By Chad D. Baus

Ever since he began campaigning for President, Rudy Giuliani has known that his past as a staunch gun control advocate would be at issue. The stumping began in earnest in 2007, and since then, Giuliani has tried on a number of different strategies to try and work his way past well-documented historical fact.

In February 2007, he tried being largely unapologetic, telling FOX News' Sean Hannity he thought New York City's gun control laws, which Hannity described as some of the toughest in the country, as "appropriate", and reiterating his support for the Clinton Gun Ban (for which he lobbied).

When he finally remembered he was running for the Republican nomination for President, he tried the line that what works in New York might not work in Montana. Apparently Giuliani expected it to be ok with urban voters that he considers certain Constitutional rights appropriate for rural areas, but not for them.

By late summer he was settling on yet another angle, attempting to reassure gun owners that he would appoint judges who are strict constructionists. But as economist John Lott pointed out recently, gun owners counting on this "might be more than a little disappointed: At least 89 percent of Giuliani’s nominees were Democrats, with some pretty outlandish decisions that no one would classify as fitting in with “strict constructionism.”

By Ken Blackwell
Townhall.com

The 2008 GOP presidential primary is shaping up to be the most competitive nominating process the party has seen in decades. It is also the most frontloaded.

Candidates are fighting it out in the constantly expanding pool of "early primary" states and hoping to make it to Super Tuesday. With nearly two dozen states up for grabs on that first Tuesday in February, the eventual nominee can close the deal with GOP voters then and there.

To get there, however, a candidate will need to lock down a key constituency.

In each of the last four even year general elections, gun owners have had a massive impact. And the National Rifle Association (NRA) has proven to everyone that if you want to win the presidency, earning the support of gun owners and Second Amendment defenders might be the deciding factor.

So it's not surprising Republican presidential candidates rushed to appear at the first-ever NRA voters' convention to talk to some 500 NRA members and the organization's leadership. Though always important for a Republican seeking the nomination, securing the gun vote in 2008 will be essential.

At the meeting, Rudy Giuliani engaged gun owners in a search for common ground. Mr. Guiliani's actions going after criminals in New York City were often seen as also being unfriendly to gun owners. But at the convention, he moved to start a dialogue and showcase areas of agreement with NRA members.

In his remarks, he endorsed the fact that the Second Amendment protects the right of private citizens to own guns. Mr. Giuliani told the audience that while they may not agree on everything, they do agree on more than they think. He extended an olive branch.

Another contender, Fred Thompson, was more at home with the NRA members and gave a solid performance. This Southerner showed why he consistently received an "A" rating from the NRA when he held elective office. The best one-liner of the meeting went to Mr. Thompson, joking that he thought his wife Jeri would be a better first lady than Bill Clinton. This was his kind of crowd.

Click here to read the entire op-ed at Townhall.com.

The Hannah Report is covering news that the Ohio Republican Party released the results of its recent straw poll for the 2008 presidential primary showing the pro-gun former
U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson leading the anti-gun former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

The Toledo Blade is reporting that the Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving the city of Clyde's ordinance prohibiting the carrying of firearms in public parks.

The Blade's headline, "Clyde wins bid to hear appeal of city gun law", appears meant to convey that Clyde is somehow "winning" something, but the story clearly shows that Ohioans for Concealed Carry (OFCC) Inc. was the group that wanted the case to be heard, had planned the case all along to get the preemption argument up to the Ohio Supreme Court, and determined that this was the best vehicle for getting it there quickly.

From the story:

The Toledo-based 6th District Court of Appeals, in overturning a Sandusky County Common Pleas Court decision, had ruled that the ordinance conflicted with Ohio's concealed-carry laws. Parks are not on the state's list of public and private places where guns are off-limits, and House Bill 347, which passed in December, expressly forbids cities from enforcing gun laws deemed stricter than state and federal law.

Ohioans for Concealed Carry Inc. successfully challenged the ordinance. The group took the unusual stance of supporting an appeal of a case it won.

"We feel absolutely that the Supreme Court should hear the case," said Jeff Garvis, founder of the organization. "This would solve the issue of statewide preemption and would directly impact the city of Cleveland's lawsuit."

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....

Self Defense Against Rogue Statistics

by Dean Rieck

Mark Twain is often quoted as saying, “There are three types of lies - lies, damn lies, and statistics.” That’s another way of saying that while statistics are useful, they can be slippery. Much of the problem with statistics is ignorance about how they are created and what they mean. However, many people, including some anti-gun zealots, purposely misuse statistics, especially polls and surveys, to deceive the public.

Unfortunately, people in the media are equally ignorant about numbers, so they are just as easily deceived and become accomplices in the deception. It works like this: An anti-gun group runs across a statistic that appears to support their cause. They don’t check the veracity of the statistic. They just write a quick news release and rush it to their media contacts.

