Op-Ed: Why gun control just got even more difficult

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

by John Lott

Gun control, an already difficult task, just got even more difficult.

The 3D printing revolution is well under way. This wonderful new technology will allow small companies and even individuals to manufacture a wide range of items, such as medical devices that fit each individual’s unique size and shape.

However, it is increasingly obvious that guns and gun parts can be made, even including entire assault weapons.

Unfortunately, the initial regulatory proposals will likely increase crime. As usual, new technology is hard to stop, and the Department of Homeland Security last week declared: “Limiting access [to 3D-printing to make guns] may be impossible.”

Until now the stumbling block has been to design a gun that would be sturdy enough, something that can withstand the explosion when a bullet is shot down the barrel. In other words, you don’t want the gun to go off like a grenade in your hands instead of hitting the target.

Cody Wilson, the 25-year old founder of Defense Distributed, created a ruckus when he announced his successful design of a plastic gun that would operate like a normal one.

…Wilson used a metal nail for the firing pin. 100,000 copies of the handgun blueprint from Wilson’s website were downloaded around the world in just 2 days, with most of downloads coming from Spain, followed by the US, Brazil, and Germany.

The heavy downloads in Spain, Brazil, and Germany likely reflects attempts to evade their extremely restrictive licensing on semi-automatic handguns.

The Obama administration quickly stopped Wilson from distributing the file by threatening legal action, but it was already too late.

Legal or not, it doesn’t really matter: just as we’ve seen with movies, file sharing is unstoppable.

State rep and other elected officials on hand as gun thief steals antique firearm from museum

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that one of the likely more-brazen thefts of the year happened on Memorial Day in Pataskala, and a state representative and several other elected officials were in attendance when the theft occurred.

From the article:

As visitors packed the small Mead-Needham Museum for its grand opening, someone pilfered the ivory-handled Colt .45-caliber handgun tucked in the belt of a full Korean War uniform on display.

The heist took place between noon and 2 p.m. under the noses of several public officials, including state Rep. Jay Hottinger, Licking County Commissioner Doug Smith, Pataskala Mayor Steve Butcher and City Council President Dan Hayes.

According to the article, the gun, valued at about $2,000, is still missing, and no arrests have been made.

Media-backed “PolitiFact Ohio” tries, fails to disprove BFA Chairman Jim Irvine wrong on protection orders’ impotence

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

by Chad D. Baus

Last month, State Rep. Bob Hagan (D-Youngstown) introduced House Bill 160, a gun control bill that would force any person named in a domestic violence protection order to surrender their firearms to law enforcement within 24 hours.

We quickly pointed out the many flaws with Hagan’s proposal, including the fact that, by statistics Hagan himself cited, 20% of women who are killed by an “intimate partner” had previously obtained a “protection” order against their eventual killer.

When asked to comment on the proposal, Buckeye Firearms Association Chairman Jim Irvine told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that HB 160 is a “failed idea.”

“The idea that a protection order protects someone from another is a myth. It’s like putting a ‘no guns’ sign on your building and thinking bad guys cannot get inside,” Irvine was quoted as saying.

Less than 48 hours after the article was published, Irvine was contacted by PolitiFact Ohio, a self-described “fact checking” organization set up by the media to “to help you find the truth in politics.” (I thought that was already the media’s job, but apparently they needed to set up a special outfit to get at “the real truth.”)

Irvine responded, providing a lengthy list of articles that supported his statement – articles which included quotes like these:

  • “With restraining orders, there’s actually no hold on the defendant. They can be released within 24 hours of being arrested and go right back to the victim’s home, and we do see that all the time.” – Abbi Silver, domestic violence unit, Nevada District Attorney’s office
  • “The reality is that a restraining order is a piece of paper. It’s not going to stop bullets. If you get a restraining order without a safety plan in a domestic situation, I think that’s almost asking for trouble.” – John Poley, assistant city attorney, Denver’s Domestic Violence Unit
  • “They don’t seem to work in the short term. For example, in a study of domestic abuse victims in Washington state, protective orders did not reduce the recurrence of violence until four months after the initial attack. In the first few months, psychological abuse is actually more common among those who obtain legal protection than those who do not.” – Brian Palmer, Slate.com

Irvine also provided articles which included examples like these:

I read with anguish the article describing Donna Kristofak’s public pleas for help just two months before being murdered, allegedly by her ex-husband. In court last October, seeking protection from the man who earlier had tried to stab her in a Wal-Mart parking lot, Donna requested that the “record reflect” she feared for her life.

