By Jim Irvine

Monday’s Cleveland Plain Dealer had a front page article entitled “Gun Shows in the crossfire”, and I think they meant “crosshair” because they are certainly aiming have them closed down. But why bother to learn about the issue you are writing on? It has long been evident that many at the Plain Dealer hate guns, and that is all that really matters to them. So they work hard to make others fear/hate guns too.

At least the first paragraph lets you know where they are headed:

It's easy to build an illegal machine gun. Or to get the recipe for exploding gelatin.

Click on the "Read more..." link below for more commentary on this “news” article.

By Larry S. Moore

Ohioans have two strong choices in the Republican primary with Ken Blackwell and Jim Petro. Choosing amongst friends is sometimes difficult. A closer examination of voting records and key facts easily tilts the scales to the Petro Campaign. As Ohio Attorney General, Petro has a solid track record of implementing Ohio’s concealed carry law. His office has issued favorable rulings and filed court briefings supporting concealed carry.

Senator Joy Padgett, who is Mr. Petro's Lt. Governor running mate, has a very solid record on sportsmen issues. I've known Joy Padgett since the early 1990s when she was first elected as a State Representative. She is currently leading the efforts in the Ohio Senate to pass needed concealed carry reform. She played a key role helping sportsmen to protect our license money in the wildlife fund. Joy Padgett is a strong advocate for sportsmen and conservation in Ohio.

Much of Mr. Blackwell's campaign has focused on the Tax Expenditure Limitation (TEL) proposal. The TEL is a proposal to limit the growth of state government. The concept of reduced taxes is certainly appealing and, in theory, the plan has gotten a lot of attention. But the devil lies in the details. And in the case of the TEL the devil may be very ugly.

The TEL is loosely based on a similar plan from Colorado. However, the Blackwell TEL proposal is much broader in scope and contains provisions that have not been tested in any other state. Specifically the TEL poses a significant threat to the local government funding in Ohio. County and township administrators are increasingly alarmed by provisions of the TEL.

The area I am most familiar with is the threat to the Ohio Wildlife Fund. The Ohio Wildlife Fund is an account that contains the money from the sale of hunting, fishing and trapping licenses plus other permits, such as deer and turkey permits. The Blackwell TEL will cap how much money can be spent from these funds. The TEL will also eliminate any carry-over monies in the fund. The TEL views carry-over money as excess government funding and will be moved into the Ohio General Revenue Fund (GRF). Wildlife Fund monies did not come from the GRF but rather come directly from the sportsmen and women of Ohio.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.