On Wednesday, July 28, by a margin of 307-113, a bipartisan majority of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to amend the federal definition of protected "household goods" to include firearms on the list of items that cannot be seized by creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding.

NRA-supported H.R. 5827, offered by U.S. Representative John Boccieri (OH-16), would ensure that a person who files for bankruptcy would not lose the constitutionally- protected means of protecting themselves and their families. The bill sets a cap of $3,000 on the value of a firearm collection eligible for the protection, so people in bankruptcy proceedings can continue to own serviceable firearms.

The Senate companion bill is S.B. 3654, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

by Jim Irvine

No matter how much the media want to make it a partisan issue, one can not accurately predict a candidate's position on the Second Amendment by looking at his party affiliation. Telling a lie often enough may make more people believe it, but it does not change the facts.

One could make a case that the gun issue is an urban versus rural issue. This is far more accurate than the typical Republican vs. Democrat argument, and may have been fairly true 20 years ago, but it is clearly not the case today.

Many inner city candidates have told me that their district is pro-concealed carry. Crime is not something inner city people watch on TV with the disconnected feeling that "it won't happen to me." Crime is something that happens on their street, to their friends, family and neighbors. They know the police are not there to protect them, so it's up to them to protect themselves and those they love. They get it, and they overwhelmingly vote Democrat.

Politicians will say and do things to help others in their party. They see it as part of the job. It could be Governor Strickland praising President Obama. It could be any Republican praising Senator Mike DeWine or Bob Taft, or it could be Sarah Palin praising John McCain. It is a part of politics and it should not surprise us. You don't have to like it. You can say, "I'd never do that." Fine. Don't run for office. But there is also no point in complaining about those that make a different decision doing the job they have chosen.

The Republican Party supports Republicans, no matter what their stance on firearms or your Second Amendment rights. The Democratic Party supports Democrats, no matter what their stance on firearms or your Second Amendment rights. We support candidates who support your Second Amendment rights, no matter what party they belong to.

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that a man was fatally shot Sunday while trying to rob someone in a North Side parking lot.

From the article:

Shawn Mitchell, 23, died behind 6121 Zumstein Dr. after being shot about 5a.m. Police said Mitchell was trying to rob a person in a parked car and was shot by that person. Police would not name the shooter but said evidence in the case will be given to a grand jury.

Under Ohio's Castle Doctrine law, if someone unlawfully enters an occupied home or temporary habitation, or occupied car, citizens have an initial presumption that they may act in self defense, and will not be second-guessed by the State.

by Chad D. Baus

The Cleveland Plain Dealer, in partnership with PolitiFact.com, has begun a new series "addressing the claims, ads and statements of players in the political world."

According to the newspaper, "political reporters, assisted by news researchers at times, will review the bills and statistics that are cited. They'll examine data and studies to see if they back up the claims, and they'll seek out impartial sources and independent studies. The specific wording of claims, and their context, will be considered. Sources will be listed so the process is transparent to readers."

Among the first questions examined by the researchers was whether or not a quote that has long-been attributed to anti-gun U.S. Senate candidate Lee Fisher was actually ever uttered by him.

The quote, which the newspaper notes has been "cited since at least 1994 by gun-rights advocates, political opponents (including the campaign of at least one Democrat), blogs and websites:"

In all those many years of having the quote attributed to him, the investigators note that the former Handgun Control Inc. board member never uttered a single word of protest.

This year, however, Fisher has apparently realized that support for gun rights is an important component in getting elected to a statewide office in Ohio. As such, he is now trying to backpedal from his long reputation as a gun control advocate, having apparently determined that disputing the quote will somehow make the rest of his atrocious record on gun rights somehow more palatable.

We beg to differ.

By Alan Gottlieb and Dave Workman

Plunging government revenues may have the unintended consequence - so far as tax-and-spend (and spend some more) public officials are concerned - of reminding people that we are ultimately responsible for our own safety.

The pie plate is empty and inevitable cutbacks in important public services, including law enforcement, are on the horizon. It is already happening in Oakland, CA where the police chief has announced that officers will no longer respond to a broad list of crimes, if department layoffs go as planned.

