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."

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.

By Publius

Mayor Bloomberg's "investigation" of gun shows in Ohio presents an opportunity for gun owners in the Buckeye state - an opportunity that we must seize if gun shows are to survive.

The choice facing us is simple: Change how gun shows operate, or gun shows will be legislated/litigated out of business. The loss of gun shows would be a devastating blow to the First Amendment rights of gun owners. Yes, I said First Amendment.

Let's get something out of the way upfront so we can concentrate on our issues: Mayor Bloomberg is exceeding his authority, is wrong, has no business doing investigations in Ohio, his investigators are breaking the law, he released heavily edited versions of his tapes, all the conduct he complains of is already illegal and prohibited etc etc etc.

None of that matters. Now, can we concentrate on our own problems and administer some tough love?

On Election Day 2009, Ohio voters will be asked to decide on Issue 2, a ballot initiative which would amend the Ohio constitution to create a livestock board appointed by the governor that would set standards for livestock care in Ohio.

While Buckeye Firearms Association determined that this issue falls too far outside of our mission, others including the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, are supporting this issue out of the belief that Ohio farmers need protection from the number one anti-hunting group in the nation, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). On the other hand, some believe this board is a state power grab that could restrict the rights of Ohio farmers.

The Ohio Liberty Council, of which Buckeye Firearms Association is a member organization, believes it is important for voters to be as informed as possible about ballot issues before voting to amend the Ohio Constitution. As such, the Council, along with the Ohio Freedom Alliance, The Central Ohio 912 Project, and OSU Young Americans for Liberty, co-sponsored a town hall forum at the main campus of The Ohio State University on Monday, October 19.

By Chad D. Baus

On October 20, 2009, Buckeye Firearms Chairman Jim Irvine appeared as a guest on WCPN's (Clevland Public Radio) "The Sound of Ideas," hosted by Dan Moulthrop.

In a typical display of your tax dollars at work on the "impartial" forum of National Public Radio (NPR), the opening half of the show was given solely to one of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's cronies - John Feinblatt, the city's Criminal Justice Coordinator.

The first words out of Feinblatt's mouth during that segment were provably false:

As a part of our focus on general firearms issues, this political action committee continues to direct our attention to a variety of local races in the state of Ohio for off-year elections.

This year, there are a few contests which pique the interest of Buckeye Firearms Association, some because they are between pro-gun candidates and out-and-out liberal anti-gunners, and others because we wish to support pro-gun candidates in positions that could one day lead them to the Statehouse or Governor's mansion.

Click here to access the Buckeye Firearms Association 2009 endorsements.

Stop HSUS from Gaining Foothold in Ohio and Damaging Our Farms

(Columbus) – Sportsmen in Ohio know that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is the number one anti-hunting group in the nation. The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance (USSA) and a legion of sportsmen have fought and continue to fight this group across the country including HSUS' unsuccessful attempt to ban Ohio dove hunting in 1998. Now HSUS has set its sights on Ohio's number one industry – agriculture.

Hot on the heels of a ballot issue win in California that fundamentally changed how that state's farms operated, HSUS has targeted Ohio for a similar campaign against the Buckeye state's livestock and poultry farmers.

Here in Ohio, the farming community, legislators and other concerned citizens opted for a pro-active approach to animal care, which will appear as Issue 2 on the November ballot. Issue 2 will create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board assuring a safe food supply for Ohioans while guaranteeing excellent care for Ohio livestock and poultry. The USSA endorses Issue 2 and encourages sportsmen to spread the word.

By Chad D. Baus

Attendees of the 2009 Buckeye Bash already knew they were in for a special time on Saturday, October 17, but didn't know until soon after they arrived that the evening was going to be made even more special by the appearance of Governor Ted Strickland.

The 2009 Buckeye Bash, which was held at Cardinal Center Campgrounds and Shooting Center in Marengo, just 30 miles north of Columbus, was held in support of Buckeye Firearms Foundation, an Ohio not-for profit foundation which is pursuing a lawsuit against the City of Cleveland for enforcing illegal gun control laws.

By Gerard Valentino

Another wave of armed robberies put Columbus college students at risk yet again due to the archaic ban on legal concealed carry on campus. As a result, students are easy pickings for criminals looking for a sure thing.

In this case, one student from Capitol University in Bexley was robbed and two different students at Ohio State were targeted. One student was kidnapped from the OSU campus at gunpoint and taken to an ATM to get cash for his attackers. Luckily, none of the students were harmed. An employee at a UniPrint store on the OSU campus, however, wasn't so fortunate. Two armed suspects, both described as black males wearing ski masks, forcefully entered the store before it had opened (bypassing the "no-guns" signs prominently displayed on the front doors) and pistol-whipped the employee.

(See news coverage here and here and here.)

Once again, Ohio's ban on concealed carry on campus left several college students at the whim of armed thugs. To think armed robbers don't know that students are disarmed because of our current concealed carry law is laughable. Of course armed robbers know where to go in order to find unarmed victims.

By Chad D. Baus

Mention the name "Mike Dewine" to most gun owners, and the reaction is a visceral one.

They remember all too well how DeWine (whom Ohio voters ousted from his U.S. Senate seat in 2006, and who is now seeking the Republican nomination for Ohio Attorney General) ran around sporting a Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (formerly Handgun Control Inc.) endorsement because "his record really wowed the group."

They know all too well DeWine had a strong-enough record of opposition to their right to bear arms that Human Events Online named among the Top 10 anti-gun U.S. Senators, noting that he was "consistently the only Republican to speak in favor of anti-2nd Amendment legislation on the Senate floor."

They recall his vote for a ban on private transfers of firearms at gun shows, and that shortly before his defeat in 2006, he took a position in opposition to legislation which barred gun manufacturers, distributors, dealers or importers from frivolous lawsuits designed to put them out of business.

And yet despite the memory of a long history of consistently casting his votes on the side of the most rabid anti-gun Democrats in the Senate, and judging by a recent fundraiser email, Mike DeWine seems convinced that gun owners are either extremely stupid, or have extremely short memories.

Either way, gun owners should be deeply, deeply offended.