Hoplophobes uncomfortable not knowing people are armed?

An article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer makes a pretty good case for the argument that the huge increase in applications for (and issuance of) concealed carry licenses in Ohio is a response to concerns about Obama's anti-gun past (and future?). It's a pretty decent article, but the best parts are when it quotes Toby Hoover, of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence.

But Toby Hoover, of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, blames firearms supporters for creating that Obama fear in order to drive up membership in their groups.

"It's the gun lobby saying, 'Just wait, (Obama's) waiting to pounce and will take your guns away,'" Hoover said. "That's what they are telling people. You see it in their literature and newsletters and it has made people very fearful."

Let's ignore, for the moment, Obama's extensive legislative and rhetorical history of antipathy to private gun ownership, his time as a member of the Board of Directors of the virulently anti-gun Joyce Foundation; the overwhelmingly anti-gun nature of the vast majority of his political appointees; his campaign positions about so-called "assault weapons," closing the mythical "gun show loophole," etc.; and a nearly endless litany of other indications that if--no, when--he deems the time is right, he'll jump at the chance to impose every draconian new gun restriction he thinks he can. Forget about all that for a minute, and pretend that Hoover is correct that there is no rational reason to think Obama will move to restrict gun rights.

That still leaves the fact that Hoover herself says that thoughts of further gun restrictions have "made people very fearful." If the people are "very fearful" of gun restrictions, that means they don't want them? Ya' listening, politicians?

Hoover really outdoes herself at the end, though (my emphasis added).

Attorney General Richard Cordray, a Democrat, issued a statement declaring the numbers to mean "that more and more Ohioans are comfortable exercising their right to carry concealed handguns."

But Hoover, of the anti-gun group, said that even with the record number of new license holders, still just about 2 percent of Ohio's adult population owns a concealed carry permit.

"I'd like to ask the attorney general if he thought about the other 98 percent of Ohio adults who might be uncomfortable with unknowingly being around someone who is carrying a gun," Hoover said.

Er . . . what? They "might be uncomfortable with unknowingly being around" an armed person? They were probably unknowingly around armed people long before Ohio ever started issuing concealed carry licenses.

Does that mean she supports Open Carry, and disagrees with the Brady Campaign's laughable attempts to get Starbucks to prohibit the practice?