Latest round of shoddy journalism in Ohio focuses on mythical “gun show loophole”

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

by Gerard Valentino

Ohio’s establishment media has a long history of taking sides in the debate on the right to keep and bear arms. In her coverage of the Dayton area gun show anti-gun protest at Hara Arena, Kelli Wynn of The Dayton Daily News managed to take that anti-gun bias to a new level.

Her fawning and overly-sympathetic coverage of the protest was a slap in the face to fair-minded Ohioans, regardless of their political affiliation or views on the gun issue.

By covering the event from her unflinchingly biased perspective, Wynn chose to dictate how Ohioans would view the issue, instead of simply reporting the facts and letting everyone decide on their own.

Not only does Wynn fail to give equal time to the pro-gun side of the debate, she covers the mythical “gun show loophole” as if it is accepted fact. Wynn doesn’t even acknowledge that a debate exists about the validity of the anti-gun argument in this case. Instead, she chose to give them a complete pass and covered the protest as if the planners were free from political motivation.

Ohio Wildlife Officers Indicted

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

By Larry S. Moore

The situation with the indictments of the Brown County Wildlife Officer plus the Ohio Division of Wildlife Chief, Assistant Chief, District 5 (Xenia) Manager, Law Enforcement Administrator and Human Resources Administrator is widely reported. (See links below and the Buckeye Forum) There are lots of questions, rumors, counter-rumors and confusion over the case.

First, a full disclosure is in order. I am on a friendly first-name basis with most of the people indicted. I’ve only met the Brown County Wildlife Officer. I regularly communicate with the Chief, Assistant Chief and District 5 Manager. I’ve hunted with several of them and have hunted on farm property owned by the Assistant Chief Randy Miller. Miller has been most helpful in allowing me to bring youth or adult novice hunters to his farm. I worked with Law Supervisor Jim Lehman during Buckeye Firearms Association’s efforts to get concealed carry for hunters in Ohio. Lehman made the actual proposal to the Ohio Wildlife Council.

I’ve spent some time communicating with retired Division of Wildlife employees at various levels over the last several weeks in an attempt to sort the truth from the rumors. I’m not going to quote them or use their names since at the time I talked to them I wasn’t planning on writing about the indictments. Here’s what I’ve been able to determine:

Obama Supreme Court nominee was ‘not sympathetic’ as law clerk to gun-rights argument

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

By Chad D. Baus

Bloomberg News is reporting that Elena Kagan, who was recently nominated by President Obama to the United States Supreme Court, said as a U.S. Supreme Court law clerk in 1987 that she was “not sympathetic” toward a man who contended that his constitutional rights were violated when he was convicted for carrying an unlicensed pistol.

According to Bloomberg News, Kagan made the comment to Justice Thurgood Marshall, urging him in a one-paragraph memo to vote against hearing the District of Columbia man’s appeal.

April second highest all-time for background checks on firearm sales

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

Data released by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 1,146,912(a) checks in April 2010, ranking the month the second highest April for most NICS checks.

This figure, while being a 6.5 percent decrease from the 1,225,980 checks conducted in April 2009, is an increase of 21.9 percent over checks in April 2008.

The total number of background checks reported since the beginning of NICS is 114,827,284(b).

Ohio Attorney General files merit brief defending constitutionality of statewide preemption law

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

By Ken Hanson, Esq.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, via the Solicitor General, filed a strong merit brief on Tuesday May 12 in support of Ohio’s “preemption” law, R.C. 9.68.

This law was enacted via HB347, which passed with overwhelming support in December 2006 over Governor Bob Taft’s veto. HB347 remains the only veto-override in Ohio in the past three decades. As I noted at the time of the veto override, one of the critical achievements of R.C. 9.68 was to force the burden of litigation back onto the government and away from individuals or groups.

