by Chad D. Baus

Hundreds of Ohioans who love the Constitution joined thousands upon thousands at more than 100 "Day of Resistance", or .223 rallies, events in all fifty states to express their support for the Second Amendment on Saturday, February 23.

From The Washington Times:

Gun-rights advocates pulled off a coordinated 50-state protest over the weekend with little time and even less money, but their adversaries in the gun-control movement were unimpressed.

Critics of the Guns Across America national rally took to social media within hours of the Saturday event to contrast the event with shootings occurring the same day, notably a mass murder near Albuquerque, N.M., that left five dead.

"In addition to the shootings at gun shows yesterday, the 1st 'Gun Appreciation Day' concluded w/ a gruesome mass shooting in #NewMexico," said the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence in a Sunday post on Twitter.

Gun owners argue that such lawless attacks only underscore their argument. Under President Obama's proposed gun restrictions, they say, criminals would still find a way to obtain firearms, but law-abiding citizens would find it more difficult to defend themselves.

"In the hands of law-abiding citizens, guns will not be used to commit evil against other law-abiding citizens," said Bonnie Rider of Pueblo, Colo., who spoke at the Guns Across America-Colorado rally in Denver. "Criminals and the mentally deranged will continue to use gun-free zones as their killing grounds."

Thousands of protesters rallied at state capitol buildings in all 50 states in a mass demonstration aimed at countering the president's proposed firearms restrictions. Guns Across America reportedly was initiated by Eric Reed, a Texas airline pilot who launched the idea through Facebook and other social media.

The rallies were organized by unpaid volunteers and had a distinctly low-budget feel. At the Colorado rally, for example, organizer Don Dobyns repeatedly asked demonstrators to chip in a few bucks to cover the cost of the portable toilet rental.

The crowds ranged from about 2,000 in New York and Oregon to about 80 in South Dakota, according to news reports.

At least six "official" Day of Resistance rallies were held here in Ohio.

by Gary Evens

If you are going to be involved in a violent confrontation, chances are that it will occur at night or in low light conditions and when you least expect it. The confrontation will be "up close and personal" and you will have little or no time to consider your options. The confrontation is likely to be over in just a matter of moments and what you do during those moments will be critical to your survival.

When you recognize a threat that could result in death or severe injury — whether perceived or real — your body reacts automatically as it prepares for intense activity. You will have two basic choices — "fight" your assailant, or "flee." This hard-wired "fight or flight" response is part of our physiological make-up that has existed since mankind first appeared. It is part of our basic survival instinct that kicks in whenever we are confronted with a potential threat.

Division of Wildlife offers public ranges in central Ohio

Columbus, OH- Just like the return of the red-winged blackbird, another true sign of spring's arrival is the annual reopening of the Ohio Division of Wildlife's Class "A" shooting ranges. Public shooting ranges operated by the ODNR Division of Wildlife in District One will open for the year on February 27th. Two different counties in central Ohio (Delaware and Fayette counties) offer rifle, pistol, shotgun, and archery ranges.

Ranges are classified by the type of facilities offered and whether they are supervised. A Class "A" range requires a shooting range permit for all persons 18 years and older. Shooters age 17 and under are not required to purchase a permit, but must be accompanied by and directly monitored by an adult (age 18 years or older) holding a valid shooting range permit. Range permits are available at all hunting and fishing license outlets and online at www.WildOhio.com. Permits are not sold at the ranges and must be purchased before arriving. Also, please remember to bring your own single sheet paper targets and target holder.

by Gary Evens

I've often said that there is no such thing as bringing too much ammunition to a gun fight. These days you might be lucky to have any ammo for that gunfight. It seems that it is virtually impossible to find some of the most popular calibers on dealers' shelves these days. I went out the other day in search of 9mm Luger ammo — I need about 400 more rounds for an upcoming class I will be taking this coming Spring. Yet it seems there is none to be had. Where one of my local gun shops used to have pallets consisting of thousands of rounds of 9mm ammo, now they are lucky to have just a few boxes, if that. One of the gun shops in my area will only sell you 9mm ammunition if you are also buying a handgun chambered for it at the same time, and then they limit you to just two boxes. Most other dealers have also instituted a "two box limit" when they do have ammunition in stock.

