Plain Dealer Editorial: ''Gunning for secrecy''
The Cleveland Plain Dealer has published an unsigned editorial criticizing a move this week in the Statehouse to close the Media Access Loophole.
From the editorial:
- This attempt speaks volumes about Ohio's lawmakers and their skewed priorities. It's not enough that, while Ohio's economy continued to slide, the General Assembly spent nearly a decade debating the issue of guns. Now, legislative gun zealots would focus on a further extension of gun rights rather than on Ohio's pressing budget, economic development and tax-reform needs.
If the Plain Dealer is so concerned about preserving legislators' time to focus on "budget, economic development and tax-reform needs", why is it demanding that the legislature address measures to ensure that they get "timely access to routine records" right here, right now, via House Bill 9? By acting to close the Media Access Loophole in a bill that deals with the issue of public records, and which has already been introduced, isn't Rep. Seitz actually saving time, versus introducing an entirely new bill to address the issue of these abuses? Do these Plain Dealer editors honestly believe that law-makers' time can only be spent on other issues when it benefits them?
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In the editorial, the PD states that "Ohio's CCW bill was terribly flawed when signed by Gov. Bob Taft in January 2004. The only public access provided to permit records was given to journalists. That absurd policy was a direct insult to the residents of Ohio."
We couldn't agree more with the "flawed" comment. In reality, however, it is the liberal media's assertion that people who are exercising a constitutional right to bear arms for self-defese deserve to be treated as sex offenders under suspicion, and in need of being watched, that is an insult to Ohioans.
They can't say they weren't warned. In conference committee and during a short floor speech in January 2004, Rep. Aslanides, the concealed carry bill's original sponsor, said that he would lead an effort to close the Media Access Loophole if the "privilege" was abused. "If they abuse the privilege, we can cause them to lose the privilege," he declared, pointing out that the Pennsylvania Legislature struck a similar provision after a newspaper published a list of permit holders. Sen. Steve Austria seconded this warning, adding that publishing the names of license-holders would be the exact kind of abuse they're referring to, since publishing these names would threaten the safety of the very men and women who have chosen to bear arms for self-defense.
And what better place for a discussion on what should and should not be open to the media's prying eyes than in a conference committee debating an 'open records' bill endorsed by the states' media elite?
The editorial goes on to say that "gun-permit holders deserve no special treatment. There is not a scintilla of credible evidence that they are being targeted because their identities are known."
The insertion of the word "credible" here is noteable. That word is intended to discount any mention of CHL-holder Bill Singleton, who was ambushed by criminals less than a week after the Cleveland Plain Dealer published his name among a list of people who have chosen to obtain a license to bear arms for self-defense.
Must we wait until we have definitive proof of someone being attacked, or dying, or having their firearms stolen, before taking action?
Before the Media Access Loophole became law, we warned legislators about actress Rebecca Shaefer, who was stalked and murdered in the early 90's by Robert John Bardo because driver's license information was easily obtained for a small fee. This prompted federal legislation making the dissemination of such information illegal. In the past year, we have documented two instances in Ohio where a robber and rapist used newspaper ads to lure their victims into a trap.
Ohio Concealed Handgun License-holders seek no special treatment - we seek equal treatment. Drivers' license information is not available the media's prying eyes, yet drivers have proven to be much more of a danger to the public that CHL-holders ever will. Last year, Gov. Taft even ordered Ohio prison officials to remove the names of all former inmates from the state's Web site, because, as the state's prison director explained, "we have found... because certain former inmates have their picture on the Web site, it's been a disadvantage for them and an embarrassment that has kept them in some cases from getting jobs, and we think that is unfair."
Ohio CHL-holders have already proven themselves to be some of the most law-abiding citizens in the state. Do they not deserve the same right to privacy as Ohio drivers or even former Ohio prisoners are afforded? Of course they do. And no amount of screaming from leftist, gun-rights-hating editorial boards is can change that.
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