FLASH UPDATE: ROMNEY SUSPENDS CAMPAIGN - "If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."
----- Author's note: Clearly the events of the day have rendered a few of the specifics of this commentary moot, but have enhanced the overall point - the storm clouds have opened up on gun owners.

By Chad D. Baus

"Traditionally, whomever is leading in polling one year ahead of the Presidential primaries becomes the eventual party nominee. If tradition holds true...there is a storm on the horizon..."

It's been little more than one year since I wrote those words, warning of dark clouds looming for the Second Amendment in the 2008 Presidential election.

Despite all the polls, I didn't need a crystal ball back then to know that when the Republican base got to know "America's mayor", anti-gun New Yorker Rudy Giuliani would struggle to capture the hearts and minds of Middle America. Indeed Giuliani failed to win a single early primary state and has now exited the race.

But his endorsement of Senator John McCain, coupled with anti-gun former Senator Mike DeWine's work as McCain's Ohio campaign chair as a prelude to a possible Attorney General nomination, proves the danger to the Second Amendment in this Presidential election is far from over.

Indeed, with each passing day, it appears the perfect storm that we've been warning gun owners about for the past year is nearly overhead.

Two pro-gun bills will receive hearings today in the Ohio House of Representatives.

The House Criminal Justice Committee, chaired by Rep. John White (R-38), will hear sponsor testimony on Representative Adams' HB225 (Alaska-style CCW) and Rep. Wachtmann's HB264 (Castle Doctrine).

The hearing will be held at 11:00a.m. in Statehouse Room 121.

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