What's a citizen to do? Perhaps they will follow the advice of Ashtabula County, OH Judge Alfred Mackey and Hudspeth County, TX Sheriff Arvin West. In the past few months, both have advised their neighbors to arm themselves.

More women than men took up hunting last year, according to new net figures from the National Sporting Goods Association.

While total hunters in the U.S. decreased slightly (.05 percent) between 2008 and 2009, the number of female hunters increased by 5.4 percent, netting 163,000 new participants. Growth areas for women included muzzleloading (up 134.6 percent), bowhunting (up 30.7 percent) and hunting with firearms (up 3.5 percent).

Data also show women outpaced men among net newcomers to target shooting with a rifle, where female participation grew by 4.1 percent.

An editorial response by multiple contributors

On July 11, 2010, Buckeye Firearms Association, a single issue Ohio political action committee (PAC), endorsed the reelection of incumbent Democrat Governor Ted Strickland over Republican challenger John Kasich.

To "insiders," this endorsement decision was expected. However, we realize that not all of our readers are "insiders" and do not necessarily follow politics closely. For them, a decision from a gun group that was not "GOP=Endorsement" might cause some initial contrarian reactions.

As such, we felt it might be helpful to respond to some of the generic concerns that have been expressed to us.

by Jeff Knox

If firearms were indeed as inherently dangerous as gun control advocates suggest, there should be millions of crimes, murders, suicides, and accidents involving firearms each year, and those numbers should be escalating since the total number of firearms and firearms owners have risen substantially over the past few years.

In reality, numbers of firearms related crime and accidents have steadily dropped while gun sales have gone through the roof and more states have liberalized laws dealing with the carry of arms in public. Independent, peer reviewed studies show that firearms are used 5 times more often to stop crime than to commit crime – and that doesn't count police use or the deterrent factor of criminals knowing their intended victims might be armed. Guns are used by private citizens to stop criminal activity some 2.5 million times each year and rarely do they even fire a shot doing it. Recreational shooters fire billions of rounds each year, but firearms injury accident numbers keep going down and are at record lows.

Gun control laws only impact those who obey them – the law-abiding. There is no logic – or evidence – to support restrictions on the good guys.

Buckeye Firearms Association (BFA) is pleased to announce our endorsement of Richard Cordray (D) for Ohio Attorney General in the 2010 general election.

Cordray has exhibited strong support for the Second Amendment and for the rights of Ohio gun owners during his first term as Attorney General.

In 2009, Buckeye Firearms Foundation sued the city of Cleveland seeking a court order to stop the city from persecuting law abiding gun owners, in conflict with state law. Attorney General Cordray promptly filed a "Motion to Intervene" in this case, in order to "defend this state law."

The Attorney General's office also filed an "Answer of Proposed Intervenor", which "sets forth the following preliminary and/ or jurisdictional defenses":

• R.C. 9.68 is constitutional in all respects.
• R.C. 9.68 is is a valid general law of the State of Ohio.
• R.C. 9.68 does not violate Article XVIII, Section 3 of the Ohio Constitution.

In addition, Cordray is involved in defending Ohio's statewide "preemption" law (R.C. 9.68) from a constitutionality challenge by the City of Cleveland. Last November, when a three judge panel in the 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals sided with the City of Cleveland, and declared the law to be unconstitutional, Cordray appealed the case to the Ohio Supreme Court. In May 2010, via the Solicitor General, Cordray filed a strong merit brief in support of upholding Ohio law. Oral arguments in the case are expected to be heard this fall.

"The central question in this case is the validity of a state law designed to protect gun ownership and possession in Ohio," said Cordray. "The General Assembly determined that Ohio should have one comprehensive state law defining the rights of gun owners instead of a patchwork of regulations, and we will continue to defend that decision."

Cordray aggressively pursued concealed carry reciprocity agreements with other states, having signed agreements with Nebraska and North Dakota.

"The concealed carry law, which I support, is an excellent example of how the 'wild, wild west' predictions were way off base, and it isn't the law abiding citizen gun owner that we should be worried about," said Cordray.

Cordray has also represented Ohio gun owners well on a national level.