The Intelligencer & Wheeling News-Register
New Law Won’t Deter Terrorists
By The Intelligencer

Members of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations that target Americans seem to be a very humorless lot — but we suspect some of them are laughing hysterically at the Ohio General Assembly. Legislators, with Gov. Bob Taft’s approval via his signature on a bill, have given the terrorists good reason to wonder if Americans just aren’t very bright.

In the process they have added to the bureaucratic burden of local governments throughout Ohio, making government more expensive without accompanying benefits.

The Ohio Patriot Act, approved by legislators in December and signed into law by Taft in January, took effect a few weeks ago. It may have some genuinely helpful tools to help state and local officials combat terrorists — but it also contains some ridiculous provisions. …

Obviously, the requirements were put into the new law to bulk up the Ohio Patriot Act in an attempt to convince Buckeye State residents that their government actually is doing something meaningful to protect them. But if government paperwork was an effective defense against terrorists, we suspect al-Qaida leaders would have decided long ago that the United States was impregnable.