By Gerard Valentino

A common refrain of the anti-gun crowd are repeated calls for "reasonable" gun control designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the so-called mentally ill. We already know there is no such thing as "reasonable" gun control, yet the attempt of the anti-gun crowd to vilify people with mental illness is typical of their willingess to exploit just about anything to push their immoral agenda.

By Alan Korwin

Slipping below the radar (or under the short-term memory cap), the Democrats have already leaked a gun-ban list, even under the Bush administration when they knew full well it had no chance of passage (HR 1022, 110th Congress). It serves as a framework for the new list the Bradys plan to introduce shortly.

I have an outline of the Brady's current plans and targets of opportunity, I'm working on getting that news out asap after these ban lists, probably be ready in the next few days. It's horrific. They’re going after the courts, regulatory agencies, firearms dealers and statutes in an all out effort to restrict we the people. They've made little mention of criminals.

By Jim Shepherd

Plenty has happened in the outdoors [over the Holidays]. Unfortunately, not much of it has been positive.

The economy has continued to shake, rattle and roll, the stock market has tanked, industries have lined up for government handouts that may only delay the inevitable, and an administration for which I had pretty high hopes eight years ago is as dead as the bottle of leftover New Year's Eve champagne you'd forgotten was in your refrigerator.

The executive orders President Bush have issued since the election, incidentally, are probably just as equally dead on arrival. Case in point, the executive order restoring the right for state law to apply to concealed carry in federal parklands.

By Chris Chumita

There are more stories pertaining to our gun rights in Ohio then we can possibly draw attention to with individual daily commentary. But they are all worthy of mention.

What follows is our review of headlines from around the state though a pro-gun rights lens.

From a victim fighting back to an antigun politician owning a gun, these articles should be a part of your required reading!

What follows is several days of headlines accompanied by short, concise pro-gun analysis.

Buckeye Firearms Association endorsees have been elected by Republicans and Democrats to a majority of leadership positions in their respective caucuses for the 128th General Assembly.

By Gerard Valentino

Most people in the gun movement were familiar with the famous Spartan 300 long before the recent movie again made their heroic deeds the stuff of legend. Other legitimate freedom fighters throughout history, however, aren’t as well known.

One person in history stands with the 300 as a key player in the fight for freedom long before the American Revolution turned the sacrifice of such heroes into reality. That man was a brief part of the movie Braveheart - Robert the Bruce.

Hunters took 20,659 deer during Ohio's four-day muzzleloader season, December 27-30, with Tuscarawas County again leading the state with 934 deer checked. Last year, a preliminary total of 21,473 deer was taken during muzzleloader season, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.

By Jeff Knox

The repercussions from Hurricane Katrina continue to roll in like the tidal surge that flooded New Orleans. The latest storm takes aim at guns and gunowners. As news trickles out of a final resolution in the lawsuits filed over the government’s illegal confiscation of firearms during the days after the flood, new reports of unprovoked attacks on African-Americans by white, neighborhood militias during the storm’s aftermath are beginning to surface. In a feature article in the liberal magazine "The Nation," titled “Katrina’s Hidden Race War,” writer A. C. Thompson suggests that a group organized to provide security for the Algiers Point neighborhood actually engaged in open warfare against unarmed, innocent blacks trying to reach an evacuation point on the other side of the neighborhood. In the article, Thompson combines first-person accounts of the victims of one attack, the statements of members of the neighborhood security group, African-American residents of the Algiers Point neighborhood, records from area hospitals, the coroner’s office, and generous helpings of hearsay and speculation to suggest that members of the security group engaged in racially motivated murder.

If there is any truth in these accusations, the perpetrators should be rooted out and punished. The Second Amendment is about defense of person, community, and country, not sport-hunting of humans. Anyone who accepts the responsibility of carrying a gun also accepts the responsibility of using it wisely. Governor Bobby Jindal should immediately launch a full investigation to either condemn or exonerate the members of the Algiers Point Militia.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that a Metroparks visitor carrying a concealed gun fatally shot a rottweiler that attacked his leashed dog at Tyler Field off Valley Parkway in the Cleveland area.

By Jim Irvine

The Ohio Attorney General's office has released the concealed handgun license (CHL) statistics for the third quarter of 2008. We have now seen six straight quarters of increased demand over the same period a year prior.

In the typically slow third quarter, the 7,632 regular concealed handgun licenses issued was a whopping 58% increase over the same period in 2007. Add to that another 9,130 renewals and 13 Temporary Emergency Licenses (TELs) and it is clear that demand for CHL's continues to be strong and getting stronger.

In fact, the evidence is that even five years later the CHL is still one of the most successful government programs going. Over 250 people every business day applied for a new or renewal CHL in Ohio. New licenses are still averaging over 100 every business day.