Letter to the Editor: Alrosa incident shows flaw in concealed carry

December 12, 2004
Columbus Dispatch

The shooting at the Alrosa Villa, ("5 killed in concert chaos," Dispatch article, Thursday) highlights a problem with Ohio’s concealed-carry law. License holders are prohibited by law from carrying their weapons in establishments that sell alcohol for consumption on the premises.

As a result, Nathan Gale was the only one at the Alrosa on Wednesday night with a weapon until the police arrived. Fortunately, Officer James D. Niggemeyer arrived quickly, ending the incident before even more people were killed.

Ohio’s law needs to be changed so that license holders are no longer restricted in this manner.

Jerry Morrison
Dublin

Not everyone sees it as clearly as Mr. Morrison. Click on the "Read More..." link below to read two letters from gun ban extremists in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

December 14, 2004
Cleveland Plain Dealer

Bars are last place where guns should be allowed

On Dec. 10, The Plain Dealer reported the tragic shooting at a nightclub in Columbus, where 25-year-old Nathan Gale walked on stage and shot and killed four people, including heavy-metal guitarist Darrell Abbott, before police shot and killed Gale. The Plain Dealer also printed a statement from gun supporters that Ohio's law needs to allow the carrying of guns into liquor establishments because guns are needed there for self-defense. Any respectable, law-abiding gun owner would agree that guns and alcohol don't mix.

The gross hypocrisy of the pro-gun statement lies in the fact that gun handlers experienced with police work or military combat know one simple fact: that when it comes to a gun, the perpetrator always has the advantage, even when numerous people are armed.

If anyone is really interested in saving lives, they should join the crusade for a comprehensive nationwide, public-health policy to prevent and reduce gun violence. And in the future, if The Plain Dealer prints statements from pro-gun groups, it should balance its reporting with opposing viewpoints.

Rosie Craig
Shaker Heights

Craig is president of the Greater Cleveland Million Mom March.

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It is very sad, and more than a little ironic, that the pro- gun group, Ohioans for Concealed Carry, issued a statement decrying the fact that Ohio has a concealed-handgun prohibition in bars. Maybe this group of "gun patriots" would have preferred a good-ol' shoot- 'em-up with 10 to 20 people killed, instead of the five who died because Nathan Gale carried a concealed weapon into the bar.

Enough already with the obvious stupidity of this "freedom."

John D. Ludway
Cleveland Heights

Related Story:
Columbus nightclub: Disarmed CHL-holder watched helplessly as people died