By Gerard Valentino

Everyone wants their political party and ideology to win acceptance with voters. Oddly enough, there is a point where total control by one party or ideology corrupts. The corruption is not the traditional kind, with bribes and backroom deals, but a more insidious and less tangible.

When a party enjoys unchallenged electoral success, the leaders start to believe in their own infallibility in dealing with party members and public policy. Such is the case with current lame duck Ohio governor Bob Taft and the Ohio GOP leadership in general.

After years of unparalleled success and utter domination of the weak and misguided Ohio Democrats, the Ohio GOP finally has a fight on their hands. Despite this, nobody embodies the blinding arrogance of unfettered power more than Bob Taft.

Not long after making it know that he expected the resignation of members of his administration who were found guilty of ethical lapses, Taft himself was forced to plead no-contest to several ethics-based misdemeanors. Despite claiming simple ignorance of the law, as several of his cabinet members claimed, Taft refused to follow his self-imposed rule and instead refused to resign.

During his term in office, more than one political deal was scuttled at the last minute because Taft simply changed his mind after all sides came to an agreement. Most notable were the negotiations surrounding Ohio’s concealed carry law. When years of debate finally led to a deal acceptable to all sides, Taft waited until the last minute and threw in one final demand - he wanted to allow the media access to the name, age and county of residence for all license holders.

Click on 'Read More' to continue reading.

An article in the July 28th Cincinnati Enquirer concerning gunfire in densely populated township subdivisions caught Rep. Joe Uecker by surprise. Uecker, a tireless firearm rights advocate, was originally interviewed as part of a story on the growing conflict between those who move to the country to enjoy the shooting sports as part of home ownership and township zoning regulations that allow increasingly dense housing developments.

Buckeye Firearms Association would like to reassure Buckeye state gun owners that Rep. Uecker is a strong advocate for firearm rights, and has been an important partner in each step of the process, including co-sponsoring Bills that would reform Ohio’s absurd CCW laws. In fact, Rep. Uecker spent a portion of yesterday, July 27, 2006, with Buckeye Firearms Association volunteers discussing two recent, shocking criminal convictions of otherwise law abiding gun owners in Ohio. (Check back soon for a complete story on how HB12 turns law-abiding gun owners, not license-holders but GUN OWNERS, into felons. You thought you had it bad as a license-holder!)

Not surprisingly, Rep. Uecker showed as much, or more, outrage at the convictions as the volunteers he was meeting with, and immediately discussed urgent legislative fixes to these unintended consequences.

In the midst of what seems like an increasing number of anti-gun mayors and city councils who are seeking to stamp out our gun rights, the Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting on one Ohio town that is, to the benefit of women everywhere, going in the exact opposite direction:

A rootin', tootin' affair
Legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley may conjure up images of the Wild West, but she has Ohio roots. Born near Greenville in 1860 as Phoebe Ann Moses, she learned to shoot at the tender age of eight to keep food on the table.

In 1875 Annie beat her future husband, Frank Butler, at a shooting match in Cincinnati. Taking the stage name Oakley, possibly from the neighborhood, Annie went on to international fame performing amazing feats of marksmanship.

She returned to Greenville, where, according to some accounts, she passed away of lead poisoning from buckshot in 1926. (Frank died only 18 days later).

Greenville, a town of 13,000 where Oakley relatives still reside, celebrates its renowned citizen every year with five days of festivities held at the Darke County Fairgrounds and throughout the town, culminating this weekend.

Miss Annie Oakley was crowned on Thursday, not in a beauty contest, but following a shooting match, open to Darke County girls age 14-19. During the next year, Miss Annie Oakley will participate in parades and events, beginning Saturday.

"Some of these girls have never picked up a gun in their life," says festival coordinator Gini Stuckey. It's a fitting test to represent a woman quoted as saying, "I would like to see every woman know how to handle firearms as naturally as they know how to handle babies."

Click here to read the entire story, and to get details on this weekend's 42nd Annual festival activities at the fairgrounds in Darke County.

Published Wednesday, July 26, 2006, in National Review Online

By John R. Lott Jr.

It is tough operating a gun shop under harassment from the federal
government and unjustified media attacks. But the harassment might
soon get a little better, as today the House Judiciary Committee
starts marking up a bill by Representatives Howard Coble and Bobby
Scott to ease the burden on gun merchants.

