by Chad D. Baus In the wake of the release of explosive dash cam video which showed Canton police officer Daniel Harless unleashing a violent, profanity-laced tirade on a concealed handgun license-holder,…
Donations needed for 2012 Bash auction!
In February, we’ll hold our 2012 Buckeye Bash at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Dublin, Ohio. This year’s fundraiser promises to be our biggest ever and will take place during the nation’s…
OSU students form pro-campus carry group as string of robberies continues
by Chad D. Baus
Another student of The Ohio State University has been attacked and robbed near campus, and some students have had enough.
First, from WBNS (CBS Columbus):
Police said that a student was attacked and robbed near the Ohio State campus on Tuesday night.
The crime was part of a string reported in the area over the last few weeks.
According to police, a man was walking in the 1500 block of Neil Avenue, near Eighth Avenue, at about 7:14 p.m. when two men approached the student and implied they had a gun. Then, they forcibly removed the student’s backpack, police said.
The area where the crime occurred had some lights but was much darker than the campus area one block north where the sidewalks have more lighting, 10TV’s Shayla Reaves reported.
The attack was the fourth this month and the second this week, police said.
Last week, we reported that seven Ohio State students had been victimized in violent robberies, six at gunpoint.
According to uweekly.com, some OSU students have decided they’ve had enough:
Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board to skip public hearing on Statehouse gun rules
by Chad D. Baus
Gongwer News Service reported recently that the agency that oversees Capitol Square moved Monday to avoid a public hearing on gun regulations.
On October 20, the unelected CSRAB voted to prohibit concealed guns on the property surrounding the Statehouse.
From coverage at the time from The Columbus Dispatch:
“The thought was that the board wants to be proactive as we continue to have more events outside,” said Gregg Dodd, the board’s deputy director.
“The board’s intent is to make the Statehouse the people’s house, inclusive and acceptable to everybody, and we just want to assure that all families that are visiting and the Downtown work force that it continues to be a safe gathering place.”
Dodd did not explain how the board believes a policy banning people who are legally exercising a constitutional and statutorial right is more “inclusive,” or why they believe ensuring that only criminals will have guns on the Statehouse grounds is more “safe.”
According to The Dispatch, much of the impetus for the change stemmed from the Ohio Second Amendment Rally which was held last year in conjunction with a rally that occurred a week later in Washington, D.C. The article says the board wanted to bar attendees at the Second Amendment March from “packing heat,” but was told by the attorney general’s office that no policy existed for a ban.
From Gongwer News Service’s coverage of the decision to skip a public hearing:
U.S. House Passes NRA-backed National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Legislation
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed an important self-defense measure that would enable millions of Right-to-Carry permit holders across the country to carry concealed firearms while traveling outside their home states. H.R. 822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, passed by a majority bipartisan vote of 272 to 154. All amendments aimed to weaken or damage the integrity of this bill were defeated.
“NRA has made the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act a priority because it enhances the fundamental right to self-defense guaranteed to all law-abiding people,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “People are not immune from crime when they cross state lines. That is why it is vital for them to be able to defend themselves and their loved ones should the need arise.”
H.R. 822, introduced in the U.S. House by Representatives Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), allows any person with a valid state-issued concealed firearm permit to carry a concealed firearm in any state that issues concealed firearm permits, or that does not prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms for lawful purposes.
This bill does not affect existing state laws. State laws governing where concealed firearms may be carried would apply within each state’s borders. H.R. 822 does not create a federal licensing system or impose federal standards on state permits; rather, it requires the states to recognize each others’ carry permits, just as they recognize drivers’ licenses and carry permits held by armored car guards.
New York Times – One Strike and You’re Out for Gun Rights
by Ken Hanson, Esq.
Michael Luo of The New York Times has published another article in his continuing series of articles examining the restoration of firearm rights to those convicted of disqualifying crimes.
From the article:
Ken Hanson, legislative chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Coalition, argued that felons should be able to reclaim their gun rights just as they can other civil rights.
“If it’s a constitutional right, you treat it with equal dignity with other rights,” he said.
I first spoke with Michael the second week of August. We also had a few follow-up phone calls through late October to early November. The NYT article was published this weekend, and I received several email notes about the article from supporters and detractors.
Here is my problem with the current system: One strike and you are out.
NSSF Study: Hunters Donate 11 Million Venison Meals
Food banks and individuals are thankful for such generosity
NEWTOWN, Conn. — When you’re passing the turkey and stuffing around the Thanksgiving dinner table, here’s a story to tell–one that would not be possible without the thoughtfulness and generosity of hunters.
