Appearing Sunday evening as a guest on the Firearms Forum radio show with host Jim Irvine, Attorney General Richard Cordray announced that, in anticipation of the Supreme Court of the United States taking such a case, he has agreed to sign a brief being prepared by the State of Texas in support of the Second Amendment applying to the states.

"Since the Heller decision there have been either two or three federal Courts of Appeals who have confronted the question of whether the Heller decision, which of course recognized the individual right to bear arms under the Second Amendment and was applicable in that case in the District of Columbia - the question now is whether that same right will apply against state governments across the country," Cordray told WHK 1420 AM listeners.

By Jeff Knox

The surprise introduction and passage of a pro-rights amendment attached to a credit card bill this spring could be a hopeful sign of things to come.

By Chad D. Baus

Earlier this month, Republican State Senator Kevin Coughlin, who declared his candidacy for the 2010 governor's race in January, began circulating an email designed to bring the Second Amendment to the front and center of early GOP primary discussions.

This week, former Congressman John Kasich, who declared his own candidacy for the Republican nomination at the beginning of June, issued with his campaign's first official statement on the subject of gun rights.

When the decade-long battle for concealed carry reform was raging in Ohio, pro-Second Amendment advocates recognized the Lima News as one of the few newspapers whose editorial page featured opinions as firm in support of the Second Amendment as they were on the First.

Five years after Ohio's concealed carry law took effect, the newspaper's news room has proved that they too continue to be one of the few journalistic enterprises in Ohio capable of providing an objective look at Second Amendment issues.

In a story entitled "Concealed carry five years later - Why it works", reporter Greg Sowinski takes a look at the increasing numbers of concealed handgun license-holders, the police view, views from opponents, and a look to the future of CCW.

In From My Cold Dead Fingers, Sheriff Mack outlines why the right of the people "to keep and bear arms" is essential to the preservation of liberty and domestic tranquility. Mack reminds us of facts that were self-evident to earlier generations of Americans, but which are all but forgotten today.

In America's Last Hope, Sheriff Mack covers decades of research to prove that the sheriffs in this country are the ultimate law authority in their respective jurisdictions. The sheriff absolutely has the power and responsibility to defend his citizens against all enemies, including those from our own Federal Government.

Both books only $25 plus $3 shipping and handing.

MAIL ORDER:
Send a personal check for $28 payable to Buckeye Firearms Foundation. Mail to:
Cold Dead Fingers & Last Hope, 15 West Winter Street, Delaware, Ohio 43015.

By Dave Yost

A year ago, the United State Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment's right to bear arms belongs to individuals, not to state militias. The decision started more legal arguments than it settled, and the battle is still raging in the lower courts.

The Supreme Court decision, District of Columbia v. Heller*, has already produced plenty of litigation. Since it's a Supreme Court case, it can only be overruled by the Supreme Court. But even a Supreme Court decision can lose its authority by the slow erosion of lower court decisions.

A lower court that does not like a binding precedent can look to the facts of the case, and in its opinion, "distinguish" the facts. Once it finds that the facts are different, the binding precedent is no longer binding in the new case.

In its first year, at least 16 lower court cases "distinguished" the holding of Heller, and fifty-two more were decided on the basis that Heller's holding was "limited."

Some of those cases were well-considered, like the felon who tried to overturn his weapons conviction. But other cases contain language that is worrisome.

By Sandy Froman

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's first nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, has a narrow view of the Second Amendment that contradicts the Court's landmark decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. A heated debate has started in the U.S. Senate over her opposition to the right to keep and bear arms. This issue, which has decided the fate of presidential elections, could also decide her nomination. Gun owners, and especially the members of the National Rifle Association, must aggressively oppose Judge Sotomayor's confirmation to the Supreme Court.

On June 24, senators began speaking on the floor of the Senate expressing grave concerns over Judge Sotomayor's Second Amendment record. Senator Jeff Sessions R-AL, the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, pointed out that although her record on the issue is "fairly scant," she has twice stated that the Second Amendment is not a fundamental right. Senator Sessions also noted that in Second Amendment and other constitutional cases, Sotomayor's analysis of important constitutional issues has been lacking suggesting "a troubling tendency to avoid or casually dismiss difficult Constitutional issues of exceptional importance." Sotomayor's view on the Second Amendment clearly reflects an extreme anti-gun philosophy, and some Democrat senators from pro-gun states are justifiably nervous.

Click here to read the entire op-ed from TownHall.com.

Xenia, OH's Glen Evans, of the Church Security Alliance, recently conducted a phone interview with Captain Brad Wells, Chief Investigator for Madison County, Illinois Sheriff's Office. Wells responded to the tragic church security incident on March 8, 2009, when Pastor Fred Winters was shot and killed while preaching.

Among other things, Wells reveals that there was an armed, retired officer in the building who was unable to get to the shooter in time. Wells praised the unarmed church members who intervened as "heroes" (and who received knife wounds for their efforts), and says had they not intervened, the murderer "would have kept going."

Listen to the interview to get an inside look at what happened that day, and how your church can begin to tackle the issue of church security.

By John Longenecker

The genius of concealed carry of handguns is that would­-be murderers remain uncertain as to who is armed and who isn't. You never know if the target is armed with lethal force, and more to the point, how alert and prepared they are to resist. This is true for everyone interested in being as safe as they can be from future violence, because it comes to the realization of specific unalterable realities: you're on your own. It's a matter of positive attitude, not belligerence.

This week some Southern California church leaders came to that very same conclusion, and took up a position advocating not only a very discreet security presence of professionals, but also took the advice of their consultants and adopted the policy of advocating concealed carry of handguns among the congregation.

Realities are the core of solving the problem of church violence, and having the stomach to face those realities and to meet them. For too long, employers, churches, schools and others have said many different ways that they are sad to see things have to come to this, but this is a trap which serves not the people, but the killers. Other objections have also delayed facing the reality of how to meet the reality of murders and mayhem on campus. Fifteen Southern California church leaders refused to fall into that trap, and they sought out expert advice. Among other steps, it involves concealed carry of handguns in church, and they took it.

By Gerard Valentino

A recent story in Indiana should strike home in the self-defense community and should resonate with advocates for battered women in America.

In Brownsburg, just north of Indianapolis, the Associated Press is reporting that a woman was stabbed to death while her daughters, aged 8 and 12, hid in a closet.

Later, the 12 year old girl called the police and reported that "daddy stabbed mommy." Such a horrific outcome in this case is indicative of the false hope of protective orders. In this case, the victim had just extended an existing order of protection that was designed to keep the murderer from having any contact with his wife and daughters.

As it turned out, the piece of paper had no effect in keeping a deranged man from killing his wife.