According to Justice Department numbers, since Bill Clinton was
elected president in 1992, the number of federally licensed firearms
dealers in the United States has plummeted by 80 percent. Kmart no
longer sells guns, Wal-Mart just recently stopped selling guns at a
third of its stores, and tens of thousands of other gun shops have
gone out of business. With all the talk of the recent legislative
success by gun owners, they have been winning some battles but
possibly losing the war. Gun-control advocates may be the ones
winning where it really counts.

Part of the drop in licensees has been due to fees imposed by the
federal government. Many license recipients were in the business of
selling only a small number of guns, and the fees made that practice
unprofitable.

The constant breakdowns of the “instant” background-check system
during the Clinton administration halted guns sales for hours or even
days at a time, costing stores untold sales and raising their costs.
Even by the end of the Clinton administration, from September 1999 to
December 2000, the system was down about one hour for every 16.7
hours of operation. The breakdowns often came in big blocks of time,
the worst during a period covering 60 hours during two weeks in the
middle of May 2000. Try running a business where neither customers
nor sellers are ever informed on how long outages are expected to last.

Fortunately, the background-check problems are now fixed. And there
are no new fees. So why are gun shops still going out of business?
There were about 100,000 license holders at the end of Clinton’s last
term. By today that has been cut almost in half.

The Washington Post’s front page on Sunday illustrated the problems
with both the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives
abuses as well as the media’s out-of-control attacks...

Click here to read the entire op-ed.

By Chad D. Baus

On Tuesday, the United States House of Representatives voted 402-23 for H.R. 5013, legislation that bars federal officials or local law enforcement agents that get federal money from confiscating legally owned firearms during a natural disaster.

A separate bill preventing the use of federal funds for the confiscation of lawfully possessed firearms during an emergency or major disaster passed the United States Senate with a final vote margin of 84-16 earlier this month.

The House action received coverage today in the New Orleans Picayune:

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-Kenner, said he wants to avoid a repeat of occurrences during Hurricane Katrina when he said he heard dozens of reports about guns being taken from law-abiding citizens.

These citizens, Jindal told his House colleagues, were left in mostly abandoned neighborhoods in New Orleans without phones or the ability to summon police amid looting and general lawlessness. "They were left defenseless," he said.

Also from the Associated Press:

The Fraternal Order of Police endorsed the measure. In a letter to Jindal, National President Chuck Canterbury said that law enforcement officials concentrate on search and rescue during major disasters and that breakdowns in communications and transportation can lengthen police response times to calls.

"A law-abiding citizen who possesses a firearm lawfully represents no danger to law enforcement officers or any other first responder," Canterbury wrote.

The National Rifle Association also supported the bill and has been asking police chiefs and mayors to pledge that they will not forcibly disarm law-abiding citizens.

Assuming Congress sends a bill to President Bush, this should eliminate the need for Rep. Ron Hood's Ohio House Bill 508, right? WRONG.

Click on 'Read More' for the full story.

Taken from this week’s “Page Nine” Alan Korwin’s “The Uninvited Ombudsman Report”
The lamestream media told you:
The tiny "Register & Bee" in Danville, Virginia, reports that a shooting victim has died.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
Luckily, the victim is fine. The man mistakenly identified as the victim was actually the criminal, shot and killed while invading an occupied home. The innocent victim of his felony assault was unharmed and is said to be doing well.
The headline, "Victim Identified in North Avenue Shooting," should have read, "Heroic Armed Homeowner Dispatches Perp During Dangerous Felony Invasion." Imagine the effect headlines like that would start having on crime.
The lamestream media told you:
Virginia is on a roll, as "The Daily Press" in Newport News, Virginia, reports that, "Police Identify Shooting Victim."
"Police on Tuesday released the identity of a 32-year-old man fatally shot last week after a robbery and assault at Heritage Trace apartments, off Warwick Boulevard."
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
Fortunately, the victim was unharmed. Zovek Martinez of Hampton, was shot twice after he and two other men robbed a Williamsburg man, Newport News police spokesman Lou Thurston said.
After the assault, one of Martinez's accomplices pointed a gun toward the Williamsburg man, who then also pulled a handgun, Thurston said. The Williamsburg man opened fire, fatally wounding Martinez and apparently striking another robber, Michael Highsmith, 22, of Newport News, who made it to a hospital, where he was later arrested.
The headline should have read, "Mugger Killed During Attempted Murder; Second Criminal Wounded And In Custody Due To Heroic Armed Citizen." Imagine the effect headlines like that would start having on crime.

