New Firearms Law Prompts Some OH Businesses to Turn Away Gun-Toters

A no-guns movement by some Ohio businesses has prompted conflict over a new state law that allows customers to carry firearms into restaurants and bars, as long as they don’t consume alcohol. The Columbus Dispatch says some business owners feel that they’re losing their right to a weapon-free zone. Some are posting signs to turn away gun-toters with messages such as, “Do Not Patronize if Armed.”

Columbus alone has 300 establishments with the signs, according to the Ohioans for Concealed Carry data. In the suburbs, 29 businesses in Dublin, 20 in Westerville, 17 in Hilliard and 11 in Worthington ban firearms. Jake’s Restaurant in Mount Vernon put up its sign in the fall, a few weeks after the law took effect in August. It reads: “All weapons including concealed firearms are prohibited on these premises.” “We felt the need to say, ‘Hey, we still don’t see the need to bring weapons in,’ ” said Amy Baldner, general manager. Some gun owners are offended by the signs, and they are letting owners know. “We’ve had some very angry people, and they actually leave,” said Baldner.

Overrun By Guns

By Theodore Decker

Crimes involving firearms cut a deadly and costly path across Ohio's largest cities. A special 3-day series by Columbus Dispatch reporter Theodore Decker looks at the roots.

Gun Violence Expert Resource Guide

Some of the country's foremost experts, organizations and academics working on gun violence issues are listed in this resource guide.

Access the guide here.

For more information on the topic click on "covering gun violence."

Covering Gun Violence

In order to spur further public debate and greater knowledge about gun violence, media outlets in the Midwestern region were asked to submit proposals for original investigative reporting.

Some House Democrats Shift To Stronger Gun-Control Stance

U.S. House Democrats urging gun-safety hearings have swerved sharply from their actions last Congress, when they held no hearings on the subject despite their control of the chamber and pressure from some of their members, reports The Hill. Judiciary Committee Democrats are arguing that it's "imperative" for the panel's Republican leaders to examine the nation's gun-safety laws after the Arizona shooting rampage that left a 9-year-old dead and a congresswoman seriously injured.

The inaction hasn't been for an absence of pressure. Last year, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), a member of the Judiciary panel, asked Democratic leaders for a hearing on the "gun-show loophole" that allows unlicensed gun vendors to sell firearms without performing background checks on prospective buyers — a step required of licensed gun dealers. He didn't get it.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/142085-dems-suddenly-dial-up-the-pressure-on-gun-safety

Avoiding Gun Massacres

By William Claiborne

Nieman Watchdog has an interesting article about  why gun massacres don't occur in Australia. Some excerpts from the article," Firearms in Australia, as in the U.S., have been a basic part of the culture. But in 1996, after a gunman killed 35 people and injured 21 more, a conservative prime minister took the lead and the country rapidly enacted powerful restrictions."

Read the article here.

Ex-ATF Officials Ask Obama To Name Director; Politics At Play?

Six former officials of the agency have joined the chorus calling for President Obama to name a new director for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The agency has not had a permanent director since 2006. Its current leader, Ken Melson, was downgraded in title to deputy director when his tenure exhausted the statutory limit for an acting director because Obama did not nominate him for permanent status. In a letter to the White House, the former ATF officials said, "It is critical that ATF have a leader who will marshal ATF’s resources to aggressively combat America’s gun violence epidemic."

The signers of the letter were former directors Stephen Higgins and John Magaw and former senior agents Joseph Vince, William Vizzard, Gerald Nunziato and Julius Wachtel. They wrote, "Americans need an ATF director who will aggressively enforce the law, shut down corrupt gun dealers, and fight gun trafficking.  Every day that passes with a
leaderless ATF, the consequences grow deadlier." The ATF is the primary federal agency for enforcing gun laws, and many see politics at play in the delay. Writing recently on the Huffington Post, Dennis Henigan, vice president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said, "A headless ATF is but the latest symptom of a paralyzing disease -- the Obama Administration's fear of the gun lobby." Main Justice reported last week that Andrew Traver, a 20-year ATF veteran in charge of the Chicago office, is a leading candidate for the directorship.

Profs. Cook, Ludwig Describe 'Five Myths About Gun Control'

Writing in the Washington Post, public policy professors Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig delineate what they call five myths about gun control. They say the first myth is the bumper-sticker slogan, "Guns kill people; people don't kill people." Cook and Ludwig write that the key question is whether guns make violent events more lethal. Citing a groundbreaking study by professor Franklin Zimring,  they write that during the typical unplanned confrontation, "Offenders use whatever weapon is at hand, and having a gun available makes it more likely that the victim will die."

The other myths they cite: Gun laws affect only law-abiding citizens; when more households have guns for self-defense, crime goes down; in high-crime urban neighborhoods, guns are as easy to get as fast food, and repealing Chicago's handgun ban will dramatically increase gun crimes.

Dionne Jr. Says Most Gun Owners Support Sensible Firearms Laws

Writing in the Washington Post, columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. says gun-owners are more willing to accept sensible gun laws than politicians and the National Rifle Association apparently believe. He cites a new survey that found that 82 percent of NRA members supported "prohibiting people on the terrorist watch lists from purchasing guns." Sixty-nine percent favored "requiring all gun sellers at gun shows to conduct criminal background checks of the people buying guns," and 78 percent backed "requiring gun owners to alert police if their guns are lost or stolen."