My informal survey of four local gun stores — including a Gander Mountain store — showed that 9mm and bulk .22 Long Rifle ammunition have virtually disappeared from their shelves. I also noted a lack of .223/5.56 and .308 caliber rifle ammunition. Stocks of .380 ACP and .45 ACP are down considerably. Just about any common semi-automatic pistol caliber ammunition, except surprisingly .40 S&W, are rare finds indeed, at least where I looked. Ammunition for use in revolvers appears to still be available. When you can find ammunition, it has gone up considerably in price unless it is one of the less common calibers. For instance, .45 ACP seems to now be going for $0.50 to $1.00 per round. I was able to get some .38 Super +P for just a couple bucks more than I was paying before this latest ammo shortage began.

Even reloading components are in short supply. Once again, primers seem to have disappeared. Stocks of bullets are also down considerably. Gun powder is still available, but cartridge cases in the popular calibers are getting hard to find.

So what has caused this dramatic decline in the availability of ammunition?

The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance (USSA) will host a legislative reception for all Ohio sportsmen and women with the members of the Ohio General Assembly on Tuesday March 19, 2013 at the Capital Club from 5:30pm to 7:00pm.

The Capital Club is located at 41 South High Street in the Huntington Building (across from the Ohio Statehouse) in downtown Columbus. This event is part of the organization’s annual effort to connect Ohio's sportsmen community with current policy makers. Drinks and snacks will be provided. There is no charge to attend.

Legislators can use the informal atmosphere as an opportunity to meet and greet opinion leaders from prominent Ohio sportsmen's organizations and field questions. Over the years, this event has proven vital for both sportsmen and elected officials.

"This is a great opportunity for sportsmen and women to meet and educate the current generation of legislators on our issues," said Evan Heusinkveld, USSA director of state services. "I encourage all Ohio sportsmen to take full advantage of this no cost opportunity."

The reception is only possible through generous donations from numerous sportsmen organizations including: Buckeye Firearms Association, National Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever – Ohio State Council, Ohio State Trappers Association, Safari Club International – Central Ohio Chapter, Safari Club International – Southwest Ohio Chapter, Whitetails Unlimited, 21 Consulting LLC, Associated Bird Dog Clubs of Ohio, Lake Erie Charter Boat Association, Ohio Wildlife Control Operators, Buckeye Brittany Club and Ducks Unlimited.

Directions and a parking map are available by contacting the USSA national headquarters at 614-888-4868 or email us at info@ussportsmen.org. Parking is available in the Huntington Building after 5 P.M. accessed from the north side of the building or attendees can park in the Statehouse underground accessed from South Third Street.

by Chad D. Baus

On Wednesday, February 20, we received a great suggestion from a reader:

Hello, on the barackobama.com or organizing for action site they have a link for stories for anti gun people, I thought it would be nice if a few thousand people would tell their pro gun story on it. Some links take you to the page to donate but you can get to the page to tell your story also.
http://www.barackobama.com/stories/share-your-story
Pat

I thought Pat's idea was an excellent one, and immediately went to the website and posted a story about how my father-in-law was able to utilize his right to carry to protect himself when a violent criminal, who was already wanted for homicide, stuck a stolen gun in his face and demanded his truck.

I also passed Pat's suggestion on to our more than 16,000 followers by posting the link on the Buckeye Firearms Association Facebook page on Thursday morning, Feb. 21.

Several people have commented on the Facebook post, noting that they have submitted their stories. Some have also begun sharing their stories on our Facebook page.

BarackObama.com has begun posting stories, but it's a funny thing - not one of these stories have been posted. Indeed, only stories promoting gun control are being shared there.

The following article was originally published by The Lima News. Republished with permission.

by Bob Blake

Don't like the gun control measures being sought by President Barack Obama? Think there's nothing that can be done about it? Think again. That's the message a former Arizona sheriff is bringing to people nationwide.

Sheriff Richard Mack knows a thing or two about what it takes. After the Brady bill was signed into law during Bill Clinton's presidency, Mack sued the Clinton administration claiming the federal government had overstepped its bounds. The case found its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Mack won.

"There"s still hope and local sovereignty, state sovereignty, state's rights is the solution. We've got to have local officials that tell the federal government there's just a few things you're not going to do here," Mack said. "If we have local officials, sheriffs and state representatives and governors nullifying what the federal government is doing it's all proper, it's all constitutional, and it is completely in line with state sovereignty and the 10th Amendment.

"The 10th Amendment guarantees this process that we're about today. Acting on the powers of the states we can keep this movement peaceful and effective and put the federal government back where they belong."