…the law is doing is already working because the burdens are back where they belong – it’s on the city to go back and sue the state rather than on a client of mine to come up with the money to force the issue. The burden is back between the state and the cities…

The City of Cleveland v. State of Ohio case, now pending before the Ohio Supreme Court, is the manifestation of that policy working. The City of Cleveland was forced to sue the State of Ohio, and the Supreme Court is now going to be forced to issue a ruling that will decide once and for all whether R.C. 9.68 is valid. If it is valid, than other than ordinances banning the discharge of firearms inside city limits and zoning laws, Ohio cities are out of the gun control business.

Attorney General announces First Quarter 2010 CHL statistics

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

By Jim Irvine

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray (D) has released the concealed handgun license (CHL) statistics for the first quarter of 2010. At the end of March, we had an all-time record of 188,665 Ohio residents licensed to carry concealed firearms. (See chart)

During this election year, more politicians are touting their pro-gun stances and seeking our endorsements for use in radio and TV commercials. Only the anti-gunners need a report to know that concealed carry is a popular, mainstream idea in both rural and urban areas. It’s not “about the gun,” as they claim, but about safety.

There were 11,989 new regular licenses issued, 24 temporary emergency licenses (TELs) and 4,100 licenses renewed in the first three months of this year. Three out of four expiring licenses were renewed. Only 52 licenses were revoked. Less than one-half of 1 percent of all CHLs have ever been revoked for any reason, including death or moving out of state.

Concealed carry works.

Man Pleads Guilty to Poaching $23,000 Trophy Buck

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Largest restitution for a poached deer ever imposed in Ohio

A Scioto County man pled guilty to four wildlife violations in Adams County Court on Friday, April 30 and was ordered to pay $23,572.05 in restitution, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Division of Wildlife.

Johnny B. Clay, 37, of Minford pled guilty to four charges including taking a deer in a closed season, hunting without permission, no hunting license and no deer permit. The Honorable Judge Roy E. Gabbert Jr. presided over the case and ordered Clay to pay $1,500 in fines, an additional $134 court costs, and to forfeit the deer as well as the bow he used to kill it.

In addition, Clay will lose his hunting privileges for life. Clay had 10 prior wildlife convictions for deer violations and has spent time in jail for several of those offenses. He will be entered into the Wildlife Violator’s Compact and most likely will lose hunting rights in 33 other states.

The Division of Wildlife is also imposing restitution for the deer in the amount of $23,572.05. This is in accordance with Ohio’s revised restitution law for illegal taking of white-tailed deer. The law went into effect March 2008 and allows the Division of Wildlife to seek an increased recovery value on all illegally harvested wildlife.

NSSF Provides Free Videos to Help Educators Teach Firearm Safety and Conservation

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The National Shooting Sports Foundation has launched an online campaign offering free educational videos about firearm safety and wildlife conservation to teachers and school administrators across the country.

A longtime leader in promoting firearm safety and conservation education, NSSF is pleased to report that just several days into the campaign more than 4,500 DVDs have been ordered by educators, reflecting their strong interest in teaching students about these important subjects.

“We believe teachers and school administrators should teach students how to correctly respond if they encounter an unattended firearm. Students who understand what to do in such situations can potentially save lives,” said Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, trade association for the firearms industry. “Thankfully, accidental firearms fatalities have dramatically declined to historic lows due to efforts like NSSF’s firearm safety education programs.”

Get Involved: National Training Week July 4-11

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By Jeff Knox

National Training Week, July 4 through 11, is set aside in conjunction with Independence Day to remind people that liberty and independence are closely tied to responsible possession of firearms. Every American owes a debt of thanks to our forebears who saw fit to enshrine the right to arms in our Constitution and to use that right to defend our liberty for the past 234 years. National Training Week is an opportunity to exercise that right and to share it with others.

There are endless reasons for getting involved: Manufacturers, resellers, and range operators can grow their businesses by promoting this event and then making firearms, ammunition, training, and shooting facilities more affordable and accessible leading up to and during this special week. It is an ideal time for ranges to host the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s First Shots program and for clubs to invite the public to Open House days. Firearms enthusiasts get an excuse to burn through some of that ammo that’s been stacking up and dust off those neglected guns. It’s also a great time to ask a friend and coworkers to go shooting and introduce them to the fun and history of firearms.

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