By Gerard Valentino

The gloves are officially off in the Ohio gubernatorial race.

During a recent campaign speech in Youngstown, presumptive Republican nominee John Kasich ripped Governor Ted Strickland's time in office as a third term of Bob Taft. There are few things in Ohio politics worse than being compared to former Governor Taft, who presided over statewide economic disaster and the ethical meltdown of the Ohio GOP.

When he left office, some polls showed Taft's approval rating at an unheard of 15%. His political career was in such a shambles at the end of his second term that his own Party chose to override his veto of HB347, which reformed Ohio's concealed carry laws.

There are few characters in Ohio politics as reviled as Taft, yet it isn't equating Strickland to one of Ohio's political failures that will help the Kasich campaign. By tying Strickland to Taft, it distances Kasich's run from the failures of his own Party.

By Gerard Valentino

WCMH TV, Columbus' NBC affiliate is reporting a home owner shot and killed an armed home invader who entered his house on the city's Southwest Side. Also home at the time, according to the report, was a 5 year-old relative of the homeowner, a woman, and another man who is bedridden.

By Gerard Valentino

There is an old saying that "if it plays in Peoria, it will play anywhere." Thankfully, Peoria, IL mayor Jim Ardis is now on record as supporting concealed carry in Illinois, and wants Peoria to be the test city.

Additionally, the Peoria Journal Star is reporting that the Illinois Sheriff Association has also passed a resolution in favor of legal concealed carry.

By Chad D. Baus

One week after ignoring thousands of phone calls from his constituents and helping a Democrat filibuster kill nationwide CCW reciprocity, Republican Senator George Voinovich of Ohio told editors at the Columbus Dispatch he knows what the Republican party's biggest problem is.

According to the anti-gun Senator, who has decided to retire after recognizing a 2010 re-election bid would meet the same fate as anti-gun Mike DeWine's did in 2006, Ohioans just can't relate to pro-gun Republicans from the South.

Imagine you're visiting Idaho or Arizona. A cop pulls you over and asks to see your driver's license. Then, even though your license is current, he draws his sidearm, cuffs you, and hauls you off to the calaboose. Your crime? You were driving on a Nevada license; you neglected to get a new and separate driver's license, in advance, for each state you're planning to pass through.

Ridiculous? Of course it is. Article IV of the Constitution stipulates, "Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state," and Congress is empowered to make laws describing how "such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved."

So if you're married (or divorced) in Nevada, your status remains unchanged when you visit Arizona. The other 49 states also have to honor your license.

But in fact, the situation described above is precisely what confronts a law-abiding gun owner who wants to carry his weapon on an interstate trip.

Click here to read the complete editorial from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

As we reported July 17, NRA has announced its opposition to the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the position of Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Subsequent to that announcement, on July 24, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, and NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox sent a letter to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and all members of the U.S. Senate giving notice that NRA-ILA will be scoring Senators based on their vote.

By Chad D. Baus

As the fight to restore the right to bear arms for self-defense was waged in various states, one of the toughest opponents to attempts to reform the law was the establishment media. With rare exception, newspaper editorial boards repeatedly took the side of legislators and gun ban extremists who prefer to view citizens more as subjects.

Thanks in no small part to media meddling, many states' laws were first passed with onerous provisions (anti-gun poison pills) that pro-gun rights activists are now methodically laboring to remove.

One of the more common items inserted as a poison pill in many states under pressure from the establishment media was a public records provision. "We have to make sure," the editorial boards claimed, "that the 'right' people are getting licenses." But in the months and years after concealed carry laws took effect, it quickly became clear the media had far less noble intentions.

By Gerard Valentino

Of all the issues brought up during the confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayer, one comment she made is most disturbing. It also has largely been ignored by the establishment media. During an exchange with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla, Sotomayer stated there is no constitutional right to self-defense.

Her statement makes one thing painfully clear – the liberal intelligentsia see individual rights where they don't exist, and don't see fundamental rights clearly enumerated in the Constitution.

Editor's Note: Buckeye Firearms Association volunteers are what make this organization successful. Our successes can be directly attributed to the work they do. The following is a report from one such volunteer, who represented the PAC at a recent Tea Party. Volunteers are active all over the state - please join the team!

By Greg Wilk

Buckeye Firearms Association welcomed Second Amendment defenders at the July 3rd Downtown Cleveland Tea Party. Over one hundred people stopped by to pick up pamphlets, wallet cards and "No Guns = No Money" business cards. Lively discussions ensued concerning BFA itself, CCW law, where I practice shooting, and even how to buy a gun.

On the political side, U.S. Senate Candidate Tom Ganley briefly stopped by to say hello. BFA was also in good company alongside the Lorain County 912 Project and the Medina County Friends and Neighbors, as well as many other activist conservative groups.

An informative and exciting time was had by all.

Data released by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) show an 18.1 percent increase in background checks on the sale of firearms in June.

Background checks for the first six months of 2009 are up 24.5 percent over the same period in 2008.

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.