Author: Buckeye Firearms Association

Buckeyes for Concealed Carry President Uses Handgun to Defend Family

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

At approximately 7:00 pm Saturday night, Ohio State Students Joe and Amanda Smith were approached by a threatening white male near Westland Mall requiring Joe, Buckeyes for Concealed Carry on Campus President, to use his concealed handgun to defend himself, his wife Amanda, and their sixteen month old son Kyedin.

The threatening male approached their vehicle while Amanda was buckling Kyedin into his stroller and Joe was near the tailgate. He began making cat calls at Amanda as he closed in on her. Amanda and Joe asked him to leave them alone. Joe placed himself between his wife and the aggressor while a panicked Amanda began to remove Kyedin from the stroller and place him back into the vehicle. The male then became belligerent and began issuing threats to Joe.

“He just kept coming, no matter what I said. Then he told me he had a gun and had no problem killing all of us,” said Joe. Joe instructed Amanda to call the police while he engaged the threat. “He kept saying he was going to kill us. He stopped short to answer his phone and told whoever it was where he was and to come help him get this ‘white honky.'”

“I demanded he stop, but he didn’t. When he was about fifteen feet away, I drew my handgun,” Joe explained. “I was prepared to shoot, but didn’t have to.”

Op-Ed: ATF’s latest gun grab

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

by Nita Ghei

The Obama administration is making it easier for bureaucrats to take away guns without offering the accused any realistic due process. In a final rule published last week, the Justice Department granted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) authority to “seize and administratively forfeit property involved in controlled-substance abuses.” That means government can grab firearms and other property from someone who has never been convicted or even charged with any crime.

It’s a dangerous extension of the civil-forfeiture doctrine, a surreal legal fiction in which the seized property — not a person — is put on trial. This allows prosecutors to dispense with pesky constitutional rights, which conveniently don’t apply to inanimate objects. In this looking-glass world, the owner is effectively guilty until proved innocent and has the burden of proving otherwise. Anyone falsely accused will never see his property again unless he succeeds in an expensive uphill legal battle.

…Law enforcement agencies love civil forfeiture because it’s extremely lucrative. The Department of Justice’s Assets Forfeiture Fund had $2.8 billion in booty in 2011, according to a January audit. Seizing guns from purported criminals is nothing new; Justice destroyed or kept 11,355 guns last year, returning just 396 to innocent owners. The new ATF rule undoubtedly is designed to ramp up the gun-grabbing because, as the rule justification claims, “The nexus between drug trafficking and firearm violence is well established.”

The main problem is that civil forfeiture creates a perverse profit motive, leaving bureaucrats with strong incentives to abuse a process that doesn’t sufficiently protect those who may be wrongly accused…

Attorney General announces Second Quarter 2012 CHL statistics; Ohio tops 300,000 concealed carry license holders

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

by Jim Irvine

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) has released the concealed handgun license (CHL) statistics for the second quarter of 2012. For the first time ever, Ohio has officially topped 300,000 concealed handgun license holders.

Building on the last two record setting quarters, the second quarter of 2012 saw Ohio sheriffs issue 18,199 new licenses, the highest of any second quarter since the initial surge in 2004. Demand was so strong that it exceeded the demand for the second quarter of 2005, 2006, and 2007 combined. The first six months of 2012 are setting a record pace for CHL licenses, already exceeding many entire year totals when our laws were worse. We are on pace to break the 2009 record of 56,691 new licenses issued. That record year immediately followed Governor Strickland’s signing of Castle Doctrine and enormous improvements of Ohio gun laws and the election of President Barack Obama.

It is always difficult to assign specific reasons for behavior, but there is no denying that we have seen strong demand for CHLs since Governor Kasich signed SB17 (Restaurant & Car Carry Rules Fix) and HB54 (Restoration of Rights) legislation into law. Better laws create more demand. HB495 (Reciprocity & Concealed Carry Modernization) should be the next improvement on our laws which will likewise lessen burdens on good people who want to carry a gun for self-defense. The fear of President Obama being re-elected and the draconian gun control measures we are likely to see probably also add an urgency to anyone considering buying a gun or obtaining a CHL.

This period’s 25% increase over the prior year is the third straight quarter with double digit increases. This directly follows SB17 taking effect. Governor Kasich signed the important legislation improving restaurant and car carry rules last year. As we have seen many times in Ohio, when the law is improved, the demand for training and licenses increases.

At the end of the June, we set another all-time record of approximately 301,692 Ohio residents licensed to carry concealed firearms. The total of persons with Ohio concealed handgun licenses continues to climb above the quarter of a million mark set in the third quarter of last year and has officially topped the 300,000 number for the first time in Ohio’s history. (See chart)

There were 18,199 new CHLs, 8 temporary emergency licenses (TELs) issued and 3,842 licenses renewed in the April through June time frame.

Because of a change from a four to a five year license in 2007, the past year has seen very low renewal numbers from either early or late renewals. Approximately 6,866 licenses expired during the quarter and we are now having licenses expire on a daily basis and thus renewal numbers are increasing again. Over 70% of all licenses issued have been renewed.

There were 8 temporary emergency licenses (TEL) issued in the quarter, down from the prior quarters. TELs are only valid for 90 days and cannot be renewed. TELs are issued to persons who need to carry a firearm for protection, but don’t have time to obtain the required training. Applicants must apply with their sheriff, pay a fee and pass a background check. The 90 days allows them time to obtain training and apply for a regular license. After issuance, a person must wait four years before they qualify for another TEL.

There were 68 licenses revoked during the quarter. That is lower than the same period in 2011 but higher than the past few reporting periods. The number of license holders has increased significantly while the number of revocations remains generally flat is a testament to how well the concealed carry program works.

Less than one-half of one percent of all CHLs have ever been revoked for any reason, including death or moving out of state. Big media loves to make a big deal about the exceptional cases where a CHL breaks the law, but say almost nothing about the more than 99.5% of law-abiding license holders, many of whom have used their gun to protect life.

Concealed carry works.

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