Cincinnati City Council sees need for guns; reverses Mayor's decision to weaken security at City Hall

By Chad D. Baus

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory has gone to great lengths over the years to prove his anti-gun, anti-self defense creds.

As a State Senator, Mark Mallory spoke out against persons who participated in open carry 'Defense Walk' demonstrations (they were protesting an Ohio Supreme Court ruling upholding what was then a 100 year-old ban on concealed carry) and voted against the restoration of the Constitutional right to bear arms for self-defense in the Buckeye State.

After being term-limited out of the Senate, and being elected Mayor of Cincinnati, Mallory was asked to be the honorary starter of a local 5k race. He embarrased himself by refusing to use a starter pistol, citing the "symbolism" involved. As mayor, he has also joined forces with New York Mayor Bloomberg's efforts to bankrupt the same American firearms manufacturers who are supplying our troops, and protested legislation that makes gun laws uniform across the state.

Additionally, as the Cincinnati Enquirer noted this week, he proactively acted to endanger everyone who works in or visits Cincinnati City Hall by weakening security measures after taking office in late 2005.

According to the news story, the City Council has finally acted to reverse his irresponsible actions.

From the story:

Visitors to Cincinnati City Hall now have to pass armed security officers.

More than two years after Mayor Mark Mallory ordered metal detectors removed, security has been beefed up again.

Councilwoman Laketa Cole asked for a security review, expressing concern for herself and her all-female staff in light of shootings last month at a council meeting in Kirkwood, Mo.

The city will pay $174,000 a year for the armed guards from Elite Protective Services, city spokeswoman Tiffaney Hardy said. The Roselawn company was hired as a subcontractor by a company that handles other city work, including cleaning. An additional $25,000 was allotted for possible overtime for night meetings and weekend events, she said.

The newspaper reports that the guards, who started Monday, are the biggest change in security around the building since the 2006 shooting outside City Hall of activist Kabaka Oba. (That incident, the Enquirer reports, prompted the hypocritical "what's good for me is not good for thee" Mallory to hire a bodyguard!)

Cole specifically asked that officials consider reinstalling the metal detectors taken out after Mallory took office in late 2005. Several council members, including John Cranley, Jeff Berding and Chris Bortz, expressed concern about that, saying they think that City Hall should remain as accessible and open as possible.

Cranley said he "didn't see the need for a change" and would've voted against it if the idea had been put before council for a vote, but that he wasn't "going to make a federal case out of it." He said City Manager Milton Dohoney said he had the money in his budget to pay for the plan.

Bortz said Tuesday that he finds the guards more acceptable than metal detectors because "metal detectors send a different signal, a blockade." He said he isn't sure whether members of the general public would notice that the new guards carry guns, compared with the check-in personnel, who didn't.

"I think if someone wants to hurt someone in City Hall, they're going to do it," he said. "You always run the risk. But I trust the manager to make the best decision."

These developments are just the latest evidence that more and more Americans are beginning to realize that labeling something a "no-guns" zone doesn't make it so, and that the most prudent course of action to protect against a criminal intent on murder is to make sure to have guys and gals with guns around.

Now if only Mayor Mallory, a hypocrite who hides behind a body guard while working to disarm law-abiding citizens, would recognize he is no more deserving of self-protection than his fellow Ohioans, remove himself as a member Mayor Bloomberg's anti-gun coalition of Mayors, and publicly announce that he has abandoned his anti-Second Amendment positions forever.

I won't hold my breath.

Chad Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman and Northwest Ohio Chair.