Letter to the Editor: Gun crusader fires back at critics, editorial on CCW

June 16, 2004
Lorain Morning Journal

Toby Hoover (executive director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence) has yet again proven her hypocrisy when she stated in a June 10 letter that only a fraction of Ohioans will acquire concealed handgun licenses (she incorrectly referred to them as permits). We've said for years that only a small percentage of Ohioans will acquire these licenses, yet Toby Hoover has devoted her life to abolishing gun rights by law-abiding citizens after the tragic murder of her husband many years ago.

Why admit now that our estimates were always true? Because it fits the purpose of her argument today. The target of Hoover's extremist gun control is the law-abiding citizen, not the criminal who would murder a store owner with a firearm.

The irony is that responsible Ohioans are not to blame for the "gun violence" her organization purports to be against. Further, weeks after enactment a licensed store owner used his concealed firearm to fend off armed robbery suspects, mortally wounding the gunman. Walking into a store dressed head to toe in black and carrying a firearm is an accurate definition of gun violence.

Hoover should rename her group the Coalition Against Self-defense, Common Sense, Civil Rights, and Personal Choice.

Since our Do Not Patronize While Armed Database and calling cards have been available, and through open-minded discussions with business owners, we have convinced a staggering number of small and large businesses to reconsider the danger they're putting themselves and their patrons into.

Posting a sign that says "nobody here has a gun" tells the career criminal that everyone is the ideal victim. How many parking lot abductions at the mall during the holidays does it take to show the extreme liability of these signs?

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

Fifth Third & First Merit banks, posted across the state, have been in the news more than five times in five weeks reporting violence and robberies.

First Merit had an ATM patron shot at during an ATM visit.

Kroger's stores, who recently began taking down signs, had several violent attacks against shoppers - one in a "disarmed victim" zone.

These signs are equivalent to posting a large sign in your front yard that says "Nobody in this home owns a firearm and we don't lock our doors." Even if you don't, you're safer keeping that fact a secret.

Based on Hoover's estimates, stores that choose not to ban wouldn't see many armed patrons anyway, right? She can't have her cake and eat it, too, but she sure tries.

Finally, another June 10 letter headlined "Concealed guns bad," is clearly behind the times. Ohio joined 46 other states when we enacted a concealed carry law, proving that we are neither a laughing stock of the nation, nor are we bringing back the Wild West. Ohio has joined the rest of the nation some 20 years after this trend began and adopted a proven social policy that, according to Zogby, most Americans are in favor of for security.

Fortunately, most responsible gun owners go to the gun range more often than the average street cop is required to do so by their departments. If the sensational fears in that letter had any merit, police officers and their regularly carried firearms and backup guns, on and off duty, would be responsible for endless accidental shootings, dead children and the unprecedented firearm mayhem these letters express an irrational and unjustified fear of.

Even more ironic: The Morning Journal has anti-gun policies, but mirrors almost every point we've ever made when trying to justify allowing police officers to carry in local courts in a recent editorial.

Jeff Garvas, president, Ohioans For Concealed Carry, Cleveland

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In another northeast Ohio newspaper, a few letter-writers reacted with fear and loathing to news in the Cleveland Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine that stores were taking down discriminatory signs.

The letters can be viewed by clicking here.

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