Letters to Editors: Some potential carriers shouldn’t have guns

Perhaps a more appropriate headline would be: some potential letter writers shouldn't have pens.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for three anti-self-defense letters to the editor, including one from Rep. Tyrone Yates.

Some potential carriers shouldn’t have guns
November 05, 2003

The proponents of concealed guns argue that armed citizens will reduce crime. I don’t believe it for an instant. If any private citizens are willing and able to come to my aid, let them wear their guns in plain view. Otherwise, what distinguishes them from the criminals?

I am fortunate to have never witnessed a violent crime. However, I have witnessed irritated customers in shopping centers and enraged drivers on the highways. I dread the thought of such people carrying guns. Our society is too stressful, fast-paced and intense to make guns a daily part of it. We will be safer with fewer guns, not more. I simply do not believe that the majority of Ohioans want to live in an armed society.

MEG SPERNOGA
Worthington

And Million Mommer Lori O'Neill says it's a "big lie" that "people like [her]" predict blood in the streets if CCW passes.

Why concealed carry with guns abundant?
November 09, 2003

I read with deep interest the Oct. 22 article by Dispatch Statehouse Reporter Lee Leonard "Concealedcarry committee named."

I have one question: In a society awash with 65 million handguns and urban centers experiencing corrosive gun homicides, does Ohio really need a concealed-carry law?

STATE REP. TYRONE K. YATES
Cincinnati

We might have expected more logic from an elected official, especially one concerned about embedded racism in antiquated state laws like Ohio's CCW ban.

Majority is against 'concealed carry'
November 7, 2003

The Second Amendment states: "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to
the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The so-called "law-abiding citizen" who wants to carry a concealed weapon tends to omit the crucial first half of the Second Amendment - the words referring to a "well-regulated militia." Since this is the case, just think about what laws and parts of the laws they might omit
to justifiably use their guns.

When the U.S. Constitution was adopted, each of the states had its own "militia" - a military force composed of ordinary citizens serving as part-time soldiers. The militia was "well-regulated" in the sense that its
members were subject to various requirements such as training, supplying
their own firearms, and engaging in military exercises away from home. It was a form of compulsory military service intended to protect the fledgling nation from outside forces and from internal rebellions.

According to the Florida State Division of Licensing, from April 30, 1997,
through Jan. 31, 2000, 1,041 "CCW" license-holders had their licenses
revoked for committing crimes after they received their license.

In August of 2000, the Texas Department of Public Safety found that CCW
license-holders were arrested for a total of 3,370 crimes between Jan. 1,
1996 and April 30, 2000, a rate that was 66 percent higher than that of the
general population of Texas.

An April, 2001, report states "that scores of Utah residents are having
their concealed-gun licenses revoked for criminal violations, an increase of
241 percent from the year before."

The vast majority of the American people do not want carrying concealed weapons legalized, so just keep them out of Ohio.

DON KOSMIDER
Monclova

Uhhh..Mr Kosmider...the "vast majority of American people" currently live in states where carrying concealed weapons is legal - and they're enjoying falling crime rates. BUT NOT IN OHIO. As for your licenseholder crime stats - try a source other than rabidly anti-gun Violence Policy Center next time, would you? Finally, the militia rights argument just got harder to make, thanks to the Ohio Supreme Court, which ruled that bearing arms for self-defense is a "fundamental individual right."