Buckeye Firearms Association at the Gun Rights Policy Conference

The Buckeye Firearms Association welcomes the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms to the Ohio area for the 22nd Annual Gun Rights Policy Conference.

Friday, October 5
Starting early Friday morning, area volunteers showed up in force to assist with setup and other pre-conference activities. Preparing the material and room took the better part of 72 man hours and would not have been possible without the hard working volunteers.

Buckeye Firearms Association wishes to thank Mark Reising, Steve Summer, Elijah Summer, Tom Savage, Bill O'Hair, Jack Higenbotham, Robbie Nobel, Joe Eaton, Lou and Pat Williams for their hard work all day.

Click on 'Read More' for updates as the conference proceeds.

Saturday, October 6

Called to order at 8:15. Buckeye Firearms Association Chairman Jim Irvine lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. John Snyder of the St Gabriel Possenti Society gave the invocation.

Joe Tartaro gave a brief history of the gun rights struggles, going back to governor Rockefeller and gun control bills defeated in wva. Gun groups finally banded together to work to defeat bad legislation, and this was the beginning of "attack on one gun is attack on all" mentality.

Alan Gottlieb gave an outline of the challenge ahead. Federal elections are a big threat in 2008. The parker case will be a watershed event.

John Snyder, Charles Cunningham, Larry Pratt. Ralph walker and Jake McGuigan gave updates of federal legislation pending, and a review of the past year in dc.

Ralph Walker from the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association gave a very enlightening presentation. Muzzleloaders are not firearms, but the propellant is regulated as an explosive. Ralph talked about all the regulation of black powder. In a two day match he shoots two pounds of powder. Many jurisdictions restrict to one pound. Also stated that no black powder produced in the united states, so any u.n. Regulation will directly impact muzzleloaders. A good example of how gun control is not about assault rifles.
Robert Levy spoke about the origins of the Parker case. Plaintiffs were chosen to represent a diversity of races, ages, occupations, economic and educational backgrounds. Ultimately 6 were chosen. D.C. was chosen as the forum because they wanted to take an approach similar to Thurgood Marshall's approach with the civil rights cases. Incremental. D.C. is where the federal government is located, so it presents the cleanest chance for a decision squarely on the issue of what the second amendment means. D.C. also has a de facto gun ban, making it attractive as a law that is completely unreasonable. Many political pressures were brought to bear on D.C. to drop the case, as the antis are scared of the case.

Mr. Levy reviewed the case progress and the procedural developments. The SCOTUS should decide whether to take the case up or not by the first or second week of November, with a decision by July if they do take it. The Justice department has intervened to support the second amendment. visit www.dcguncase.com

Alan Gura, lead counsel for the Parker plaintiffs, provided updates from the attorney's chair. The SCOTUS is supposed to address important cases, not just unjust cases. The SCOTUS is also to address cases where there is a conflict of law. In the parker case, both conditions exist, it is important and there is a conflict. D.C. has tried to argue the merits of their case in their brief in support of jurisdiction. This is not really appropriate. D.C. has tried to change the argument. D.C. claims they can ban handguns since they allow long guns. (no, they really don't. D.C. has a functional firearms ban, 6 month license process, all guns must be disassembled, unloaded locked etc.) Besides, in no other way is a ban allowed on a fundamental right simply because some other way allegedly is allowed. just because they allow knives does not mean that they can ban guns.

D.C. has also argued that the gun ban works and prevents crime. No really, they did argue this to the SCOTUS. This argument has been refuted by the D.C. crime reports, which conclude that gun crimes continue to rise despite the laws. Further, the city always argues in front of courts that they have no legal obligation to provide protection to their citizens.

State Legislative Affairs Briefing:
State Senator Sam Slom (R-HI) discussed the importance of meeting with your legislators and working with other groups that share a common goal.

State Representative Jackie Walorski (R-IN) talked about taking back your state legislators. Indiana passed a law the making handgun licenses lifetime with no expiration. She is working on legislation to force Judges to hand CWL’s to persons who are obtaining a protection order. It’s hard to imagine the Ohio legislature even discussing the pro-gun bills that are already law in Indiana.

State Representative Tom Brinkman (R-OH) talked about how a few people can make a big difference and we need to work together to keep pressure on the legislature. He also addressed the success of the veto-override to pass statewide preemption and the future of Castle Doctrine.

Chuck Michel Esq., legislative council to California Rifle & Pistol Association discussed problems fighting anti-gun agendas. Every gun owner should be concerned by CA, because it is a testing bed for passing anti-gun legislation in the rest of the county. Bills requiring micro-stamping and banning lead ammunition has passed the legislature and is now on the Governor’s desk. They are working to challenge so-called safe storage laws.

Stephen Aldstadt, Secretary-Treasurer, SCOPE Inc. of New York discussed the difficulties of owning firearms in New York, especially New York city. As bad as Ohio’s laws, we are far ahead of New York.

Congresswomen Jean Schmidt (R-OH) gave a terrific talk regarding our freedoms. As a holder of an Ohio Concealed Handgun license she is one of us. She discussed the origins of the 2nd Amendment. She talked about living in D.C. where she may not possess a working firearm and the Parker Case where the D.C. gun ban was ruled unconstitutional. Schmidt cited some of Dr. John Lott’s statistics about crime and the district of D.C. and let us know that living in D.C. she can verify the accuracy Lott’s research. Schmidt is a co-sponsor of HR1861, a national concealed carry bill. Knowing that they can’t win in legislatures, the gun-banners have turned to the courts and lawsuits to kill our rights. She noted that we must remain informed and engaged in the battles that lie in our future. She concluded with a promise to remain a strong friend and defender of our rights which brought a standing ovation.

Schmidt was given an award by the CCRKBA for her outstanding work.

Venus Rey, Miss America from 1944 who was involved in a self-defense situation in the past year. Her talk was pointed in describing the changes in our country over her lifetime. She called for a renewal of a volunteer militia and a renewal of the idea of personal self-defense.

To all of our delighted surprise, the awards luncheon concluded with Buckeye Firearms Association being awarded the Grassroots Organization of the Year award for 2007. Collin Rink accepted the award on behalf of the dozen or so Buckeye Firearms volunteers present.

After the awards luncheon, the panel presentations resumed with Popular Culture and the Future of the Gun Rights. Clayton Cramer, author of several pro-gun books. He spoke of cases where guns have demonstrated to make the difference, and talked about some of the challenges we are facing. Dr. Timothy Wheeler, M.D., spoke of Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership, a medical group formed to combat the various medical groups who claimed gun violence was a health epidemic. They had a long, uphill battle in even getting in the door to talk at these medical conferences. Slowly they are making some progress within the medical community.

Nicole Stallard was the surprise performance on behalf of the Pink Pistols, with several applause lines talking about how any group that is persecuted must take responsibility to defend themselves. Government will not protect you. In the most memorable moment, she commented that 911 gets you killed, 1911 saves lives.