By Chad D. Baus

During my seven-plus years experience covering Second Amendment issues and the media in Ohio, I've learned that whenever the Columbus Dispatch decides to cover a gun issue, it is important to keep in mind where they began, and where they have stayed in the 130+ years since.

So when I read the opening paragraph of the Dispatch's story on Southern Ohio Machine Gun Shoot in Minford, I was prepared for the worst.

By Chad D. Baus

Earlier this month, Republican State Senator Kevin Coughlin, who declared his candidacy for the 2010 governor's race in January, began circulating an email designed to bring the Second Amendment to the front and center of early GOP primary discussions.

This week, former Congressman John Kasich, who declared his own candidacy for the Republican nomination at the beginning of June, issued with his campaign's first official statement on the subject of gun rights.

When the decade-long battle for concealed carry reform was raging in Ohio, pro-Second Amendment advocates recognized the Lima News as one of the few newspapers whose editorial page featured opinions as firm in support of the Second Amendment as they were on the First.

Five years after Ohio's concealed carry law took effect, the newspaper's news room has proved that they too continue to be one of the few journalistic enterprises in Ohio capable of providing an objective look at Second Amendment issues.

In a story entitled "Concealed carry five years later - Why it works", reporter Greg Sowinski takes a look at the increasing numbers of concealed handgun license-holders, the police view, views from opponents, and a look to the future of CCW.

By John Longenecker

The genius of concealed carry of handguns is that would­-be murderers remain uncertain as to who is armed and who isn't. You never know if the target is armed with lethal force, and more to the point, how alert and prepared they are to resist. This is true for everyone interested in being as safe as they can be from future violence, because it comes to the realization of specific unalterable realities: you're on your own. It's a matter of positive attitude, not belligerence.

This week some Southern California church leaders came to that very same conclusion, and took up a position advocating not only a very discreet security presence of professionals, but also took the advice of their consultants and adopted the policy of advocating concealed carry of handguns among the congregation.

Realities are the core of solving the problem of church violence, and having the stomach to face those realities and to meet them. For too long, employers, churches, schools and others have said many different ways that they are sad to see things have to come to this, but this is a trap which serves not the people, but the killers. Other objections have also delayed facing the reality of how to meet the reality of murders and mayhem on campus. Fifteen Southern California church leaders refused to fall into that trap, and they sought out expert advice. Among other steps, it involves concealed carry of handguns in church, and they took it.

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, which brings us to our review of headlines from around the state though a pro-gun rights lens.

From a rape near a "no-guns" victim zone to an invitation to being guns to church, these articles should be a part of your required reading!

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

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report this week entitled, "Firearms Trafficking: U.S. Efforts to Combat Arms Trafficking to Mexico Face Planning and Coordination Challenges."

Among other things, the report asserts that Mexican officials consider illicit firearms the number one crime problem affecting their country's security; that about 87 percent of firearms seized in Mexico and traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) in the last five years originated in the United States; and that these firearms are increasingly more powerful and lethal, including "high-caliber and high-powered" AK-47 and AR-15 type semi-automatic rifles. The report further contends that the country's law enforcement agencies are insufficiently organized, and that Mexico has a history of corruption at the federal, state and local levels.

With regard to the "87 percent" statistic, the report's figures make clear that BATFE only traces a fraction of the guns seized. Those firearms are not selected randomly, but are likely selected because they are the guns most likely to have come from the U.S. Trace data reveals nothing about the large number of guns that are not traced.

By Chad D. Baus

State Senator Kevin Coughlin, the first person to declare his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2010 governor's race, is circulating an email designed to bring the Second Amendment to the front and center of early GOP primary discussions.

The email, delivered under the subject header "Can we trust Kasich on Second Amendment rights?," contains a fundraising letter that documents Coughlin's strong record of support for gun rights, while calling into question his Republican opponent's record.

By Jim Shepherd

Yesterday, firearms regulations in Washington, D.C. were amended by emergency order. That amending process came in response to a federal suit filed by the Second Amendment Foundation challenging the arbitrary nature of previous regulations enforced in the District.

Huh?

OK, plain English: the lawsuit asserted the D.C. list of approved handguns was inadequate. As in unacceptable because it followed the California list of approved firearms, which is also unacceptable. That list, FYI, included guns that were not approved for what was nothing more than cosmetic items, some as insignificant as color.

By Dave Yost

Twenty-three attorneys general went on record last week, asking the federal government in a letter to not re-impose the so-called assault weapons ban. Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray was not among them.

The measure, formally known as the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, was passed in desperation at the height of the crack-fueled drive-by killings of the 1990s. It was famously ineffective, and expired in 2004. (It turns out the best way to get murderers off the street is to convict them of murder and lock them up.)

The issue was pretty much off the table, with the exception of a few people on the far left who simply don't think anybody should have any firearms at all. Then U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder created a furor when he said the Administration would like to renew the expired ban.

The bipartisan group of states attorneys general sent a letter to Mr. Holder on June 11. Although it included predictable states from the West and the South, it also included attorneys general from places like Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida and New Hampshire.

But it did not include Ohio's attorney general, Richard Cordray. And no one in the news media has asked him why he did not sign the letter. An excerpt:

NEWTOWN, Conn -- Data released by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 1,023,102 checks in May 2009. This figure is a 15.4 percent increase from the 886,183 reported in May 2008.

FBI background checks are required under federal law for all individuals purchasing either newly manufactured or used firearms from federally licensed retailers. The checks serve as a gauge of actual sales but do not reflect the actual number of firearms sold.

The May increase follows a 30.3 percent increase in April, a 29.2 percent gain in March and rises of 23 percent in February, 28 percent in January, 24 percent in December and 42 percent in November when a record 1,529,635 background checks were performed.

The increase coincides with an up tick in excise taxes reported by firearms and ammunition manufacturers, another key economic indicator for the firearms industry.

The total number of background checks reported since the beginning of NICS is 102,051,149.