Purses being stolen outside day cares

17 taken recently in Butler Co.

By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A warning to suburban moms: Don't leave your purse in plain sight as you dash into a day-care center - not even for a minute, not even in a locked car.

Day-care operators are again seeing a surge in purse thefts from unattended cars in their parking lots - 17 in the past couple weeks throughout Butler County, Sgt. Thomas E. Kilgour, Hamilton police spokesman, said Wednesday. He says police in nearby communities also have been seeing a rash of similar incidents.

A year ago, police in West Chester Township, Forest Park, Mason and Sharonville said they were investigating more than 40 such cases.

Commentary by Chad D. Baus:
This story outlines the perfect example of why forcing CCW permit-holders to leave their firearms in their cars before entering certain establishments is a horrible idea.

How many stolen firearms would now be in the hands of criminals by now had these women been legally carrying concealed, but forced to leave their weapon in the car when picking up their kids at daycare?

The safest place for a sidearm is in the concealed holster of its owner, whether in a daycare, a school, a gas station or a restaurant. The more times permit holders are forced to handle their sidearm, or leave it unattended in a car, the more likely that theft or accident could occur.

Members of the Ohio Senate need only to look to these purse thefts in Cincinnati to see that the provisions they added to HB274 were very bad ideas.

Click here to read the entire story from the Cincinnati Enquirer.