Mack was the keynote speaker Saturday during a daylong event at American Legion Post 571 in Maria Stein that focused on the issue. Mack said he's encouraged by local officials, including Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey, Auglaize County Sheriff Al Solomon, Allen County Sheriff Sam Crish and Hancock County Sheriff Michael Heldman, who have said they will not enforce the Obama administration initiatives.

Editor's Note: While the Division of Wildlife is proposing numerous changes to the deer hunting regulations, they have not yet answered hunters' requests to allow pistol caliber rifle cartridges for deer hunting.

CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE IN AN ONLINE SURVEY REGARDING THE USE OF PISTOL CARTRIDGE RIFLES FOR DEER HUNTING.

by Larry S. Moore

It has been quite some time since I can remember a year when the Division of Wildlife has proposed sweeping changes to Ohio's deer hunting regulations. I've written in the past that the lack of attendance at the annual open houses are due partially to a lack of interest but in great part due to the lack of controversy in any changes. The last several years the Division has largely been tweaking the system here and there. This year the changes could be considered wholesale in nature. If my predictions are true, then the open houses on March 2, 2013 should be jammed packed with excitement and comments.

First, a summary of the changes is in order:

• Eliminating the Urban Zones for deer.
• Eliminating the Zone A, B, C. Bag limits will be set by county. 8 counties to have 1 regular and 1 antlerless-only bag limit. 23 counties to have 2 regular and 1 antlerless-only bag limit. 57 counties to have 3 regular and 1 antlerless-only bag limit.
• Eliminating the additional gun weekend in December.
• Eliminating the early muzzle loading season on the 3 special areas - Salt Fork; Wildcat Hollow; and Shawnee State Forest.
• Adding a statewide early muzzleloading 2 day season that will be for antlerless deer only. The season is slated for the second weekend of October. The entire weekend will be for antlerless deer only regardless if you use a muzzleloader or bow hunt. This will cause a delay of opening fall turkey season to the Monday following this season as turkey hunters are not going to wear hunter orange as required for all hunters anytime there is a deer gun season.
• Allow hunting 1/2 hour past sunset for gun seasons to align the regulations with the current archery hunting hours.
• No change to the late statewide muzzle loading season in January.
• Antlerless-only deer tags will continue to expire on Sunday before the deer gun season.
• No deer or fall turkey tags will be sold until June 1.

Let's examine the Division changes and their reasons.

by John Lott

Gun control "deserves a vote," President Obama said time and again in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday. Sadly, the measure Congress is most likely to pass — beefed-up background checks — may cause more harm than good.

First, checks obviously won't do anything about gun crime in cities like Chicago or New York, which revolves almost exclusively around illegal guns.

But they also wouldn't stop the mass killings Obama mentioned. The Newtown, Conn., shooter stole his mother's guns, while the Tucson, Ariz., and other killers didn't have records that a check would've spotted.

You can see the fundamental unseriousness of this proposal just by looking at the numbers cited by its advocates, such as New York's own Sen. Chuck Schumer.

Schumer tells us that "48 percent of gun sales are made without a background check" and that background checks have "blocked 1.7 million prohibited individuals from buying a gun." Both stats are just false.

by Rand Lennox

Recent school shootings have again reignited the gun control debate.

With The Debate occurring so often, one would think that participants would move their arguments away from emotion and toward fact. But they do not.

Effective debating demands a thorough knowledge of both sides of an issue. Nonetheless, gun control debaters persist in their ignorance of firearms and firearms law basics, with the most passionate often remaining the most ignorant.

For example, after decades of assault rifle vilification, anti-gunners finally learned that what they wanted to ban were not really assault rifles. So they invented the term “assault-type rifle” (say: “not–assault rifle.”) Those anti gunners who researched the topic learned that assault rifles have been strictly regulated since 1934. It is no wonder that the expired assault weapons ban was ineffective; it was formed around an inaccurate premise.

The anti's finally learned to differentiate automatic from semi-automatic weapons, and, of course, redefined the demon to be semi-automatic weapons, again proposing restrictions, again with minimal understanding. An ineffective result is again entirely predictable.

Pro-gunners are equally culpable. Bill O'Reilly, from his bully pulpit claiming moderate gun control views, continues bloviating about peoples' right to own ordinary rifles but demanding that "heavy weapons, such as AR’s" be registered and regulated. In fact, the AR, is a light infantry weapon. Despite having a full research staff, O'Reilly remains ignorant, continuing to make self-contradictory statements about controlling "heavy weapons such as the AR."

A little study by both sides of the debate could yield an understanding of that which they would control; nonetheless both sides persistently rely on emotion instead of information.

Except for one notable organization: The NRA.