Every gun owner in the US needs Ohio voters to show up for Husted

A last-minute TV ad push by a third-party Senate candidate who claims to be the true conservative could prove costly for the country.

The candidate makes false claims about Republican Sen. Jon Husted's position on firearm laws. Don't buy into the ad. It is BS. Husted is endorsed by Buckeye Firearms Association with an A rating and has been a reliable gun-rights leader.

Fall election: 2026 BFA-PAC Grades and Endorsements

Some staunchly pro-gun Ohio voters might see the commercial and think they'd like to make a statement by voting third party, believing the vote is a throw-away.

We get it. We've all been there at one point, checking the box for a candidate we know has no chance just to let a milquetoast candidate know we're paying attention. And if Ohio had ranked-choice voting like that third-party candidate prefers, it might be worth the risk.

But in this case, a vote for the third-party candidate would be very risky. In fact, it could be devastating for gun rights nationwide by handing the U.S. Senate over to anti-gun zealot Chuck Schumer. That in turn could cost us a Supreme Court nominee.

The race between Husted and Brown is very tight, and ANY pro-gun votes away from Husted would amount to a vote for Brown, a Democrat who frequently showed his disrespect for the Second Amendment by pushing nonsense gun laws and would be a loyal Schumer soldier.

Brown has an "F" rating from both BFA and the NRA and has proven himself to be anti-gun with support for red flag laws, assault weapons bans, magazine restrictions, universal background checks, storage requirements, and more anti-constitutional laws.

Like it or not, this Senate race is binary, and if you are truly pro-gun, we and the entire country are counting on you to vote for Jon Husted for U.S. Senate and keep Sherrod Brown fired.

Joe D. "Buck" Ruth, a pen name for Scott Hummel, is a longtime small-game hunter and gun owner who spent nearly three decades in the news industry. He is the website and social-media manager for Buckeye Firearms Association.