For the first time in at recent memory, Ohioans have a pro-gun Governor sitting in the Bexley Governor's mansion. And for the first time in recent memory, that governor is not a Republican.

Democrat Ted Strickland was sworn in after midnight Monday as the 68th governor of Ohio.

From the Toledo Blade:

Mr. Strickland was sworn in on the 1763 Huntington Bible, the oldest in the collection of the Ohio Historical Society. The book was owned by Samuel Huntington, who served as the first acting president of the United States, signed the Declaration of Independence and presided over the Continental Congress.

He handed it down to his nephew, Samuel, Ohio's third governor. The Bible is reported to have been used in the swearing in of Ohio's second governor, Thomas Kirker, in 1807.

The Blade goes on to note that the new (pro-gun!) attorney general, Marc Dann, will be sworn in at his Trumbull County home.

Buckeye Firearms Association looks forward to working with the Governor Ted Strickland and Attorney General Marc Dann to defend and advance the rights of Ohio citizens to own and use firearms for all legal activities, including self-defense, hunting, competition, and recreation.

By Jim Irvine

With a successful election season behind us, pro-gun Governor-elect Ted Strickland about to take office and several adversaries removed from office, some might think that the hard work is done. While most states have made tremendous progress in the last 20 years, Ohio has passed very few good firearms laws. It’s time to make up for lost time, and that will require hard work.

Even though we have pro-gun leaders in the Ohio House, Ohio Senate, and Governor’s mansion, we do not expect this year to be without problems. Change in leadership always brings unexpected issues. The Republicans control the House and Senate, but lost most statewide offices. Democrats have veto power, but not the power to bring a bill to a floor vote. For the first time in a long time, Republicans and Democrats will need to work together to pass any legislation. We are fortunate to have good people in leadership positions on both sides of the isle, but it would be naive to think this transition will precede trouble free.

Buckeye Firearms Association is positioned well to help our gun bills move forward, but we will we need more help to achieve our ambitious goals for 2007.

Click on 'Read More' below for the entire story.

January 3, 2007
Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Hunters took 22,413 deer during Ohio’s four-day muzzleloader season, December 27-30, with Tuscarawas County again leading the state with 949 deer checked, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. Last year, a preliminary total of 23,056 deer were taken during muzzleloader season.

“With the muzzleloader season results, Ohio will easily exceed the all-time deer harvest record of 216,443 set in 2004,” said Steven A. Gray, chief of the ODNR Division of Wildlife. “Ohio’s deer management program has become a model of excellence in the United States. Fortunately, our deer herd is in great condition and the challenge is to keep that quality through research and management.”

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During the last two decades, Ohio’s muzzleloader season has consistently grown in popularity. Twenty years ago, the statewide muzzleloader season accounted for 5 percent of the total deer kill, and today it constitutes 12 percent of the total annual deer harvest.

Hunters have killed a preliminary total of 214,337 deer across the state since Ohio's deer hunting seasons opened on September 30. Archery hunters took 45,733 deer during the first six weeks of the statewide archery season, which continues through February 4. The youth season resulted in 8,811 deer bagged. Hunters checked 111,672 deer during the statewide deer-gun season, with another 25,390 taken during the extra gun-hunting weekend. Another 318 deer were taken during the early muzzleloader deer season in late October on three specific hunting areas.

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....

Roundtable Chat With Democrat Ted Strickland on Firearms

Editor's Note: This article was originally published prior to the November election.

By Larry S. Moore, Buckeye Firearms volunteer and outdoor columnist

As reported last week, the US Sportsmen Alliance (USSA) Tenth Annual Ohio Rally and Banquet on September 16 featured both Ted Strickland and Ken Blackwell as speakers.

There have been various media reports about the speeches. The USSA invited the Outdoor Writers of Ohio to conduct press interviews with both Mr. Strickland and Mr. Blackwell. The press conference was limited to only members of the Outdoor Writers of Ohio. The press conferences lasted approximately thirty minutes each.

The following are comments from the roundtable with Congressman Ted Strickland.

Click on 'Read More' for the interview, published in Question and Answer format.

December 26, 2006
The Hawaii Reporter

By Alan Gottlieb and Dave Workman

This October, there were three fatal attacks on school property in less than a week; more than 20 since February 1996 when a 14-year-old youth strolled into a junior high school in Moses Lake, Wash. and opened fire, killing two students and a teacher.

The dirty little secret of all these atrocities is that they happened in so-called “Gun Free School Zones.” Prior to the enactment of that horribly misguided federal legislation and its state-level clones, one never read about school massacres because there weren’t any. The Gun Free School Zones Act transformed the public school landscape into a free-fire zone for whackos by removing any possibility, however small, that an armed teacher, student or private citizen might be present to intervene. As a result, monsters like Colorado’s Duane Morrison or Pennsylvania’s Charles Roberts, and a host of others have committed mayhem, courtesy of gun control fanatics who pressured Congress and state legislatures to pass such statutes.

