Appearing Sunday evening as a guest on the Firearms Forum radio show with host Jim Irvine, Attorney General Richard Cordray announced that, in anticipation of the Supreme Court of the United States taking such a case, he has agreed to sign a brief being prepared by the State of Texas in support of the Second Amendment applying to the states.

"Since the Heller decision there have been either two or three federal Courts of Appeals who have confronted the question of whether the Heller decision, which of course recognized the individual right to bear arms under the Second Amendment and was applicable in that case in the District of Columbia - the question now is whether that same right will apply against state governments across the country," Cordray told WHK 1420 AM listeners.

By Chad D. Baus

Earlier this month, Republican State Senator Kevin Coughlin, who declared his candidacy for the 2010 governor's race in January, began circulating an email designed to bring the Second Amendment to the front and center of early GOP primary discussions.

This week, former Congressman John Kasich, who declared his own candidacy for the Republican nomination at the beginning of June, issued with his campaign's first official statement on the subject of gun rights.

Editor's Note: Although this does not concern firearms, it will most definitely be of interest to many self defense-minded people who carry a firearm (and possibly also a knife).

By Jim Shepherd

...[A] pair of Congressmen have decided to apply the nuclear option - restrictive amendments to their budgets, to let the Department of Homeland Security know they don't like the proposed Customs and Border Patrol measure designed to change the definition of a switchblade knife. The new CBP definition, if adopted, would basically cut the modern knife industry to the quick as approximately eighty percent of knives currently in production would fall into the definition of switchblade because of their assisted-opening feature.

Representatives Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and Walt Minnick (D-Idaho) have co-sponsored an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill to restrict funds to the proposed CBP rule on switchblades.

By Jim Irvine

On June 17th, Judge Corrigan held a case management conference in Buckeye Firearm Foundation's case against the City of Cleveland. Plaintiffs were present in person, but none of the Defendants attended and instead allowed their attorneys to represent them. While the conference was scheduled as a case management conference, it quickly became apparent that the various pending motions would be argued for the judge.

By Chad D. Baus

State Senator Kevin Coughlin, the first person to declare his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2010 governor's race, is circulating an email designed to bring the Second Amendment to the front and center of early GOP primary discussions.

The email, delivered under the subject header "Can we trust Kasich on Second Amendment rights?," contains a fundraising letter that documents Coughlin's strong record of support for gun rights, while calling into question his Republican opponent's record.

By Dave Yost

Twenty-three attorneys general went on record last week, asking the federal government in a letter to not re-impose the so-called assault weapons ban. Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray was not among them.

The measure, formally known as the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, was passed in desperation at the height of the crack-fueled drive-by killings of the 1990s. It was famously ineffective, and expired in 2004. (It turns out the best way to get murderers off the street is to convict them of murder and lock them up.)

The issue was pretty much off the table, with the exception of a few people on the far left who simply don't think anybody should have any firearms at all. Then U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder created a furor when he said the Administration would like to renew the expired ban.

The bipartisan group of states attorneys general sent a letter to Mr. Holder on June 11. Although it included predictable states from the West and the South, it also included attorneys general from places like Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida and New Hampshire.

But it did not include Ohio's attorney general, Richard Cordray. And no one in the news media has asked him why he did not sign the letter. An excerpt:

By Chad D. Baus

In 2006, the Ohio Republican Party employed a strategy of supporting candidates with state-wide name recognition (and anti-gun records) over pro-gun candidates that were less well-known.

The state party, under the control of then-Chairman Bob Bennett, backed anti-gun Jeanette Bradley over pro-gun Sandy O'Brien for Treasurer, and anti-gun candidate Betty Montgomery over pro-gun candidate Tim Grendell for Attorney General.

Believing that "O'Brien can't win" in November, party leaders sunk the party's resources into Bradley. Despite having earned statewide name recognition while serving as Lt. Governor in the Taft administration, and despite her opponent having almost no resources (in comparison to the Ohio Republican Party-backed candidate), pro-gun Sandy O'Brien defeated anti-gun Jeanette Bradley in the primary.

Betty Montgomery, meanwhile, who once infamously told Buckeye Firearms Association Chairman Jim Irvine she would "never be the candidate of the NRA", won her primary, but was defeated in November - by a far lesser known and less well-funded (but pro-gun!) Democrat.

Is history about to repeat itself, just one state-wide election cycle later? Will the Ohio Republican party, under the new leadership of Chairman Kevin DeWine, continue the failed strategy of supporting candidates with name recognition over those with a record of strong support for gun rights?

The 2010 race for Attorney General is shaping up to be an excellent bellwether.

Editor's Note: The following is a follow-up to an op-ed we published earlier this week, entitled "Senate Republicans take aim at Ohio Division of Wildlife."

By Larry S. Moore

After publishing my first op-ed on the subject of budget changes impacting the Ohio Division of Wildlife, I contacted Republican Senator Tim Grendell's office to get his position regarding the free landowner deer permits that are a sticking point in the budget bill.

Before I relay my conversation, it is incumbent upon me to say that gun owners should recognize Senator Grendell as a staunch conservative supporter of our rights.

Pro-gun Sandy O'Brien has officially announced that she is running for Ohio Secretary of State in 2010.

O'Brien, who earned the endorsement of Buckeye Firearms Association in 2006 and won an upset victory over her anti-gun opponent in the Republican primary, is a loving wife, mother, and grandmother with energy to burn.

She supports hunting and Second Amendment rights because she has enjoyed them her whole life. Her children have enjoyed them. She has a passion that matches ours in her desire to see Ohio pass real firearms reform.

By Larry S. Moore

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has experienced a number of budget issues and continued cuts. Curiously some of the more serious cuts came at the hands of Senate Republicans and were made in areas that are self-funded.

The Division of Wildlife and Division of Watercraft are two ODNR Divisions that are self-funded. Both have found themselves unexpectedly in the crosshairs of Senate Republicans under the guise of budget cuts. In reality, there is nothing about budget cuts involved despite what the Republican sound bites of "doing more with less in government" may say.