A new study commissioned by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and conducted by Mile Creek Communications reveals that last year 11 million meals were provided to the less fortunate through donations of venison by hunters. Nearly 2.8 million pounds of game meat made its way to shelters, food banks and church kitchens and onto the plates of those in need.
“Given our challenging economic times, hunters’ donations of venison have never been more important to so many people,” said Stephen L. Sanetti, president and CEO of NSSF, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry. “These contributions are just one way hunting and hunters are important to our way of life in America. Learning about these impressive figures makes me proud to be a hunter. I have donated game meat during the past year, and I urge my fellow hunters to strongly consider sharing their harvest.”
The study revealed that donations were largest in the Midwest and the South. The Midwest provided 1.3 million pounds of game meat, amounting to 46.1 percent of total donations, with the South close behind at 1.25 million pounds and 45.7 percent. The Northeast contributed 7.2 percent of total donations and the West 1 percent. Though lower than other regions, the West’s contribution still accounted for 108,520 meals.
Exposé on grassroots gun rights activism in Ohio funded by the anti-gun Joyce Foundation, but did they get what they hoped for?
by Chad D. Baus
The Chicago-based Joyce Foundation has been the primary source of funds for anti-gun rights groups for at least a decade. The Foundation, for which Barack Obama once served as a board member, has funneled millions upon millions of dollars into groups such as the Violence Policy Center (over $3.6 million since 2005), Mayors Against Illegal Guns (over $1.6 million since 2006), the Legal Community Against Violence (over $1.5 million since 2005) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (over $1.3 million since 2006). They have funneled millions more to state-based anti-Second Amendment organizations such as the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence (which has received over three quarters of a million dollars) and the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Educational Fund (over $1.9 million since 2005), or to groups designed to bolster these state groups.
Despite this massive cash barrage, the groups supported by the Joyce Foundation have been almost totally unsuccessful in their efforts to stop the progress made in the past decade by pro-gun groups that have little cash, but rather are chock full of something far more important – dedicated grassroots volunteers.
And so it seems the Joyce Foundation has begun to shift its focus. The grants intended to fund biased “studies,” and to assist anti-gun rights groups in their legislative efforts (mostly defensive, of late) are still being issued, but the group is increasingly devoting funds toward attempts to shape public opinion through advocacy journalism, something for which the Society of Professional Journalists ethics committee chair recently told BFA he takes takes a dim view of.
Earlier this year, Joyce gave $790,000 to something called the New Venture Fund to support “messaging research on gun violence and gun policy.” Last year, the Joyce Foundation granted $400,000 to Media Matters For America, a left-leaning ‘media watchdog’ to support “a gun and public safety issue initiative.” In addition, $79,950 went to the Research Foundation of City University of New York “to fund the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice to develop in-depth and well-researched journalism on issues related to gun violence.” (And as revealed by Buckeye Firearms earlier this year, the college used it to fund grants to journalists who wrote advocacy articles on gun violence that promised to have a “major public policy impact.”) Also in 2010, $75,000 went to the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) “to fund a series of investigative reports on the gun industry lobby in America.”
It is that CPI grant that has now been brought to bear in an extensive exposé entitled “Carrying concealed weapons just keeps getting easier – Ohio one of many states that have weakened requirements” by Rick Schmitt.
From the article, published at iWatchNews.org:
Sarah Palin: “Fire Eric Holder”
Former Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has joined a growing number of people calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to step down in the wake of Operation Fast and…
No shame: Cleveland Plain Dealer’s latest round of anti-gun rights editorials void of journalistic integrity
by Gerard Valentino
Just when it seemed like the Ohio establishment media can’t sink any lower, the crazed ravings of Chris Evans of The Cleveland Plain Dealer remind us of how far they will go to destroy the private ownership of firearms. The editorials in question should also shatter any notion held by the general public that the establishment media plays fair when it comes to the gun issue.
Taken individually, each editorial is best described as a poorly argued, one-sided anti-gun rant devoid of logical foundation, proper research or any semblance of journalistic standards, or journalistic integrity. Together, they expose Chris Evans and the editors at The Plain Dealer as little more than exploitative tabloid hacks more concerned with pushing their ill-conceived agenda than creating thought provoking discourse.
The total lack of restraint shown in his most recent anti-gun screed, entitled “NRA calls the tune and kids pay the price,” includes a claim that the National Rifle Association is a front for illegal gun sales, a notion so outlandish that it creates questions about whether Mr. Evans has lost his mind. As unbelievable as it may seem, however, calling the NRA a front for illegal gun sales is far from the craziest assertion made by Chris Evans on the gun issue.