2006 – The year in review

By Jim Irvine

As we sit here enjoying the holiday season, we can’t help but reflect on the year past. It has been a fun and challenging one for Buckeye Firearms Association, filled with tremendous growth. But the overall feeling would have to be “satisfied.” HB347 will become law over the Governor’s imprudent veto.

The bill was voted on five times in the last six weeks, including override votes in the Ohio House and Ohio Senate. We stood by our friends leading up to the November elections, and our friends stood by us in completing the veto override, something that has not happened in Ohio for almost three decades.

Congratulations to all of us. Right and good prevailed over lies and fear mongering.

The success we had in December was the reward for a years worth of hard work. None of these accomplishments would have been possible were it not for the support, monetary donations, and volunteering of you – our grassroots supporters.

Here are a few highlights of Buckeye Firearms Association accomplishments from 2006:

Click on 'Read More' for the entire story.

The first week of January Governor Taft signed HB367 into law, thus protecting sportsman’s dollars and insuring license fees would be used for conservation programs.

We co-sponsored an USSA candidate forum in the spring and participated in a USSA banquet in the fall that was well attended by candidates and legislators.

Before the primary election, we hosted our own candidate forum at Blackwing with most statewide candidates attending.

We were a factor in several primary elections, most noticeably helping Sandy O’Brien eliminate an anti-gun incumbent and setting up a no-lose Governor’s race in the fall.

We made our first U.S. Congressional endorsements, and saw a record 92% of our endorsed candidates win their elections. That bodes well for next year.

We rolled out our annual “Defender” program for those who donate a minimum of $25 a year.

HB296 (Hunter apprentice) became law and over 10,000 apprentice hunters took to the field this fall.

We participated in Delaware County’s annual clay shoot at Blackwing, with House Speaker Jon Husted.

We are active NRA certified instructors in handgun, shotgun, hunting and Refuse to be a Victim disciplines. We are building our base.

Our volunteers attended political fundraisers, candidate nights and debates. They walked in parades, made phone calls, did literature drops, stuffed envelopes, stamped post cards, distributed and displayed yard signs and worked in official capacities on political campaigns. They manned tables at gun shows and helped local stores/ranges/clubs inform their members about pro-gun candidates.

We distributed thousands of voter guides and thousands more were downloaded from our web site.

Thanks to our supporters, we saw enormous increases in our web traffic, allowing us to send a record number of letters to Columbus Legislators. Our free weekly email Newsletter sets new subscription records every week.

Our reciprocity cards and brochures are handed out by many instructors who are helping the cause by getting their students involved.

We collected over $9,000 in donations, spent over $11,000 to further the pro-gun cause and contributed another $1,700 in-kind donations to our endorsed candidates.

We were a force in the general elections, helping Marc Dann defeat the “untouchable” anti-gun Betty Montgomery and shocked the GOP establishment. Dann’s campaign said, “The gun vote was the reason we were able to defeat Betty.” Wins by Mary Taylor and Ted Strickland further prove the gun vote matters. All branches of Ohio government and most statewide office holders respect our Second Amendment rights.

We were quoted in every major news outlet in the state and several national media sources including USA Today. We had multiple appearances on NRANews.com, and local TV and radio.

Our network of grassroots volunteers has continued to grow, and with that our relationships with our legislators has grown both in breadth and depth.

We attended every single hearing on HB347 and most for HB296 and HB367 and contributed testimony on other pro-gun and anti-gun bills before the legislature.

We attended the NRA annual meetings and the SAF’s Gun Rights Policy Conference.

We developed relationships with leaders of other pro-gun groups in Ohio and throughout the country. We understand that all gun owners benefit when pro-gun groups work together.

Passing HB347 might be the end of a chapter, but it is just a beginning of our story. At Buckeye Firearms Association, we are looking forward to working with all our supporters to write the next chapter in Ohio Firearms reforms.

It’s been a fun year, and we are honored that so many of you have joined our team. Thank you! Each of you has contributed to the success of Buckeye Firearms Association, and we wish each and every one of you a happy and healthy New Year!

FLASHBACK: 2006 A year for change (see how our predictions held up!)