By Jim Irvine

On November 6, 2012 Americans will go to the polls to vote for the next President of the United States of America. Either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney will win this contest.

It has become cliché, but this really is the most important election in our lifetime.

In the last few years, gun owners have celebrated two of the most important Second Amendment rulings the in our nation’s history. Heller v D.C. and McDonald v City of Chicago have set the stage for national reciprocity and the elimination of discriminatory "may issue" concealed carry laws. But we can lose it all and more in the blink of an eye.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, both Reagan appointees are 76 years old. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 79. Stephen Breyer is 74.Clarence Thomas is 64 and Samuel Alito is 62. Losing one vote in a 5-4 ruling means losing your rights. The next President will almost surely appoint one or more justices. Obama's appointments Sotomayor and Kagan are openly hostile toward your rights, which are hanging by a single vote.

by Chad D. Baus

I have not been easy on Mitt Romney in the years since he began seeking the presidency.

During the 2008 Republican primary, I viewed Romney much as I did John McCain - a flip-flopper who just couldn't be trusted. In fact, in an op-ed entitled "Will you be Mitt Romney's cheap date?", published at BuckeyeFirearms.org and picked up by World Net Daily (www.wnd.com), I likened Romney to a bar-hopping boyfriend treating pro-gun voters "like some airheaded college girlfriend," ..."expect[ing] that we'll watch as [he] repeatedly grope[s] and fondle[s] waitresses while we're out on a date together, but forgive [him] as soon as [he] say[s] 'I love you baby. Now go get me another beer.'"

Tough? Yes. But it's not as though I made that assessment in a vacuum.

Also in 2008, pro-gun writer Dave Kopel rated Romney as "poor." John Lott wrote that Romney "supports renewing the so-called "assault-weapons ban."

And of course I had the words of Romney himself. When explaining his support for the Clinton Gun Ban in 1994, Romney was quoted by The Boston Herald as saying "that's not going to make me the hero of the NRA. I don't line up with a lot of special interest groups."

And yet, here I am today, pondering the question - "Do I owe Mitt Romney an apology?"

Here is why:

Point Blank Range & Gun Shop, which promises to be the tri-state's largest and most advanced indoor shooting facility, will open its doors to the public in November 2012.

Located on Deerfield Road just off of I-71 in Blue Ash, Point Blank will be open 7 days a week and offer 20 climate controlled shooting lanes (some rifle rated) and a 5,000+ square foot store selling firearms, ammunition and accessories. Gun and personal safety classes taught by seasoned instructors will be offered in on-site classrooms.

Says Point Blank President and CEO, Tom Willingham, "Both concealed carry licenses and gun ownership are at an all-time high, resulting in an increasing demand for this type of facility in the tri-state. Gun owners want a convenient, safe venue to hone their shooting skills and Point Blank will provide that."

General Manager, Todd Heimann adds, "Now that we are getting closer to our grand opening, we are in the process of hiring friendly and courteous employees."

For additional information, or to download an employment application, go to the website at www.shootpointblank.com or email inquiries to info@shootpointblank.com.

by Chad D. Baus

Last spring, Rep. Margaret Conditt, an "A"-rated Buckeye Firearms Association endorsee, announced she was having a "Shoot for Liberty" fundraiser, at which it was originally advertised that participants would be given an opportunity to shoot a machine gun.

The response from the gun ban extremist crowd was quick. Reps. Ted Celeste and Tracy Maxwell Heard (Democrats from the Columbus area) joined Toby Hoover, who fronts what often appears to be a one-woman show known as the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, in staging a press conference to decry the event.

Celeste said, "To parade about a fundraiser where supporters can shoot semi-automatic weapons for pleasure is distasteful and offensive to the memory of those [Chardon High School] students who were senselessly killed."

by Larry S. Moore

Congratulations to VP candidate and Congressman Paul Ryan for stopping at an Outdoor World store in Ohio to buy hunting clothes for his 10-year old daughter. Double "Daddy-points" for knowing her size too! Too bad he couldn't take her shopping with him.

