Across the Fruited Plain: Concealed Carry Confidentiality

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

By Chad D. Baus

As the fight to restore the right to bear arms for self-defense was waged in various states, one of the toughest opponents to attempts to reform the law was the establishment media. With rare exception, newspaper editorial boards repeatedly took the side of legislators and gun ban extremists who prefer to view citizens more as subjects.

Thanks in no small part to media meddling, many states’ laws were first passed with onerous provisions (anti-gun poison pills) that pro-gun rights activists are now methodically laboring to remove.

One of the more common items inserted as a poison pill in many states under pressure from the establishment media was a public records provision. “We have to make sure,” the editorial boards claimed, “that the ‘right’ people are getting licenses.” But in the months and years after concealed carry laws took effect, it quickly became clear the media had far less noble intentions.

Sotomayor’s pending confirmation exposes how far we have fallen

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By Gerard Valentino

Of all the issues brought up during the confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayer, one comment she made is most disturbing. It also has largely been ignored by the establishment media. During an exchange with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla, Sotomayer stated there is no constitutional right to self-defense.

Her statement makes one thing painfully clear – the liberal intelligentsia see individual rights where they don’t exist, and don’t see fundamental rights clearly enumerated in the Constitution.

NICS background checks up 18% in June; Year to date sales up 24.5% over 2008

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

Data released by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) show an 18.1 percent increase in background checks on the sale of firearms in June.

Background checks for the first six months of 2009 are up 24.5 percent over the same period in 2008.

FBI background checks are required under federal law for all individuals purchasing either newly manufactured or used firearms from federally licensed retailers. As such, the checks serve as a gauge of sales but do not reflect the actual number of firearms produced or sold.

A senseless crime leaves me wondering, “What if…?”

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

By Tim Inwood

I, for one, was nauseated by the news of the slaughter of Byrd and Melanie Billings at their home in Pensacola, Florida. These were wonderful people who had done very well in life and were using their fortune to help raise special needs children whom they had adopted. Sadly, media coverage of their large family and unusual circumstances brought unwanted attention from the criminal element in our society.

On July 9th, in a well-planned home invasion, seven armed men entered the Billings home via different entrances. They were only in the house for four minutes and on the property for ten minutes, but what was left in the wake of those ten minutes was devastating. As they made their getaway with their stolen plunder, they left two decent people dead and the children who were in the home traumatized.

The execution of the break-in was flawed, in that the thug whose task was to disable the home security surveillance system failed. The cameras caught the crime and recorded it. This has been useful, as the police have used this evidence to round up the guilty. Sadly it was worthless in stopping or deterring the crime in the first place. Thus far, eight people have been arrested; seven men for the actual home invasion and a forty-seven year old woman who is said to have been instrumental in the planning.

As news stories have unfolded about the events, I have heard nothing about firearms in the Billings home, just the security system and cameras. As we know, the system detected and recorded that thugs were on the grounds minutes before entering the home, so surely the Billings knew for a minute or so what was coming, but put up no resistance or fight. I therefore assume there were no guns available for the defense of the family. I found myself wondering, “What if Byrd Billing had been carrying a firearm?”

For GOP to have chance at 2010 governor’s race, Kasich and party must work to regain gun owners’ trust

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By Gerard Valentino

A lot has been made recently in Ohio’s pro-gun community about Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich’s congressional vote in favor of the 1994 Clinton Assault Weapons ban. As it stands, Mr. Kasich refuses to disavow the vote on the record, and will only go so far as to state the bill didn’t have the intended effect.

To pro-gun advocates, that response is simply not good enough, because it implies that if another gun control law came along that he believed in, he might support gun control again.

The sad truth is without that one bad vote in Congress, and his unwillingness to disavow it, Mr. Kasich is a near perfect conservative gubernatorial candidate. His record is nearly flawless and he seemingly would make a great governor.

Attorney General Rich Cordray affirms he would not support ‘assault weapons’ ban

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By Chad D. Baus

Democrat Attorney General Richard Cordray, who was recently criticized by a potential 2010 Republican contender, Prosecutor Dave Yost, for not signing on when twenty-three other attorneys general sent a letter asking the federal government in a letter to not re-impose the so-called assault weapons ban, has been quoted in an interview at RightOhio.com as saying he would not support such a ban.

The criminals are training…are you?

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

By Gerard Valentino

The entire nation is engrossed by the media coverage of the armed thugs that killed a Florida couple known for adopting developmentally challenged children. It seems that the criminals attacked and killed a truly generous and caring couple who had dedicated their life to helping the less fortunate.

What most people missed in the coverage, however, is that the criminals apparently trained for weeks prior to the home invasion, and it took place with near military-like precision.

All of the anti-gun loons out there who claim calling the police is the best option can’t refute that the thugs who committed this horrible crime were in and out before anyone could respond.

Ohio Man Pays Nearly $10,000 For Poaching Trophy Deer

Posted on by Buckeye Firearms Association

HILLSBORO, OHIO – A Highland County man will pay a hefty fine after his recent conviction in Hillsboro Municipal Court for wildlife violations involving the unlawful taking of a trophy class white-tailed deer.

In January and February 2009 acting on calls to the statewide Turn In A Poacher (TIP) hotline, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife conducted an investigation in central Highland County. As a result of the investigation, a Highland County man was convicted of unlawful harvest of a white-tailed deer. The deer, scoring 175 & 6/8ths points, was shot with a rifle during the archery season. The deer was then illegally checked in as an archery harvest.

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