Cobb County Judge Adele Grubbs struck a sympathetic tone, responding that a protection order coupled with the threat of immediate incarceration for any violation thereof was the best protection the system could provide. Two months later, Donna was dead; her ex-husband, who had promised he’d kill her, stands accused of stabbing her to death in the garage of her East Cobb home.

Almost two weeks later, PolitiFact Ohio published the results of its analysis of Irvine’s statement.

The result was exactly what one might expect from a media organization that found the truth, but preferred not to publish it.

Dumbed Down: New OPOTC Rifle Qualification Course

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by Greg Ellifritz

The Ohio Peace Officer’s Training Academy revised the statewide police rifle qualification course of fire last week. Like several other recent revisions, it was a step in the wrong direction. Rather than make the rifle qualification more challenging or more relevant, they dumbed it down. Slower time constraints, no shooting on the move, shorter distances, no multiple targets, no use of cover. It’s really a step backwards.

I’ve heard that the revisions of the rifle course (and last year’s revisions of both the shotgun and duty handgun courses) were brought about by police chiefs and sheriffs complaining that the former qualification courses were too difficult for their officers to pass and too costly in terms of numbers of rounds fired.

It’s unbelievable how short sighted these administrators can be. Rather than expend the time and money to train their officers to actually be proficient with their firearms, they’d rather just make the qualification course easier. Police officers and the public both suffer under such idiotic logic.

Staff at OPOTA have defended the course changes by saying “Training is more important than qualification. In times of budgetary difficulties, with a shorter qualification course, more bullets can be devoted to training.” That is true, but in reality it won’t happen. I would estimate that 75% of the police agencies in Ohio ONLY shoot the required qualification course every year. The qualification test IS their training and a shorter test equals less training.

Did you know that most of the police officers in the state of Ohio fire fewer than 100 rounds a year in training? How confident are you in their abilities to face a lethal threat (or to defend your family) with that level of training. Shooting is a psycho-motor skill that requires practice to maintain. If you aren’t a shooter, a similar psycho-motor skill that you might be able to better understand is the shooting of foul shots in basketball. It takes practice to get good at shooting foul shots and practice to maintain that ability once you acquire it.

Cops are supposed to be the “professionals” when it comes to handling violence. How good would a professional basketball player be if he only practiced 100 foul shots a year? How is it that the concept is so easy to understand in sports, but so difficult for a police agency to understand?

Ohio gun owner to home invader: “If you move, you’re gonna go to the morgue.”

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

by Chad D. Baus

WTOV (NBC Steubenville) and WPXI (NBC Pittsburgh) reported this week that a Steubenville, OH woman was able to exercise her Second Amendment and self-defense rights to protect herself during a home invasion.

From WPXI:

Police arrested a burglar in the act Thursday morning after the owner of the home he targeted held him at gunpoint.

Authorities said Tammy Takach was sleeping inside her Steubenville home when she heard what sounded like a door slamming.

She said she grabbed her gun and went downstairs to find an intruder in her house.

Police said when officers arrived, Takach was holding 23-year-old Ryan Geary at gunpoint.

“He stood up, put his hands up and said, ‘I’m sorry. I’m just going to go,'” Takach said. “I said, ‘The only place you’re going to go is jail. And if you move, you’re going to the morgue.'”

According to the article, Geary was arrested on burglary charges and possession of criminal tools. He remains in the Jefferson County jail on $50,000 bond.

Click here to view a video report from WTOV.

Under Ohio’s Castle Doctrine law, which took effect in 2008, if someone unlawfully enters or attempts to enter the owner’s occupied home or temporary habitation, or occupied car, citizens have an initial presumption that they may act in self defense.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.

Zanesville man chooses the winning number in the Ultimate AR Raffle

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

AR15 Raffle WinnerWhen the winning number was drawn for the recent Ultimate AR Raffle, we figured we’d hear from the winner right away.

The prize, after all, was an AR-15 with a Pelican case, Eotech tactical holographic sight, Magpul accessories, and more, valued at nearly $3,000.

But the Memorial Day weekend came and went and we didn’t hear from anyone. Did we have a winner? Yes, we double and triple checked the number and knew someone had bought ticket number 708 along with 3 other tickets.

