Letter to OFCC: Montgomery confronted at Republican meeting over anti-CCW stance
From: Tim Inwood
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 7:22 AM
Subject: Betty Montgomery put on the
spot
Here is a report from last night's Blue Chip Republicans meeting [in the Hamilton County/ Cincinnati area], which featured State Auditor and gubernatorial-hopeful Betty Montgomery.
Rep. Tom Brinkman spoke earlier in the evening. Montgomery arrived about 30 minutes late from a fundraiser. She got before the group of 40+ people and gave the standard stump speech, which included a defense of the recent tax hikes.
When it came to questions, I stood directly across from her, smiling occasionally, while puffing on my Fuente Curly Head cigar, trying to look as friendly as possible. She took one question, then called on me.
"Mrs. Montgomery, as you know, last year Ohio finally joined roughly 40 other states by passing a concealed carry of handguns laws, after much wrangling with the state legislature. You were one of the vocal opponents of this law, urging the Governor to not compromise with the legislature over things like public disclosure. And there is every reason to think the public disclosure section of the law is responsible for the death of a shop keeper in Cleveland, as within a week of his name being published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, he was ambushed and murdered in front of his shop by three thugs. Can you tell us why you opposed restoring the right of self defense to your fellow Buckeyes?"
She started off her answer by admitting that she did oppose House Bill 12, because she thought it was bad that newspapers could get that information but the public could not. She told the group she believes we should be allowed to see those lists of who has guns.
At this point I interjected, "Ma'am, I don't want those records available to anyone. We are law-abiding citizens! Criminals' records are, as of last year, now protected - yanked from the Internet.
She said, "No, you can get those."
I replied, "No, you have to have a specific name to find out about someone. The massive list was removed from the Internet last year."
She then tried to end the discussion by saying that we are going to have to agree to disagree.
I continued, "You have still not answered my question. These laws have worked well in protecting civilians in almost 40 other states for decades. With that record, why did you not trust your fellow Buckeyes with the right to self-defense?"
Her annoyance with me at this point was very easy to read on her face. She said, "I don't want to live in a country where everyone is packing heat. I thought it would make things more dangerous on our streets.....for our police. As Attorney General I have attended enough police funerals."
I responded, saying "Those are criminals shooting police, not law-abiding citizens wishing to protect themselves."
She shot back by saying something to the effect of 'you wanted my opinion, so I am giving it to you.' I gestured for her to go ahead. She then said she would concede that "the things I feared would happen have not."
I told her "They won't."
She said "I hope not."
Then she moved on to the next question.
A number of people came up afterwards thanking me, saying they were thinking of voting for her until the exchange. She did herself no favors with this group. Blue Chip is very conservative, and she was exposed as a Republican In Name Only (RINO) on guns, taxes and education among other things.
I will let you all know when Secretary of State Blackwell and Attorney General Petro are scheduled to come.
Tim Inwood
Wilmington
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