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 more violence in Cleveland to the AK-47, 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.

It took some time (one month, to be exact), but the Cleveland Plain Dealer has finally gotten around to publishing a story on SB184, Ohio's Castle Doctrine legislation introduced by Senator Steve Buehrer.

It may be surprising for gun owners to learn that the newspaper's coverage is much more fair than the paper has developed a reputation for.

From the story:

Right now, Ohio law says that if you shoot an intruder dead in your home, you have to prove self-defense.

If someone barges through your bedroom window in the middle of the night and you kill him, police and prosecutors could investigate, said State Sen. Steve Buehrer. To justify your actions, and avoid the chance of going to prison, you'd have to prove you believed you were in imminent danger.

Buehrer wants to give you an automatic right to shoot. And if you do shoot, he wants to shield you from lawsuits.

"We don't think that the homeowner should have to be harmed before he takes steps to protect himself," said Buehrer, a Republican from Delta, near Toledo. "Therefore, let's put the burden on the bad guy."

The so-called Castle Doctrine -- similar to laws in 19 states, including Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan -- would give self-defenders immunity from lawsuits. As written, the Ohio bill pending in the House and Senate would extend your rights to your car and essentially anywhere you're threatened.

By Chad D. Baus

For most firearms enthusiasts, the name John Lott is synonymous with one thing: More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun-Control Laws.

When that book hit the market in 1998, it quickly became recognized as what is perhaps the best critique of gun control ever written.

Having endured a term and a half of what was possibly the most anti-gun presidential administrations in history, gun owners at long last could point to a high-profile, scientific treatise based on data for all 3,054 counties in the United States during 18 years from 1977 to 1994. Lott had published data proving what they had instinctively known all along - that states with the largest increases in gun ownership also have the largest drops in violent crimes, and that concealed handgun laws reduce violent crime.

Since that best-seller, Lott, who earned his Ph.D. in economics from UCLA in 1984, hasn't failed to deliver further red meat to his new pro-gun fan base. Released in 2003, The Bias Against Guns: Why Almost Everything You've Heard About Gun Control Is Wrong proves that assault weapons bans and "one-gun-a-month" laws actually increase crime, details flaws contained in "gun-free school zones" and "safe storage" laws, and provides stark evidence of anti-gun bias and selective reporting of acts of self-defense by the media.

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation is calling upon the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to open a criminal investigation into what may be a publicly-admitted straw purchase of a handgun in New Hampshire involving the head of a Massachusetts anti-gun organization and a columnist for the Boston Globe.

SAF Founder Alan Gottlieb said today that remarks made by John Rosenthal, head of Stop Handgun Violence and a co-founder of the anti-gun American Hunting and Shooting Association, and Globe columnist Steve Bailey during a segment on WRKO AM on July 10 “strongly suggest they were involved in an illegal gun purchase.”

“Bailey and Rosenthal traveled from Massachusetts to New Hampshire where Rosenthal reportedly asked a dealer at a gun show whether he could buy a handgun,” Gottlieb said. “When the dealer learned Rosenthal was a Massachusetts resident, he declined to sell him a gun. At that point, Rosenthal allegedly asked if a companion, who was a New Hampshire resident, could buy the gun and the dealer agreed. Rosenthal, in an interview with Gun Week, claimed that the dealer clearly knew this was a straw sale.

“The irony here,” he observed, “is that Rosenthal has tried to portray this dealer as having conducted a straw sale, but what he is also describing is a straw purchase. There are two sides to any such crime, and the buyer – and the person who initiated that purchase – would be just as criminally liable as the seller of the gun.