FRIDAY FLASHBACK!: Making a difference in STATE politics

Buckeye Firearm Association's web site is seeing an amazing growth in visitors and new articles are being posted several times a week.

With everything that is going on, it is easy to miss some important and interesting articles. To make sure that you don't miss anything, we are going to repost one of our more popular articles every Friday.

This week's "Friday Flashback" is....

Making a difference in STATE politics

By Jim Irvine

When asked who their State Senator is, a lot of people reply with, “Mike DeWine” or “George Voinovich.” These are Ohio’s two US Senators. They work in Washington with/against President Bush. They have no more to do with running our state than Senator Kennedy (D-MA) or Senator Clinton (D-NY).

Each of us also has a Congressman, sometimes called a US Representative. They also work in Washington D.C. and have no direct involvement in Ohio legislation.

While news media, especially national networks like Fox News and CNN report more on National politics, it is local politics that have the greatest effect on your day to day life (with the likely exception of the Federal Tax Code.)

Ohio has its own government that mirrors the federal government in many ways. We have an Ohio House, Ohio Senate, and a Governor. When the Ohio legislature passes a law, it is only in effect in our state. Each state has a similar Government.

Click on 'Read More' to continue reading.

The President is the highest ranking elected position in the country, while Governor is the highest in the State. While Secretaries of State and Attorney General are appointed by the President at a national level, they are elected positions in Ohio.

No US laws forbid concealed carryin the 50 states – that is strictly a state issue. Washington D.C. is a special situation where possession of a self-defense gun is illegal (It has been the murder capital 14 of the last 15 years). Vermont has no restrictions on concealed carry, so one may carry a weapon there with no training, state licensing, media access or “plain sight.” When people talk about “passing Vermont” legislation in Ohio, what they really mean is repealing all the restrictions that have been passed. Vermont has its law because of laws it didn’t pass, not because of laws it did.

Ohio has 33 Ohio Senate districts, and 99 Ohio House districts. Each Senate district is made by combining three House districts. There is no correlation to the numbering system.

We each have one State Representative and one State Senator. These are the people who vote on concealed carry, hunting, range protection, and a host of firearms issues. While Washington has certainly passed gun laws which affect each of us, there is far more action at the State level.

It is at the Ohio level where Buckeye Firearms Association, the NRA, and US Sportsmen’s Alliance worked to pass legislation to protect sportsmen’s dollars, and allow a apprentice hunting program. We are working with the legislature to pass HB347 which would eliminate some “plain sight” restrictions for CHL’s, make firearm laws uniform throughout the state and several other needed fixes.

It is at the State level where we will focus our attention to pass “Victim Bill of Rights” or “Castle Doctrine” legislation (HB541) to eliminate a “duty to retreat” before defending your life and to protect you and your family from being damaged by lawsuits filed by a criminal or his family for injuries sustained while he was trying to rob/rape/kill you.

It is as the State level where we will work to pass “Katrina” legislation (HB508) that will prevent law enforcement from confiscating your guns during a time of emergency such as happened to many people in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Our State politicians have much smaller districts than our Federal politicians. They tend to be much more in tune with their constituents and really value your input. Many are just regular folks, not career politicians.

Many Buckeye volunteers have developed relationships with our Ohio legislators. Over time some of those relationships have evolved into friendships. Those friendships allow us to better understand the political issues and process so that we can be more effective at effecting change. They also allow the politician a better understanding of the gun owner and how a small change in wording can have a dramatic effect on the gun owner.

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to start building relationships with your elected officials. Together we need to develop friendships with all 99 State Representatives, 33 State Senators and all statewide offices. It’s easy to see that working with friends is far more productive than working against adversaries.