By Chad D. Baus & Jim Irvine

As if declaring war on gun ownership by publishing the private, confidential information of more than 2,700 Ohio concealed handgun license (CHL) holders wasn't bad enough, an investigation by the Buckeye Firearms Association has confirmed that the Sandusky Register has another problem - the newspaper's database contains false information!

When Ohio's concealed carry law was passed by the legislators, it was never conceived or designed to have a central or regional records management function for CHL records, which are considered confidential under Ohio law.

With truly public records, the records management function is usually overseen by a records or registrar's office. The purpose of this office is to manage the additions, changes, deletions, modifications, printing, and
distribution of these official records, lists, and reports. Another important role for this office is to accept responsibility and accountability for the integrity of the records it manages. This role becomes especially critical when information is made available on the internet.

The problem with newspapers taking on the role of being a de facto registrar of CHL records is that they are doing the distributing of information on the World Wide Web part, but aren't accepting any of the maintaining, responsibility or accountability part. In other words, newspapers are taking no responsibility for the accuracy of the information they maintain and make available!

The Associated Press is reporting that the D.C government has decided to petition the Supreme Court to hear its appeal of the federal circuit court's decision to overturn the city's 30-year-old handgun ban.

Click 'Read More' for the entire story.

The NRA is reporting that the U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted on July 12 to protect language commonly known as the "Tiahrt Amendment," rejecting two separate amendments designed to strike and gut the language, in the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2008. This language maintains firearm trace information within the law enforcement community and out of the hands of politicians, trial lawyers and special interest groups.

And on a different front, the NRA has received confirmation that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will significantly revise a recent proposal for new "explosives safety" regulations that caused serious concern among gun owners.

Tiahrt Amendment

From the NRA's Grassroots Alert:

Rep. James Moran's (D-VA) amendment that would have completely
eliminated the Tiahrt language was defeated on a voice vote. Rep.
Patrick Kennedy's (D-RI) so-called "compromise" amendment was
overwhelmingly defeated by a strong bipartisan vote of 26-40. The
Kennedy Amendment would have allowed trace information to be disclosed