A busy editor receives the news release, decides to run with it, and hands it to a staff reporter to write up a story. The reporter, who is overworked and underpaid and is likely to be at least a little sympathetic to gun control, doesn’t question the statistic because it just seems to make sense. Plus, since the anti-gun group has a name such as “Americans for Gun Safety” or “American Hunters and Shooters Association,” the reporter doesn’t question their motives because it appears that the group is genuinely concerned about safety, as opposed to the NRA or Buckeye Firearms Association who are openly (and honestly) partisan.

So the statistic gets reported. The public gets deceived. And the truth gets buried under one more shovel full of anti-gun B.S.

So what can you do? The best form of self-defense against deception is knowledge. We’ve discussed how the anti-gun groups funnel their slippery statistics to the media. Now let’s look at how the statistics get mangled in the first place.

Click here to read the entire article.

By Chad D. Baus

The Youngstown Vindicator is reporting that Trumbull County prosecutor Dennis Watkins has instructed the sheriff not to allow journalists to copy the confidential records of concealed handgun llicense (CHL) holders, and has asked Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann to clarify how information about those who have licenses can be released under an amendment to Ohio's concealed carry law media access loophole.

From the story:

If Sheriff Thomas Altiere releases information to the media when the law prohibits it, the sheriff and media could be open to civil penalties, Watkins said Monday.

The current law prohibits the release of information about permit holders to the public.

However, an amendment that becomes effective Saturday gives journalists the right to view the name, county of residence and date of birth of each person for whom the sheriff has issued, suspended or revoked a license.

Buckeye Firearms Association Chairman Jim Irvine was interviewed by FOX News for a story about Mayor Frank Jackson's proposal for a new state gun control law.

The segment aired several times on Tuesday, September 25th in various forms. The comprehensive version aired during the 6:00p.m. evening news hour with Brit Hume.

Click here to view the FOX News story online.

On Wednesday, September 26th, Jim was a guest on "Call the Cops" with host John Ligato. They discussed Cleveland's crime problems and the laws relating to firearms, and the attention Hi-Point firearms has received including a recent Plain Dealer article .

The show starts after the news in the 9:00 hour and runs till 10:00 and is broadcast on WHKW AM 1220 in Cleveland and simulcast on WHKZ AM 1440 in Warren Ohio.

By Chad D. Baus

As I was preparing to put Buckeye Firearms Association's latest set of campaign finance report figures on this website, I was reminded of a figure who has been appearing frequently in news stories about 'Castle Doctrine' legislation - someone I haven't much cared to spend time on in the past year or so because, frankly, she hasn't much mattered.

That someone is Toby Hoover, who heads what University of Toledo professor Brian Patrick memorably referred to at the NRA's 2005 Annual Meeting and Convention as a “coalition of two” (the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, or OCAGV).

Hoover never releases reports like ours, because she has cloaked the OCAGV behind a declaration of being a tax-exempt, not-for-profit charity, or as the IRS refers to it, a 501(c)(3).

As I revealed in August of 2005 ("Exposed: Pulling back the curtain on the gun grabbers' Wizard of Toledo"), Hoover can't hide everything about where her anti-gun funding comes from. OCAGV is required to turn in an IRS Form 990 each year, which becomes a public record.

It was not yet available to me when I published that first analysis of the sources of her anti-gun funding, but Hoover had already filed the Form 990 for OCAGV's second full year of operation (2004). So imagine my curiosity when I discovered that she had filed an Amended 2004 form soon after the cat was out of the bag - after it was revealed that someone was watching - and that she filed a second Amended 2004 return several months later.

The Washington Times is reporting that Chris Cox, Executive Director of The National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), says the group is considering stepping into the presidential campaign fray early next year during the primary season.

This would mark a significant shift from years past - the NRA-ILA did not endorse President Bush in 2000 and 2004 until just a month before the general election.

Click 'Read More' for the full story.

By Chad D. Baus

Gun owners have a general mistrust for the mainstream media, and rightly so. Over the years, having witnessed examples of poor and/or biased journalism ranging from images of fully-automatic rifles being fired during a story about the Clinton assault weapons ban (which had nothing to do with full-autos) to editorializing about gun legislation they later admit to not even having read. An even more direct journalistic attack on Ohio's gun owners came in for form of a few anti-gun editors who chose to publish the confidential [see ORC § 2923.129 (B)(1)] information of persons who have committed what these journalists apparently view as the "crime" of exercising their right to bear arms for self-defense by obtaining an Ohio concealed handgun license.

The list of grievances Ohio gun owners have against the mainstream media is long indeed. However, if, in the context of discussing these many biased journalistic attacks on the Second Amendment, The Lima News is raised in conversation among Ohio's grassroots gun owners, the comments will generally turn positive.

Click 'Read More' for the entire commentary.