After about a week, we reached out to the winner. Did he want his winnings? It might surprise you to learn that we’ve actually have people say “no” to winning a firearm. Hard to believe, but true.

But then our marketing guy got a late night phone call from the ticket holder saying he’s just been busy and didn’t have a chance to watch the drawing or check his email regularly.

So it’s official. Max from Zanesville is the proud owner of a nifty new black rifle with lots of goodies. And once he found out, he wasted no time, driving to Black Wing Shooting Center in Delaware to claim his prize. As you can see, Max is a happy man.

We’d like to thank Max and everyone else who bought tickets. Your donations will go to our Foundation which is providing active killer training to teachers all over Ohio.

This raffle set a new record, selling all 1,000 tickets in a sizzling 5 hours and 37 minutes! Will we have more raffles? Absolutely. We’re already setting up 2 or 3 more as you read this. And we’ll announcement the next one very soon.

Gun control laws target law-abiding gun owners, not criminals

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

by Jeff Knox

Dustin Reininger is serving a five-year sentence with a three-year minimum before he’s eligible for parole. His crime? Pulling off the highway to get some rest during a long drive.

Reininger, a veteran of both the Army and the Air Force, and a former police officer, was moving from Maine back to Texas, but only made it as far as New Jersey. He got tired and parked behind a building in Readington Township. Had he held out for another 20 minutes, there wouldn’t be a story about Dustin Reininger because he wouldn’t have had a problem in Pennsylvania, but he was tired so he stopped in New Jersey.

Police found him asleep in his SUV early that morning. Reininger just wanted to move on down the road, but officers thought something in the back seat looked like a gun case and considered that probable cause for a search. They found several rifles, shotguns, and handguns, as well as hollow point bullets, and a “high-capacity” magazine.

Of course, all of that is perfectly legal in Maine and in Texas – or even 24 miles up the road in Pennsylvania – but it’s not legal in New Jersey without a permit. Federal law provides safe passage for someone transporting guns through a restrictive jurisdiction, but the jury didn’t get to hear about that law. An appeals court panel said that law didn’t apply because it specifies that the guns should be locked in the trunk, and Reininger’s SUV didn’t have a trunk. They also ruled that officers were justified in searching Reininger’s car because they recognized the gun cases as evidence of a crime. The case could go to the State Supreme Court, but I wouldn’t make any bets on the chances of a new trial.

Dustin Reininger’s life has been destroyed simply because he innocently possessed his legally-owned guns in the wrong place at the wrong time. A minimum of 3 years in a New Jersey prison is no cake walk. Reininger will, for the rest of his life, have to mark “Yes” on job applications asking if he’s ever been convicted of a felony, and he is barred from ever owning firearms again. So much for his career in law enforcement.

This is what gun control laws do. They turn innocent people into criminals, destroying lives, while protecting no one.

We’re Renaming the Armed Teacher Training Program … Introducing “FASTER”

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by Jim Irvine

Last December, Buckeye Firearms Foundation made world-wide news with the introduction of our Armed Teacher Training Program. The program has now been up and running for several months, and along the way we’ve received some helpful feedback from educators as to how we can best communicate about the program to others in their profession.

Some are opposed to the idea of “guns in schools” or “guns with kids”. The moment they see a reference to guns, they shut down and don’t listen to what this program is about.

However, these same people love kids and want to keep them safe. So we need to be able to reach them to explain why our program makes sense for their schools.

That’s why we are changing the name to Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response or “FASTER.”

The key element in active killer situations is time. On average, five people are being killed every minute. A delay of just 10-12 seconds will likely result in another death. At Virginia Tech, the average was eight killed per minute. It is important to note that this is only counting the deaths, and there are often many more who are injured.

The killing continues until the killer meets sufficient resistance. Sometimes it only takes a little resistance for the killer to give up and quit killing. Sometimes it takes armed response engaging the killer to stop the massacre. No matter how much resistance is required, the faster that resistance is applied, the more lives will be saved.

During an active killer event, the killer knows he has limited time until law enforcement or other armed individuals show up and stop him. The goal is to kill as many people as possible as fast as possible. They know they need to set a new record to really become famous. They will be killing as fast as they can.

Consider the following responses to active killers in your schools. For each one, decide for yourself if faster or slower is better:

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