By Ken Hanson, Esq.

Buckeye Firearms Association is a single issue, non-partisan PAC. As such, the debate on healthcare reform occurring across the U.S. is not something that would be within our normal sphere of coverage. However, my good friend Chad Baus posted a story a few days ago highlighting how the Centers for Disease Control has begun researching gun violence and the impact of gun violence on healthcare costs. This immediately set off alarm bells in my head as the pieces fell into place. Why, you ask?

Healthcare reform is a brilliant way to regulate/ban firearms without violating the Second Amendment.

For the first 24 hours, this story was updated as additional details became available.

By Chad D. Baus

A murderous rampage killing was carried out today at Texas' Ft. Hood Army base by American Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan.

According to news reports, ten soldiers and two civilians were killed and thirty-one wounded in the attack. Initial reports said Hasan was also killed in an exchange of gunfire with a female police officer, but it now appears he is in custody, and in stable condition, having been shot four times. Reports also said two other suspects, who are also soldiers, were also apprehended, then later released.

From the ABC News:

[Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone] said there were "eyewitness accounts of more than one shooter," and the others were tracked to an adjacent facility.

Cone called the attack "a terrible tragedy, stunning." He said the community was "absolutely devastated."

President Obama called the Fort Hood shootings a "horrific outburst of violence."

...Cone said the motive for the attack, which took place just after 1:30 p.m. CT, is unclear.

When news first breaks about yet another tragic mass shooting in this country, the minds of many gun owners go immediately to wondering whether it occured (like the vast majority do) in a "no-guns" zone, where the victims are rendered defenseless either by law or policy.

One would like to think that, of all the government-controlled properties in America that have been turned into "no-guns" victim zones, our Army bases would not be among them.

If you thought that, however, you thought wrong.

House Bill 203, which seeks to "allow a concealed carry licensee who is not consuming liquor and is not under the influence to carry a concealed handgun in a retail food establishment or food service operation with any class liquor permit issued for the location," has been added to the House Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security agenda for sponsor testimony today, Thursday, November 5 at 9:30am in Statehouse Hearing Room 114.

The purpose for today's hearing is so that the committee may hear testimony on HB203 from the legislation's sponsors.

Buckeye Firearms Association will be on hand in support of this legislation.

Obama administration caught "loading their guns" for a new round of anti-gun legislation

For a decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been forbidden by Congress from doing research on gun-control issues. Such piddling hurdles as federal law don't matter to the Obama administration.

With a wave of a hand, the CDC has simply redefined gun-control research so the ban no longer applies.

By Gerard Valentino

The national establishment media is getting a lot of mileage from another of New York Mayor Bloomberg's dirty tricks. In this case, the Mayor sent private investigators to gun shows in several states to prove that illegal gun trafficking is taking place, and that criminals can easily buy firearms in unregulated private transactions.

Video collected at several guns shows showed private citizens selling guns, even though the prospective buyer claimed he could not pass the background check required to buy a gun through a licensed gun dealer.

Clearly, Mayor Bloomberg set up a situation to benefit his view that guns bought at gun shows are the cause of violent crime in New York. He also needed to show New Yorkers that the guns used in crimes in his city are coming from outside of New York, and that the situation is therefore out of his control.

This issue, however, is bigger than Mayor Bloomberg's crusade to end private gun ownership and show the gun violence in New York is not his fault.

Each time someone takes part in an illegal sale at a gun show, it puts the rights of law-abiding gun owners at risk because it plays into the hands of the anti-gun movement by giving credence to the existence of a "gun show loophole."

By Jeff Knox

People who "have nothing to hide" are often quite happy to answer any questions and consent to any intrusion a police officer might ask of them. They may even invite officers to "look around" if they want to. If you ask a good defense attorney how much you should cooperate with police, particularly when they are conducting an investigation in which you could possibly be a suspect, he will tell you "Not at all." Don't give them one word more than you must and never give them permission to search your car, look through your home, or examine any of your guns.

David Olofson took the "nothing to hide" approach. When the police confiscated one of his firearms from a friend he had loaned it to, Olofson freely chatted with police about how many guns he had, how many he has built, how he helps people to buy and assemble their own AR-platform rifles, and quite a bit more. David Olofson's loquacious ways probably helped to put him in prison for 30 months for illegally transferring an unregistered machine gun – that was actually just a malfunctioning semi-auto – and his case has set a very dangerous precedent which threatens all gun owners.

Polls will be open across the state of Ohio and around the nation today, and once again, pro-gun voters will have a disproportionate impact on the election outcome here in the Buckeye state.

Although there are 11 million voters in Ohio, about 4 million are ineligible to vote, either by age or lack of registering. And out of the 7 million registered voters, precedent suggests that only a little over 2 million (30%) will bother to drag themselves to the polls in an off-year election.

There are somewhere north of 400,000 people in Ohio who are licensed to hunt and/ or carry a concealed handgun. When one considers that, in the 2000 Presidential election, nine of 10 Ohio sportsmen of voting age went to the polls (a full 27% of the vote!), one can begin to see how much of an influence gun voters can have on elections that swing by just a few percentage points.

Click here to access the Buckeye Firearms Association 2009 endorsements.

An article from Cleveland Plain Dealer outdoor writer D'Arcy Egan recently allowed the newspaper to deviate from its usual modus operandi of negatively stereotyping gun ownership.

By Gerard Valentino

The media recently brought us news yet another senseless death took place on the killing fields of Chicago. Yet again, it was a high school age victim, and the altercation was gang related.

Unfortunately for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, he won't be able to use this murder in his never-ending crusade to ban guns in the city. In this case, the young man who senselessly lost his life was beaten to death in a mass fight described as a "melee" by witnesses.