Buckeye Firearm Association's web site is seeing an amazing growth in visitors and new articles are being posted several times a week.

This week's "Friday Flashback" is....

Exposed: Pulling back the curtain on the gun grabbers' Wizard of Toledo

Exclusive to Buckeye Firearms Association, reprint only with attribution

By Chad D. Baus

In the wake of Ohio's adoption of concealed carry reform in early 2004, the news media were searching for a reason why. Why, after they had written hundreds of anti-gun and anti-self-defense editorials, and after they had propped up a push-poll purporting to show majority opposition to this legislation, had politicians felt comfortable voting "yes"? Why, after years of opposition and efforts to insert poison pills into the legislation, had the waffling Governor Bob Taft signed the bill into law?

Their attempts to "answer" the question came in the form of "investigations" into which side made more political contributions on the issue, and how many calls, letters, faxes and emails were sent to Taft's office. Dayton Daily News reporter Laura Bischoff tried to make the case that money and a vocal minority forced the law. Her February 21, 2004 story began like this:

When it comes to political contributions, the gun lobby outspent gun-control advocates 32 to 1 since 1995, the year legislative supporters first began pushing for a bill to allow Ohioans to carry concealed weapons.

Later Bischoff added:

Pro-gun rights groups, including the NRA, Ohio Gun PAC and Gun Owners of America, gave legislative candidates and other state candidates $208,228 in political contributions since 1995, according to data from Ohio Citizen Action and the Ohio Secretary of State's Office. In contrast, Handgun Control Inc.'s political action committee gave $6,524 in 1998 and nothing in the other years, according to secretary of state records.

The overall assertions made by the anti-gun minority and this writer can be summed up with a quote from State Senator Eric Fingerhut:

State Sen. Eric Fingerhut, D-Shaker Heights, another conceal-and-carry opponent, said the gun lobby mobilized a minority so that their voices were heard disproportionately to the silent majority who, Fingerhut said, oppose the measure.

At the time I told the DDN who the true minority was:

"There is not a huge anti-gun movement in America. It's just not there," [Chad] Baus said.
Instead, he said, the vocal anti-gun minority managed to hold up the concealed-carry legislation for nine years, in part, by predicting doom and gloom scenarios should the legislation be approved. Media sympathetic to gun control gives these groups better coverage, which influences politicians, Baus said.

The subject of Ohio gun ban lobbyists' claims of an abstract, invisible "majority" received new focus at the NRA's 2005 Annual Meeting and Convention when, during a roundtable discussion about the media broadcast on NRANews.com, University of Toledo Professor and author Brian Patrick referred to gun ban extremist Toby Hoover's Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence (OCAGV) as a "coalition of two".

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

By Larry S. Moore

Governor Ted Strickland tapped Sean Logan as the new Director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). Logan is taking the helm of a fine ODNR organization. Ohio is blessed with outstanding natural resources and beauty across our state. ODNR manages more than 470,000 acres of land including 73 state parks, 20 state forests, 120 state nature preserves and 80 wildlife areas. The department also has jurisdiction over more than 120,000 acres of inland waters; 7,000 miles of streams; 481 miles of Ohio River; and 2.25 million acres of Lake Erie. In addition to hunting, fishing, trapping and watercraft, the Department is responsible for overseeing mineral extraction, monitoring dam safety, managing water resources, coordinating the activity of Ohio’s 88 county soil and water conservation districts, plus mapping the state’s major geologic structures and mineral resources. There are significant challenges facing Logan and ODNR.

Click on 'Read More' for the entire story.