Speaking from experience I can assure Ryan that there is nothing quite like shopping with a 10 year-old in the hunting clothes department. Fortunately for me, the various pink camo wasn't available when my daughter was starting to hunt with us. She did pick out camo that fit and her unique hunter orange hat! I've got photos of her with her brothers and some of my beagles after a snowy winter rabbit hunt. It's still a cherished photo! And for anyone wanting to see how good girls look in camo, go to the Division of Wildlife hunter education manual. That's my little girl on the front cover in camo with a turkey!

According to the article on Twitchy US Politics, the anti-hunters and anti-gun liberals are up in arms about the purchases, and are even suggesting that this constitutes "child abuse."

My message to these anti-gun, anti-hunting Obama supporters? Get over it! Go eat some tofu something the other that I probably couldn't identify. Leave the great tradition of passing along our hunting heritage with the possibility of venison steaks, kabobs and roasts to the real Americans that understand the natural order and our food source!

By #gunvote

Barack Obama would like us all to forget his derisive 2008 insult about clinging to guns and religion, but Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan took the statement as a challenge. In an interview with Deer & Deer Hunting magazine where Ryan outlines his credentials as an avid deer hunter, he proudly notes that, “From a guy who goes to St. John Vianney over there, whose tree stand is over about six miles that direction and that direction, this Catholic deer hunter is guilty as charged and proud of that.”

The latest rumor making its way through the darker corners of the internet is an inaccurate spin on the U.N.'s never-ending mission to disarm the American people. The rumors vary, but some have wrongly claimed that the U.S. has secretly adopted a U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, subjecting Americans to the schemes of U.N. gun controllers.

The confusion stems from a misunderstanding of the differences between July's month-long U.N. Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and the Second Review Conference for the U.N. Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (POA) that took place August 27 through September 7. The ATT and POA, while having many of the same anti-gun supporters and objectives, are two distinct U.N. initiatives.

by Chad D. Baus

The Dayton Daily News is reporting that Ohioans are embracing their right to keep and bear arms in record numbers, mirroring a national trend. The article notes that gun manufacturers are making huge profits, which may go higher if President Obama is re-elected. (What the article fails to mention is that this is one of the few industries that can make such claims under the Obama administration.)

From the article:

Smith & Wesson reported record net sales of $136 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2013, up 48.3 percent from a year ago. The company recently raised its full-year sales forecast from between $485-$505 million to $530-$540 million because of consumer demand.

"We are under serving the market at this moment, we all know that, and that’s a great opportunity going forward for us," Smith & Wesson CEO James Debney said during a recent conference call with analysts.

Sturm, Ruger and Co. reported it built one million firearms by Aug. 15 this year, a number it took nearly all of 2011 to achieve.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Cabela's has two plans for its holiday gun sales — one if Obama is re-elected and one if Republican challenger Mitt Romney is elected.

National and state experts say fear of Obama taking on gun-control issues in a second term fuels higher sales, more background checks and increased participation in gun safety courses.

"Since Obama has gotten elected, concealed carry’s been huge,” said Shannon Campbell of Campbell's Firearms Training and Gun Accessories in Miamisburg. "People ask me all the time, it's like, 'So, who you like? You like Obama? I say yeah, I love him. He's helped my business a lot."

The article notes that Ohio is on pace to reach unprecedented numbers on issued conceal and carry permits and federal background checks. Through June, 35,022 new conceal carry licenses were approved. In all of 2011, the total was 49,828.

And on a national level, the article reports that 11.7 million National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks have been made through August — well above the 10.4 million at this time in 2011, which ended with 16.4 million checks, a record.

The Department of Justice Inspector General's report on the "Fast and Furious" scandal was released this week, and while it found 14 officials from the department and its Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives responsible for the reckless program, it failed, unfortunately, to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. responsible for the actions of those under his supervision.

The report provides a valuable account of the operation and the department's response, concluding that the operation "quickly grew into an investigation that lacked realistic objectives, did not have appropriate supervision within ATF or the U.S. Attorney's Office, and failed to adequately assess the public safety consequences" of letting guns flow freely into Mexico.

by Chad D. Baus

In the wake of the release of the Department of Justice's probe into the Fast & Furious gun walking scandal, which was unable to find evidence that Attorney General Eric Holder was aware of the operation, Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified last week that The White House's refusal to release communications related to the Fast and Furious gun-walking program and the refusal of a White House official to be interviewed about the matter "made it impossible" for him to "pursue that aspect of the case."

From CNSNews.com: