Hotrod I recall the Devou Park story, it was a jogger from the area who the bad guy attempted to mug. Didn't think the hoodlum died though, as memory serves the good guy employed a .25 acp handgun.
Unimportant detail for us now though, that incident sort of removed doubt from the minds of many around northern Ky. who had been on the fence or against concealed carry at the beginning.
Believe me my meager entertainment dollars are often spent on the Kentucky side...for heaven's sake I'm a cigar enthusianado, can hardly light up in Ohio these days!
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]
Armed citizen proves value of Kentucky's new concealed-carry law[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]August 20, 1999[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]© 1999 Kentucky Post[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]Michael Collins and Peggy Kreimer, Post staff reporters[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]FRANKFORT - A man who pulled a gun out of his pocket and shot a would-be[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]robber in Covington's Devou Park early Thursday morning showed that Kentucky's concealed-carry law is doing what it's supposed to do, said the statute's chief proponent.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]''That's what the law was intended to do: Let a legal[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]citizen protect himself,'' said state Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]More than 51,000 Kentuckians have obtained permits to carry hidden[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]weapons in the three years since the state's concealed-carry law took[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]effect.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]More permits may be issued after the Devou Park shooting, Kenton County Sheriff Charles Korzenborn predicted. He expects the public to view it as an[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]example of the protection that carrying your own gun provides. Already, 160[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]people have applied in the county for permits this year.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]''People have not only a right but a responsibility to take care of themselves,'' said Korzenborn, who administers the permits in Kenton County.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]''If you rely on the police to do everything, you would need one policeman for[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]every person.''[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]Retired Cinergy worker Joe Megerle, 57, of Covington, was walking in Devou Park[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]when a man approached him, drew a pistol and demanded money. Megerle[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]pulled out his .25-caliber pistol and shot Jamie Kennedy, 27, of Covington,[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]in the chest and head. Kennedy is in serious condition at University Hospital in Cincinnati.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]Kennedy is charged with attempted robbery, and a charge of attempted murder[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]might be added to that, Covington Assistant Police Chief Bill Dorsey said. A man and a woman who were in the car with him have been questioned but no charges have been filed against either.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]No evidence turned up in a police search of a room at the Days Inn in Fort Wright, Dorsey said. The search was connected to the shooting, police have said.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]Police say Kennedy's pistol was not loaded, but that doesn't affect the seriousness of his actions, Dorsey said. Megerle believed his life was in danger, and he acted correctly when he shot to save his life, Dorsey said. Megerle has a permit to[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]carry a concealed weapon.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]''In that situation, it was the right thing to do,'' Dorsey said.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]Megerle's father, also named Joe, was Covington's assistant police chief when[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]he retired about 1970.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]Dorsey said the Devou Park confrontation is believed to be the first time someone[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]with a permit to carry a concealed weapon used the weapon in Northern Kentucky since the state law was passed in 1996.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]But it wasn't the first such self-defense shooting statewide. Damron, who pushed the concealed-carry law through the General Assembly, said several similar instances have been recorded across the state.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]In Bowling Green, a woman who had just gotten a concealed-weapon permit and completed the required firearms-safety course shot a man who broke into her house. The woman later said she would have been unable to defend herself had she not taken the gun-safety course, Damron said.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]Critics argued that enacting the law could lead to an increase in violence and vigilantism. But Damron said he wasn't aware of any case in which charges have[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]been filed against a concealed-carry permit holder.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]The 51,482 people who have permits to carry concealed weapons have acted[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]responsibly, Damron said.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]''I'd match those people's criminal record against any other group in the state,'' he[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]said. ''They are showing that you can trust law-abiding citizens who actually own[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]and keep firearms.''[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]Dorsey agreed, even though at the time the law was being considered police had[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]reservations about it, fearing it would prompt a rash of irresponsible gun use. [/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]''I follow this. I've been waiting for the first one,'' Dorsey said. ''This is it, and this man did the right thing.''[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]But state Rep. Jim Callahan, a Wilder Democrat who opposes the concealed-carry[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]law, said Thursday's shooting illustrates the danger of giving people greater access to guns.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]''My district is a heavily urbanized area. The last thing we need is more guns in the hands of people who are out on the streets,'' said Callahan, who voted against the law three years ago. ''I still have concerns.''[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]Callahan said he understood that people have a right to protect themselves. But he[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]said he feared that putting more guns on the streets would lead to more shootings.[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetica]Keep buying cigars and eating over here. Maybe my taxes will go down. [/FONT]