The exception is Luke Woodham, who shot up Mississippi’s Pearl High School in 1997 after slitting his mother’s throat. Midway through his spree, Woodham encountered Vice Principal Joel Myrick, who had rushed to his car to retrieve a .45-caliber pistol. Myrick aimed the gun at Woodham’s head and held him until police arrived.

You read little about Myrick’s heroism, and less about his handgun, in press reports.

After the Pennsylvania attack on an Amish school in Lancaster County, anti-gun Gov. Ed Rendell had a remarkable moment of candor when he admitted that tougher gun laws would not have stopped the gunman. “You can make all the changes you want,” Rendell said, “but you can never stop a random act of violence by someone intent on taking his own life.”

His remarks were largely ignored because nobody wants to admit that Rendell is right about this, same as they overlooked Myrick and his gun. Such facts don’t fit the anti-gun agenda.

Click here to read the full commentary in the The Hawaii Reporter.

Editor's Note: The Ohio news media are reporting that Governor-elect Ted Strickland has appointed Sean Logan, an ex-Ohio legislator and current county board of commissioners president, to run the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. From 1990 to 2000, Logan was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. Buckeye Firearms Association looks forward to working with Mr. Logan to advance the rights of sportsmen and sportswomen in Ohio.

By John Salyers

Once again Ohio is far behind when compared to other states in the concealed carry arena. Recently, Pennsylvania's Governor (a Democrat no less) signed into law a bill allowing hunters with a valid Right-to-Carry permit to carry a concealed handgun while hunting.

By Gerard Valentino

Those on the left try to paint the history of humankind as a constant evolving process of refinement and increasing levels of civilized behavior with all major advances discovered by the scientific method. They also try to paint war as barbaric and only useful to cover upcoming administration scandals or, if a Republican president is responsible for using force, as a political game to be played regardless of the damage it does to our soldiers fighting overseas.

Despite the left’s claims to the contrary, however, the history of freedom is intertwined with the history of warfare, and in particular the history of the firearm. War spurred most of the major scientific breakthroughs in the fields of medicine, engineering, flight, metallurgy, communications and physical fitness. Even today many of the technological breakthroughs we take for granted like Global Position Systems in cars were perfected for use by the military.

Most of the key battles for freedom were only possible because of private ownership of firearms.

The American Revolution was not possible if our forefathers didn’t have their personal muskets ready to fight the British. The French revolution and countless others were also only possible after the creation of the great equalizer – the privately owned firearm.

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 self-defense shooting to an increasing murder rate, these articles should be a part of your required reading!

Click on the "Read More..." link below for several days of headlines accompanied by short, concise pro-gun analysis.

By Rick Jones

While reading over some of the newspapers across the state recently, I found an interesting letter to the editor in which a person asked, "If armed felons beat my door in, do I have to worry about legal ramifications if I shoot them?" It really made me think about this and take into consideration some of Ohio's antiquated laws.

Ohio has recently had some sweeping improvements in our gun laws, but there is room for improvement. In cases like the one mentioned above, Ohio still has on the books "a duty to retreat". This means that under certain guidelines of the law, someone breaks into your home you have a duty to leave your home if possible.

To me this sounds like it would be difficult to do. Should the homeowner be forced into using deadly force, who is going to be the victim and who is going to be the criminal? Most homeowners feel the same way I do - if someone breaks into my home at 3 in the morning I don't think they are coming in to borrow a cup of sugar. Ignoring the fact that we've worked hard all our lives to provide a safe and secure home for our loved ones, are we now supposed to roll over and play dead?

Click on 'Read More' for the entire commentary.

By Gerard Valentino

Karen Smith is one of America's heroes for gun rights, and I bet nobody
remembers her, or what she did. Gun owners and gun rights advocates
aren't going to get off that easy. I'm not going to disclose her story
in this article as a way of making each and every reader more cognizant
of the information available through a little research on the Internet,
or at the local library. In this case, simply watching the news and having a good memory will
easily give it away.

Karen Smith's place in the lexicon of the gun rights world was thrust
upon her, she had no choice in that matter. Yet, when it came down to
making the right decision, at the right time, she proved what gun rights
advocates have claimed for years -- that law abiding citizens will do
the right thing.

Even though it was her first experience with a gun, Karen Smith is the
reason groups like The National Rifle Association and Buckeye Firearms
Associations exist.
It is also the reason that politicians who defend the Second Amendment
should be rewarded for showing how deeply they care about honoring
freedom and the safety of all Americans. They do so despite the flak
from false-dogooders willing to blame a gun for all of society's ill,
and open hostility from the establishment media.

Click on 'Read More' for the entire commentary.