Click on read more for links to the full report.

By Chris Chumita

It is time to show you openly support the Second Amendment by purchasing a NRA Foundation license plate from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV). The license plates have been available since December 12, 2005 and cost an extra $25. A donation of $15 will be made to the NRA Foundation for every license that is purchased. Representative Tim Schaffer (R-5) made this program a reality and is endorsed by Buckeye Firearms for Ohio Senate.

The NRA Foundation is a charitable organization that helps preserve shooting sports, hunting, and firearm related educational programs. The foundation has awarded over 70 million dollars to the shooting sports and various organizations since 1990.

The license plates are available at your local Ohio BMV office or online. You do not have to wait until your plates are ready to expire to switch to the NRA Foundation plates. Visit your local BMV or go on-line to www.oPlates.com to exchange your existing plates for NRA foundation plates.

By Jim Irvine

Raleigh-Durham News 14 http://rdu.news14.com/content/your_news/durhamchapel_hill/?SecID=42&ArID...
" target="_blank">reported on an attempted robbery outside a jewelry store earlier this month, which was stopped when a third person observed what was happening and intervened, firing three shots with his own gun.

From the story:

Police say the man with a gun was 24-year-old Rashad Rogers. Baum says Rogers demanded his wallet, and when Rogers saw it did not have any cash in it, Rogers threatened him.
Baum recalls, "He said, 'Aw, cuz,' he goes, 'I'm going to have to kill you.'"
Meanwhile, David Lineberry was sitting in his office. He looked out the window and saw what was happening.
"As they were approaching him," David Lineberry explained, "I see a weapon being produced. I immediately grabbed my weapon and proceeded outside."
Lineberry fired three shots at the suspect, who he says had pointed his gun at him. The suspect ran. Soon after, Durham Police, with the help of a K-9 named Sherlock, tracked down Rashad Rogers in a nearby apartment complex.

This is a good story. No one was killed. Only the gunman was injured, and he is now in custody of police. But then come the comments that grate on me...

But neither Lineberry nor the Durham Police want other people to follow his lead.
"We do not encourage private citizens to use deadly force," said Kammie Michael, who works with the Durham Police Department. "You have got to be extremely careful to use deadly force."

Click on 'Read More' to continue reading.

If you are one of those people who think only Republicans fight to protect your Second Amendment rights, you need to meet Ohio Senator Marc Dann. He was the first, and one of only two elected officials to walk with grassroots activists in an “open carry” walk before concealed carry became law in Ohio. At that time, the House had passed a good concealed carry bill, but the Senate had failed to take action to send the legislation to the Governor. Many have observed a striking similarity to where we are today with HB347.

If you are a Republican who is happy with Governor Taft and Senator Mike DeWine, then you will probably like Marc Dann’s opponent. But if you are sick of your party selling you out to the highest bidder, or what ever else would make a person fight to kill good legislation for gun owners, than you need to support Marc. He is the only pro-gun candidate running for Attorney General, a crucial office for the gun owner.

There are many people who did the work required to make Ohio a shall-issue state. If you have a concealed handgun license (CHL), Marc Dann is one of the people you should thank—something you can do in November by giving him your vote for Attorney General.

By Jim Irvine

Yesterday Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) signed “Castle Doctrine” into law. She signed a total of six bills backed by the National Rifle Association. (NRA)

NRA’s chief lobbyist Chris Cox said, “The Castle Doctrine is about putting the law back on the side of the victim, the way it’s supposed to be.” What a simple concept. This is something we all learned in grade school, yet in Ohio under Republican Governor Bob Taft our castle doctrine bill has not even had a committee hearing and there is no indication it will become law this year.

As in other states, this legislation passed with bi-partisan support. It passed with a supermajority in both houses of the Michigan legislature. Who would be opposed to a law stating that the victim of a deadly encounter is allowed to defend their life, and that they don’t have to run away until their back is up against a wall first, and they can not be sued by the criminal or his family for injuries sustained when the intended victim fights back? Who would oppose putting the burden of proof on the prosecutor to show that a person acted unlawfully? No one who has been a victim of crime or Ohio’s dysfunctional court system, and no one who understand criminals.

Several Republicans have asked me if I believe we would be better with Democrats in charge. Given the track record of the Ohio Republican party for gun owners over the last 16 years under Republican Governors Voinovich and Taft, it’s hard to see how we could have done any worse.