By John Longenecker

Oklahoma state legislator Mike Shelton got my attention this morning. Oklahoma is the latest state to have passed a bill making it illegal for officials to confiscate weapons from citizens in time of emergency, part of the larger Stand Your Ground movement sweeping America.

Other states have passed similar legislation following the debacle in New Orleans where officials took guns from law-abiding homeowners who wanted their weapons for their original purpose: to defend their homes. That time had come, and officials coming to take weapons from the law abiding was just the fear some had imagined.

[A court ordered New Orleans to return the weapons immediately. New Orleans balked and said they didn’t have the weapons. They later admitted that they did, then defied a court order and were found in contempt. They subsequently agreed to return the weapons on the condition that the owners prove ownership and then stand for a background check first. So, in this case, when do the officials decide to obey the law? Another thing people feared had come: official defiance of the law without penalty.]

The Stand Your Ground movement, in my surmise anyway, includes the battle against the abuse of invoking eminent domain, as many states have re-examined eminent domain and have passed laws making it more difficult for authorities to back the confiscation of private property for the investment/so-called better use of others.

May 30, 2007
People's Defender

By Rep. Danny Bubp

It is interesting how events in our lives affect us. When I first arrived in Columbus, it was made clear to me that most legislators have strong opinions concerning Second Amendment rights. There are legislators that are pro-gun and there are those that are not. A recent confrontation has changed one legislator's anti-gun stance.

Earlier this month, a colleague of mine was the victim of an attempted robbery. This legislator was taking a walk near his home when he was approached by two men one of which pulled a gun on him. Fortunately the gunmen did not harm him and were scared off by neighbors responding to my colleague's cries for help. My friend, who has previously voted against legislation allowing Ohioans to carry concealed weapons, was quoted in a major Ohio newspaper, "I've changed my mind. You need a way to protect yourself and your family. I don't want to hurt anyone. But I never again want to be in the position where I'm approached by someone with a gun and I don't have one."

I believe that it is every law-abiding citizen's constitutional right to possess and transport firearms. The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution states, "The right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." The Ohio Constitution states, "The people have the right to bear arms for their defense." It is crucial that responsible citizens be allowed the ability to protect themselves and their family from harm.

Click 'Read More' for the entire op-ed.

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

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

Summertime Fun

By Jim Irvine

Today is the first full day of summer, which is another way of saying the days are now getting shorter. Before the rain turns to snow, we have several months to enjoy some good weather and great times.

Kids are out of school. It’s time to head to the beach, visit Cedar Point or Kings Island and celebrate July 4th. Many of us will travel to other states, visit our local county fair, and do all the things we can cram into our few months of warm weather. Summer is a time to relax a little and have some fun.

Summer is also a time when crime increases. If you have a CHL, it becomes harder to conceal with summertime clothing. Carrying a firearm and obeying all the laws is certainly not always convenient. Most of the times it’s not necessary. But like insurance, you need to carry it all the time, because you can’t predict what day you will need it.

Click on 'Read More to continue reading.

By Chris Chumita & Chad D. Baus

Having experienced humiliation by supporting the false accuser of the Duke lacrosse players, the Reverend Jesse Jackson's latest race-baiting initiative (read: his latest attempt to get his face in front of the media) involves taking up the mantle of gun control. The fruit of his labor was an article called "Gunning For Guns", published, among other places, in the Xenia (OH) Gazette.

Click 'Read More' for a full analysis.

During a weekend Meet the Press interview with pro-concealed carry Democrat presidential candidate Bill Richardson, NBC anchor Tim Russert exhibited exactly why Buckeye Firearms Association's Larry Moore wrote "The media and guns – things they should know".

More than two years after it sunsetted, Russert's grilling of Bill Richardson over his support for the sunsetting of the Clinton Gun Ban reveals that he is still under the false impression that the failed legislation banned automatic weapons, which he refers to as "street sweepers" and "uzi machine guns".

Click 'Read More' for applicable excerpts from the interview.

By Chris Chumita

There are more stories pertaining to our gun rights in Ohio then we can possibly draw attention to with individual daily commentary. But they are all worthy of mention.

