It’s not easy to get lawmakers to pay attention to issues other than energy and housing when gas is $4 per gallon and banks are announcing record losses due to failing mortgage investments.

Yet that’s exactly what the National Rifle Association is attempting to do by grading members on whether they sign a discharge petition to force a vote on an NRA-backed bill. Given the lobby’s clout, the chances are that many lawmakers will give it a serious look.

The Willoughby News-Herald has published an excellent story updating readers on the ongoing 101st running of the National Matches, which are being held at Camp Perry, a sprawling 640-acre Ohio National Guard base along Lake Erie in Ottawa County.

By Tim Inwood

In a very foolish move, the City of Washington D.C. has put itself back in the position of being sued by the same man for the same reasons, in just over a month. Dick Heller was victorious on June 26th, when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the historic judgment striking down the city’s thirty-two year old handgun ban, but in a rather stupid move, the city of Washington D.C. decided to only barely modify their handgun law to squeak by. Some of the provisions kept are clearly at odds with the Supreme Court ruling.

The city said they would allow registration of revolvers but kept their ban on semiautomatic firearms capable of accepting a 12 shot magazine, which they define as a machine gun. As any magazine manufacturer can fabricate such an item, this rule effectively outlaws all semiautomatic firearms in the city. The District of Columbia recognizes this fact and has told the citizens if they bring in a semiautomatic pistol it will be confiscated and they will eventually be prosecuted for possessing a 'machine gun.'

The Florida Chamber of Commerce and The Florida Retail Federation argued for three years that business owners had an absolute right to control their employees. That's why they kept calling it the "take-your-guns-to-work" legislation.

They claimed they could search employee vehicles and ban firearms from those vehicles in the employer's parking lot. They claimed businesses didn't care if customers had guns in cars, they only cared about their right to control employees. When the legislature passed the law protecting the rights of workers, The Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Retail Federation filed a lawsuit in federal court asking the Court to throw out the law.

They argued that the law requiring businesses to allow guns in vehicles in their parking lots constituted an unconstitutional "taking" of their property. In court, the federal judge ruled against them – THEY LOST.

They argued that OSHA regulations require them to provide a safe work environment for their workers, which required them to bans guns in parking lots to comply with OSHA requirements. In court, the federal judge ruled against them – THEY LOST.

They argued that, as employers, they had an absolute right to control the conduct of their employees and could ban guns from employee vehicles in company parking lots while employees were at work. In court, the federal judge ruled against them – THEY LOST.

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 a church shooting to a home invasion, these articles should be a part of your required reading!

What follows is several days of headlines accompanied by short, concise pro-gun analysis.

In an email addressed "Dear fellow gun owner", Libertarian presidential candidate and NRA Board of Directors member Bob Barr wrote:

Just a few weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Washington's gun ban unconstitutional, the city government there is passing new ordinances that might as well be a renewal of the ban as it requires that guns kept there be locked up and/or disassembled. Their new law adds further restrictions and registrations that were clearly not the intent of the Court.

Have you noticed the total silence about this issue in the Presidential campaign?

By his actions - not his words - we know that Barack Obama is a long time proponent of every imaginable gun control scheme. He is a perfect fit for the gun grabbers in his party.

And where is John McCain on this issue? Silent.

Barr's email continues by stating that "as one of my first acts as President I would order federal law enforcement to step in and force Washington, D.C. officials to abide by the court ruling. I am reminded this day of the time when federal authorities had to step in to enforce court rulings related to desegregation in the South."

"Gun ownership and use is as much a civil right as any other, and I will continue the fight for our freedom to keep and use our firearms."

By Tim Inwood

The hot steamy weekend of July 19th was the latest gathering of the Ohio Gun Collectors Association. The show was held at Roberts Centre in Wilmington, Ohio and as always it was the place to be for the serious gun enthusiast. It truly is like going to a museum where the artifacts on display, are also for sale. The issue is always how much money you can bring. Some folks do bring things that are strictly just for display; after all, part of the fun of gun collecting is showing and talking about your treasures.

At the end of my aisle was a fantastic display of LC Smith shotguns. Another fellow had Marine Corps legend General Chester Puller’s Colt 1911 on display. You really do walk amongst history at any OGCA show. I not only enjoy the show for what is displayed but also for the chance to see friends and chance to catch up on things. My old friend Bruce Grapevine, who preceded me as a GOP Central Committeeman for our township, always stops to discuss
the latest political machinations in Columbus and Washington D.C. John Holton from a delightful little gun shop in Xenia called “In the Ten Range” stopped and wanted to follow up on how happy I was with my last purchase from the shop--which as it turns out I am indeed delighted with the pistol. I also got to see my friend Dan Brubaker, a great fellow who donated a Ruger 10/22 rifle to the youth program at my gun club, the CCFSA. The OGCA is something I always enjoy immensely on many levels that goes beyond just being a gun show.

The gathering was well attended and folks were in good spirits. They certainly were more talkative than usual and they had every reason to do so, and I am not just talking about the usual “Did you see the beautiful Colt model of 1855 Revolving rifle in aisle E?” Many wanted to discuss the fair breeze that has carried gun owners into good news as of late.

Since the May show a number of things have happened to put a spring in the step of every gun owner in the Buckeye State.

The Washington City Paper is reporting that Dick Anthony Heller, who successfully challenged the District’s handgun ban in a landmark Supreme Court decision, is again suing the District of Columbia.

According to a complaint cited by the story, Heller, along with co-plaintiffs Absalom M. Jordan Jr., and Amy McVey, are taking particular aim at the effective ban of semiautomatic pistols by the District’s gun regulations, which in essence ban all semiautomatic weapons as “machine guns.”

By Jeff Riley

On June 26th, 2008 the Supreme Court of the United States of America announced the long anticipated decision in the District of Columbia vs. Heller. Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Scalia stated, in part:

The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditional lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

It is important to recognize that all nine Supreme Court Justices agreed that the right to possess a firearm is an individual right. The Court finally put a stake through the heart of the "collectivist theory" a theory that the individual right to own a firearm was predicated on belonging to an organized militia.

This is an important victory for gun and self-defense rights advocates, however as the saying goes "The devil is in the details".

Justice Scalia also wrote in his opinion:

Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited.

By Brian S. Stewart

Mayor Adrian Fenty and the anti-gun elites of Washington D.C. recently unveiled the district’s inevitable response to the historic D.C. v. Heller decision by the United States Supreme Court. The Court struck down the District’s blanket ban on handgun ownership (including inside the home) en route to establishing the Second Amendment as an individual right.

On July 14th, the Mayor issued a press release laying out the new restrictions he plans to inflict on the city’s residents.