"Cities Win One" (citizens lose)

Sometimes I have to wonder why people fear or hate an inanimate object like a firearm with such passion that it scrambles their brains. Gun laws in general make no logical sense. Some gun laws are extra idiotic.

Take for instance this recent editorial from the Columbus Dispatch with the headline "Cities win one".

A state appeals-court decision upholding Toledo’s ban on guns and other weapons in city parks is good news for Columbus and other Ohio cities.

That is the first sentence of the article, and it goes downhill from there. Let us take a look at what this law will in all actuality do for the citizens of Ohio (which does not have reciprocity with Texas, yet).

Where do a large number of crimes occur? Where do women joggers get raped and innocent citizens get mugged? Where do people take their kids to play and run, and what kind of pedophilic predators are there? The city parks!

City parks have the potential to be a good place for drug dealers to pander their business and for deviants to pander there ... City parks are often a haven for the homeless. These are a part of city life, and people tend to become blinded to them. Now, I am not ragging on city parks. A well maintained park is a city treasure, but they do have the potential for danger.

The State of Ohio just increased that potential for danger in it's city parks. The State of Ohio just handed the criminal element an open invitation to harass, molest, rape, rob, kidnap and kill in it's city parks. The city parks will be one place where the bad guys know that the citizens will not be armed. They will take advantage of this knowledge and the easy pickings arranged for them by the state.

Yesterday afternoon, later in the day but the sun was still up, a woman that works with my wife got robbed as she was leaving the office at the hospital. She was robbed at knife point. Crime in that hospital parking lot has been on the rise of late. You see, that hospital is posted with a 30.06 sign which prohibits CHL carriers from possessing their firearm on the premises. That makes the hospital parking lot a much safer place to rob someone than, let's say, the mall parking lot.

Other gems of anti gun wisdom from this editorial:

As Mentel pointed out, the state law allows restrictions on guns in a city recreation center but would let someone carry one right up to its door.

That’s nonsense and flies in the face of public safety.

State legislators who wrote the conceal-carry law are more interested in currying favor with the National Rifle Association and gun manufacturers than they are in fostering public safety.

They are seeking to pass a measure that specifically would block cities from banning guns in city parks.

The exceptions to the conceal-carry rule are just about the only reason Ohioans didn’t kick up an even a bigger fuss about the ill-conceived conceal-carry law.

And last but not least:

Park are meant to be places of serenity and relaxation.

Visitors should not have to worry that the person next to them has a gun tucked away on their person or in a picnic basket.

If the author has their way, the person with the firearm will not be a law abiding citizen, but a criminal intent on doing harm.