What follows is our review of headlines from around the state though a pro-gun rights lens.

From the official release of the JPFO's new movie to dogs being shot in a robbery, these articles should be a part of your required reading!

Click on the "Read More..." link below for several days of headlines accompanied by short, concise pro-gun analysis.

By John Longenecker

Senator Dianne Feinstein said, "Turn 'em in, America," a very unpatriotic command nobody has to obey because it was against the law. She might as well have urged Americans to purchase other Americans while it's against the law to own another person in this country. As civil rights, both are absolute, and for good reason. Who in her right mind could urge Americans to surrender a civil right? Indeed, even just a little? Could any reason be good enough?

With all the school shootings recently, be sure to include citizens in the critique and recovery process. Officials - armed officials, by the way - have a very bad record of freezing constituents out of the planning and recovery process. Meanwhile, let us not forget that some campus administrators are getting it, as in South Carolina and Utah. Praise to you and your patriotic values in recognizing citizen authority. Praise. What do they know others refuse to hear? They know that citizen authority isn't checked at the admissions office, and that it is wrong to fully understand individual citizen authority and to hide it from students or utterly defy that authority.

Click on 'Read More' to continue reading.

By Jim Irvine

Representative John Adams (R-78) of Sidney, Ohio has introduced HB225. The bill is substantially similar to HB559 from 2004 and HB91 from 2005, which were both sponsored by Representative Tom Brinkman. HB225 would repeal many of the onerous provisions of our current concealed carry law and allow law abiding citizens to carry concealed without a license.

Alaska-style CCW is an exciting possibility for gun owners in Ohio. It shows Rep. Adams is in touch with the most conservative of the gun owner base/constituency. It is an important philosophical position.

In the Rules and Reference committee, Representatives Jon Husted (R) Kevin DeWine (R) Larry Flowers (R) and Arlene Setzer (R) voted to refer HB225 to the Criminal Justice Committee. Joyce Beatty (D) objected and was joined by Joe Koziura (D) and Chris Redfern (D) voting against the referral. Redfern’s vote is of particular concern because he seems to have moved from a vote we could count on to one that has gone against us since he became Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.

Vermont and Alaska already allow citizens to carry concealed handguns without a license, but all other states require a license (CHL) to carry a concealed handgun. Like Alaska, this bill would leave the license in place so that people who travel outside Ohio can have a license to take advantage of the many states that already honor Ohio’s license.

By Chad D. Baus

Last month, I asked the nation's gun owners if they were willing to be Mitt Romney's cheap date - if they were willing to forget his years of anti-gun philandering and buy into his election-season pandering.

"Is it just me," I asked, "or is it incredibly insulting every time a politician expects America's hunters, sportsmen, concealed handgun license-holders and gun owners to fall for a couple of drunken one-liners in an election year?"

It seems Mr. Romney isn't the only Republican presidential-hopeful who thinks gun owners are as easy as that airheaded college girlfriend who watches as their date gropes and fondles waitresses, but forgives him as soon as he says "I love you baby. Now go get me another beer."

Rudy Giuliani established a solid anti-gun record in New York. In the 1990s, Giuliani and anti-gun President Clinton talked about establishing uniform national gun control laws. And in 2000, while defending his use of taxpayer dollars to file junk lawsuits designed to put gun manufacturers out of business, he accused these American businesses of knowingly calculating sales to an illegal market by intentionally overproducing guns.

By Joe DeVito

A recent event in downtown Columbus furthered the case long since proved by concealed carry advocates, that leaving employees defenseless at work is dangerous and irresponsible. A very well known Fortune 500 company has just such a policy, despite the repeated attacks on employees walking to and from their cars parked off of company property.

The area between the work building and most parking lots is well known for drug dealing, panhandling car break-ins and purse snatching.

Yet, in an irresponsible act, employees are banned from carrying at work and therefore are disarmed on their trip to and from their vehicles, plus while standing out front of the building during lunch breaks.

During one of the recent warm days, an unprovoked attack took place on a large group of company employees. Without the courageous act of two unarmed employees there could have easily been serious injury or deadly force used against unarmed innocent people.

Click 'Read More' for the entire commentary.