Ohio tourist trap: Doctor from PA shot, killed in attack on turnpike

The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that a Pennsylvania doctor was shot to death along the Ohio Turnpike in Broadview Heights Friday night.

From the story:

Dr. Gulam Moonda, 65, was shot once in the head during a robbery about 6:30 p.m., said Lt. Rick Zwayer, a patrol spokesman.

Moonda, his wife and another relative, who were on their way to Toledo, had pulled their 2000 Jaguar to the side of the westbound lane of the highway to switch drivers. Another car pulled behind them and a man got out of the vehicle and approached Moonda''s car.

The man demanded money, Zwayer said. He then shot Moonda in the head.

"This appears to be a crime of opportunity," Zwayer said.

The robber fled the scene. The patrol had not found the suspect or his car late Friday.

There is no indication that reporters asked OSHP Lt. Zwayer why Dr. Moonda didn’t simply “drive away” when attacked in his car, as OSHP Capt. John Born once explained was an acceptable alternative to allowing licensed citizens the right to carry a loaded firearm in their car.

Under Ohio’s restrictive concealed carry law, persons who are licensed to carry concealed firearms in states like many other states with concealed carry laws are not allowed to carry them when traveling in Ohio.

Much as enterprising criminals in Florida once made it a practice to target rental cars because they had learned many Floridians were able to defend themselves, but knew that tourists were likely not armed, criminals on Ohio’s freeways need look no further than people traveling here with license plates from Pennsylvania or Indiana or West Virginia to know that the occupants are completely unable to defend themselves. This simply should not be. Unlike Florida, where companies simply stopped posting labels on their cars identifying them as rentals, no such solution exists that would prevent criminals from noticing a license plate from out of state.

People who can be trusted to bear arms for self-defense responsibly in their own state should be allowed to do so in Ohio. Ohio’s concealed carry law should be amended to recognize a concealed carry license from any state in the union.