Ohio cities experience violent crime increase

There are two trends in this nation which Ohio is not following, and they are related. First, 35 states now have shall-issue right to carry laws, and another 9 have may-issue laws.

Trend #1 is for states to liberalize their laws to make it easier for more law-abiding citizens to carry concealed firearms for self-defense, and as a crime deterrent. Ohio, under Gov. Taft, continues to buck this trend, forcing persons to be defenseless, and arresting those that try to exercise their constitutional right to self-defense.

Trend #2, which Ohio is also not following, is a decrease in violent crime. According to the FBI's preliminary Uniform Crime Report released Monday, the rate of violent crime nationwide decreased 1.4 percent last year, while all of Ohio's major cities experienced increases. Cleveland had the highest violent crime rate of Ohio's major cities (more than 1300 per 100,000 people!), followed by Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo and Columbus.

Click on the "Read More..." link below to see coverage of how Ohio's media outlets are attempting to spin these trends away for the obvious conclusion.

It is most entertaining to read these city's liberal media outlets spin this into a positive.

The Toledo Blade, Akron Beacon Journal and Dayton Daily News all have published stories admitting that their cities experienced a violent crime increase in 2002. Yet the headlines scream good news.

The Toledo Blade is working hard on the spin, publishing two recent stories: "U.S. uses inflated, erroneous figures for Toledo totals" and "Discovery of snafu drops rate of crimes; new numbers show 1 percent dip in city". But as we've reported, Toledo police departments own numbers show a 4.3% violent crime increase in 2002.

The Akron Beacon Journal spins their 8.6% violent crime increase by splashing a big headline that "Akron safest big city in Ohio". This is the story that is being picked up across the state to cover the FBI UCR report.

The Dayton Daily News headline trumpets "Dayton crime reports down overall", but then admits that murders rose by .8 percent and rapes rose by 4 percent in Dayton last year.

After Hal McKinney shot an armed robber, the Cincinnati Post noted that the record pace of homicides had slowed. They claimed the 2 year-old Project Safe Neighborhoods program was finally taking effect. But since that story ran, the more likely deterrent (which we've dubbed "the McKinney effect") seems to be wearing off. Last weekend was filled with drug-related shootings in Cincinnati.

The Columbus Dispatch and Cincinnati Post have also recently published stories about homicide rates and violent crime rates increasing in those cities again this year. Columbus is living up to it's title as the #2 most-dangerous city in the nation - the homicide rate is on pace for setting a new record in Columbus this year. In Cincinnati, the 2003 violent crime rate is up 37.1%, and homicides there are also chasing a new record high.

Every day that the Ohio Senate's Republican leadership waits to pass concealed carry reform (and every added restriction they insert which reduces the people and places where self-defense is allowed), increases the defenseless victim list in our state, and forces otherwise law-abiding citizens into making a choice between facing felony arrest or being unable to defend themselves. This simply should not be.