We have a chance to get Ken Hanson, our legal guru and author of The Ohio Guide to Firearm Laws, on the NRA Board of Directors.

Not only would this be a great honor, it would help put Ohio gun issues front and center with the most powerful pro-gun organization in the country.

First, we have to get him officially nominated and we need more petition signatures. Will you help us?

Here's what you have to do:

1. Click here to download a copy of the nominating petition. If you can't open a pdf document, get Adobe Acrobat free.

2. Print the petition on LEGAL SIZE paper. We know this is inconvenient, but that's the rule. No exceptions. If it's not on legal paper, the NRA won't accept it. If you can't print it at home, print it at work. Or go to Kinko's.

3. Fully complete line 1 of the petition if you are a voting member of the NRA. (To be a voting member, you must be a life member or an annual member for 5 consecutive years with no lapse in membership.) PRINT CLEARLY in ink. Get everyone you know who is a voting member to sign the petition as well. Collect as many signatures as you can.

If you want to go above and beyond, take it to a local gun shop or range and ask them to collect signatures. You can pick it up in a few days.

By Dean Rieck

Gun control advocates see gun registration as a benign and commonsense means to create a safer society. Pro-gun advocates see gun registration as a nefarious and senseless infringement on Second Amendment rights that invariably leads to confiscation.

Who is right? We are.

Gun registration has always been a back door to gun confiscation. Just look at what our neighbors to the north did recently.

Data released by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 1,093,230 checks in September 2009. This figure is a 12.4 percent increase from the 973,003 reported in September 2008 and demonstrates that sale of new and used firearms are remaining strong and continuing to grow.

FBI background checks are required under federal law for all individuals purchasing either newly manufactured or used firearms from federally licensed retailers. As such, the checks serve as a gauge of sales but do not reflect the actual number of firearms produced or sold.

The September data follows a series of monthly increases dating back to November of 2008.