Dionne writes, "It's true that these gun owners, including NRA members, don't buy broader forms of gun control. For example, 59 percent of NRA members opposed 'requiring every gun owner to register each gun he or she owns as part of a national gun registry,' though I was surprised that 30 percent supported this." He continues, "Still, those surveyed stood behind the core idea that gun regulations and gun rights complement each other. The poll offered this statement: 'We can do more to stop criminals from getting guns while also protecting the rights of citizens to freely own them.' Among all gun owners and NRA members, 86 percent agreed.

Mayors Urge Obama To Adopt Dozens Of Gun-Policy Reforms

A national coalition of mayors is urging President Obama to adopt dozens of reforms to help curb gun violence, including steps to crack down on problems at gun shows and the creation of a federal interstate firearms trafficking unit, the Washington Post reports. The "Blueprint for Federal Action on Illegal Guns" presents 40 recommendations that "would dramatically improve law enforcement's ability to keep guns out of the hands of criminals -- and, in doing so, save innocent lives."

ATF releases NY State Gun Trace Data

Firearms trace data was released by the New York field office in July.  The data was compiled from crime guns gathered in New York State from Jan 1. to Dec. 31 2008. The review found that 54 % of all firearms were recovered in New York City. The report breaks down gun recovery by region.

The report can be found here.

Gun Owners Back Modest Curbs: Gun-Control Advocate

The National Rifle Association has been successful at defining gun control as a "cultural issue" and blocking significant new curbs on guns on the argument that they would be steps on the way toward government confiscation of firearms, Dennis Henigan of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence writes on the Huffington Post. Henigan, author of a new book, "Lethal Logic: Exploding the Myths that Paralyze American Gun Policy," maintains that gun control advocates should "fight the phony 'cultural' framing of the gun issue at every turn."

Henigan notes that, "Gun owner fears of an Obama-inspired gun ban are spiking gun sales, even though Obama gives no hint of leadership toward even modest reforms."  Henigan says that more than 80 percent of gun owners support extending Brady Act background checks to private sales at gun show and that most self-identified NRA members support handgun registration and mandatory safety training.

NRA Sues Pittsburgh Over Lost-Gun Ordinance

The National Rifle Association has filed a lawsuit against a new Pittsburgh ordinance that penalizes gun owners who fail to report lost or stolen firearms, reports the city's Tribune-Review.  The suit was filed on behalf of four Pittsburgh gun owners who contend the ordinance "severely restricts" their right to keep firearms at home and violates state gun laws. "All they're trying to do is criminalize the law-biding citizens because they want to get rid of the guns," said plaintiff Richard Haid, 60, a retired Postal Service worker.

Council members voted 6-1 on Dec. 2 to allow authorities to fine gun owners who fail to report lost or stolen firearms up to $500 for the first offense. Subsequent offenses can result in a fine of up to $1,000 or 90 days in jail. No one has yet been cited under the new law, police said. The goal is to deter "straw purchasers," people with clean criminal records who buy guns and give them to criminals. An NRA attorney said the City Council broke the state's firearms law, which prohibits cities from regulating firearms, in passing the ordinance.

Dominant Dems Eye Gun Control In New York

With both of New York's state legislative bodies now controlled by Democrats, gun control measures that were blocked by Republicans each year have a fighting chance this year, reports the Albany Times-Union. The issue kicks off today, when the Assembly — as it has done for several years — is expected to pass several measures that would tighten restrictions on gun ownership.

With a 68-seat margin in the Assembly (109 to 41), Democrats should have no problem passing initiatives to "microstamp" firearms in order to create an identifying print on fired cartridges. Also up for debate are tighter restrictions on gun retailers and a move to require people to renew handgun permits every five years. Once those bills pass in the Assembly, gun control advocates will set their sights on the Senate and the Democrats' newly minted two-seat majority (32 to 30). The issue may put some Republicans on the spot in light of the April 3 tragedy in Binghamton, where a suicidal man used a legally licensed handgun to kill 14 people.

More Assault Rifles Turn Up In Hands Of Criminals

More and more, reports the St. Petersburg Times, assault weapons made for the battlefield are turning up in the wrong hands--the kind of hands that police say aimed two AR-15 semi-automatic rifles at a home where an 8-year-old girl slept Sunday.  Paris Whitehead-Hamilton was killed by three of the more than 50 bullets that pierced her Bartlett Park home, police say, losing her life to an escalating cycle of gang retaliation. Days later, St. Petersburg police Chief Chuck Harmon said, "Assault weapons are good for one purpose only, and that's to kill other human beings. They don't belong on any city street in America." (Photo by Burned Leg)

The problem, many in law enforcement say, is that is exactly where they are.  Hours after the murder, detectives arrested their first suspect and seized a cache of weapons at his apartment complex. Police recovered a bulletproof vest, two pistol grip 12-gauge shotguns, a .308-caliber hunting rifle with a scope, a .22-caliber revolver — and two semi-automatic AR-15 rifles. They recovered a clip and ammunition for the rifles. They also found two loaded clips for an AK-47 assault rifle, but not the weapon itself. The AR-15s are now in a Florida Department of Law Enforcement laboratory for testing.