Ohioans For Concealed Carry filed a lawsuit against the City of Campbell last week after attempting to educate and negotiate with city leaders to repeal their illegal gun ban.  We were met with hysteria, denial, and procrastination.   When City Council sent repeal legislation to committee and supposedly began suggesting they had "home rule" authority to enact the gun ban the day before we filed our lawsuit, we believed a repeal may never happen short of litigation.

Despite demands from attorneys representing OFCC the City of Campbell simply ignored the organization's efforts to communicate via formal representation, forcing us to file a lawsuit in the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas last Thursday morning.  The City Law Director responded to the lawsuit with a promise that the illegal ordinance would be repealed on Wednesday, April 21st, but comments in the Youngstown Vindicator suggested that the effort would meet opposition in council.   According to this Thursday story in the Youngstown Vindicator and this WKBN Channel 27 story the legislation has been repealed.

However, the Vindicator reports:

Council members have said they plan to revisit the issue of gun sales in the city with legislation that restricts them through zoning.

Ohio law allows for local governments to enact these zoning restrictions, with certain limitations. Ohioans For Concealed Carry will follow every move the City of Campbell makes with respect to the rights of Gun Owners, and will continue to pursue the City if any ordinance or zoning restriction they enact exceeds the limitations of Ohio Law.

Nearly two weeks ago we began telling Ohio's gun owners to contact PNC bank and complain about their new policy of posting former National City Banks with "No Guns" signs.  We never told anyone to move their finances, but suggested in our discussion forums that if anyone did it they should make it clear what they were doing and why.  Numerous people reported that bank managers simply didn't understand the law, some told us federal law prohibited firearms, and others were shocked to see the signs on their own banks.

Ohioans For Concealed Carry sent two formal letters to executive management requesting an immediate change of policy -- restoring the National City Bank position on this issue.   Unfortunately, PNC Bank has never formally acknowledged our letters nor have they responded to us in any capacity.

It's a bit ironic that Evelyn Theiss of the Cleveland Plain Dealer took a course called RAD, Rape Aggression Defense System, on a Cleveland university campus that prohibits the possession of a firearm for self-defense due to absurd state laws.  In a story written in Tuesday's paper Theiss recalls being attacked twice in her life on walking paths or while jogging - places we've successfully resisted bans on possession of a defensive firearm for the this very reason.

This article is a welcome change of attitude in the news media, where the opinions of editors tend to suggest that you should simply comply with your attackers instead of fighting back.  Give them what they want, escape with your life, or so you hope.  Theiss reports some shocking numbers.  Only 142 cases of the 633 reported rapes from 2008 in Cleveland alone resulted in criminal charges, and we all know that many rapes go unreported for a variety of reasons.

Theiss is advocating learning how to defend yourself in hand to hand combat, as well as investigating methods that you can make yourself less of a target to be victimized.  We have to applaud her for that, and at the same time, we've invited her to take the concealed handgun course and consider a story on the benefits of armed self-defense.   Women of all sizes can be better prepared to defend themselves in their everyday lives, let alone on a secluded walking path, if they're presented with the option of armed self-defense.

It was a comment made by Judge Alfred Mackey to WKYC over a week ago in response  to the question "what residents should do to protect themselves and their families" due to severe cutbacks in law enforcement.   Cut backs that have reduced the Sheriff's office patrols to a single vehicle covering over 700 square miles of Ashtabula county at any given time - proving the point that law enforcement is for the most part reactive to criminal acts.  From the WKYC coverage at the time:

"Arm themselves," the judge said. "Be very careful, be vigilant, get in touch with your neighbors, because we're going to have to look after each other."

That day the story grew legs and went national - a sitting judge told people to arm themselves for self-defense and he wasn't kidding!  We covered the story quite promptly ourselves back when it happened over a week ago, but the main stream media isn't letting this topic go away, which is frankly great news.  This past weekend OFCC's Chris Harben appeared on national television addressing the matter with Fox & Friends.  Today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer is covering the story all over again.

Here is a point that may be falling through the cracks in this reporting:  The need and the right to defend yourself doesn't come with budget cuts and reduced law enforcement staffing.   Carrying a firearm for self-defense, and any other methods of situational awareness, were just as valid before these budget cuts as they are today.

If the number of deputies on the road were to double during excellent economic times it doesn't mean that the need to defend yourself against a violent attacker would instantly summons the presence of law enforcement - that obligation at the moment of truth lies with you and you alone -- the is no realistic amount of increased law enforcement that could have made this recent and tragic car jacking and near abduction less terrifying.