-holder's firearm more than three months after they illegally confiscated it.

Thomas Szych, who has faced high levels of gang and criminal activity in his north Toledo neighborhood this summer, was forced to seek the help of an attorney after police illegally confiscated his firearm after a neighbor filed a complaint against him. Though the Toledo prosecutor's office did not find enough evidence to bring charges against Mr. Szych in August, Toledo police refused to return the firearm they had illegally seized, but instead forwarded the case to the Citizens Dispute Settlement Program.

More than three months later, on November 8, the Toledo police finally returned Szych's gun, having never charged him with any crime.

From the story:

Szych was able to reclaim his .38 caliber pistol and ammunition, seized by Toledo Police on Aug. 3 after neighbor children claimed he pulled his gun on them.

The length of time it took for the case to work its way through the system was frustrating, Szych said.

"The court kept sending me back to a mediator to settle the dispute," he said. "I finally demanded my day in court, because I knew that I had done nothing wrong."

Tom Szych's troubles with neighborhood gang activity were used by the National Socialist Movement (NSM) as justification for a failed Oct. 15 rally in the neighboord. Although police denied any problem with gangs in the area after Szych's initial complaints, the problems were evident to all of America when NSM presence sparked a violent, fiery riot that Saturday afternoon.

The Free Press notes that a neighbor filed yet another complaint alleging aggravated menacing against Szych, and claimed the incident occurred during the riot.

"There was a big problem with the complaint, though," Szych told the newspaper. "I wasn't even in town that day. Luckily, I had the paperwork to prove to the investigating detective that I was in another state that day."

Szych has not only been made victim by area gang members, the NSM, and a few disgruntled neighbors, but also by Toledo's former mayor, the anti-gun Jack Ford, and anti-self-defense police chief Michael Navarre.

Again, from the story:

Szych said his lawyer is finishing work on a lawsuit against officials of the City and NSM. He said he was unfairly targeted as the reason for the neo-Nazi group's demand to march in Toledo.

"The mayor and the police chief both knew that I was not involved, but kept naming me as the cause for the Nazis coming," he said. "Their actions caused people to blame me and attack my house."

For far too long, bureaucrats in the Toledo mayor's office and the Toledo police department have been allowed to focus their anti-gun "crime fighting" policies on all the wrong people. As Steve Chapman recently stated on RealClearPolitics.com, "an ordinance that seeks to reduce the murder rate by disarming those owners
who are not criminals makes about as much sense as fighting alcoholism by prohibiting beer sales to Mormons."


If you haven't already done so, please contact your state representative and state senator and ask them to support HB347, which would ensure that firearms laws are uniform throughout the state. Click here to access House & Senate phone numbers.

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