Obama's Ohio gun grabber: Persons who shoot home invaders should (still) be guilty until proven innocent
(the burden of proof rests on who asserts, not on who denies) - Wikipedia
By Chad D. Baus
While most people are familiar with the legal right to a presumption of innocence – being innocent until proven guilty – that exists in the modern nations, an Ohio gun ban lobbyist with ties to Barack Obama seems to be quite ignorant about the matter.
Having suffered yet another stinging loss in the Ohio legislature with passage of Castle Doctrine, Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence (OCAGV) Executive Director Toby Hoover told Ohio University's The Post that "a gun owner who shoots an intruder in their home should not be assumed innocent."
Investigations by Buckeye Firearms Association have revealed that OCAGV's primary source of funding comes from the anti-gun Joyce Foundation, for which Barack Obama served on the board of directors from 1994 through 2002.
(Links to the two-part Buckeye Firearms Assoc. investigation of the OCAGV's tax records can be found here and here.)
According to Politico.com, the Chicago-based foundation doled out more than $20 million dollars in grants to anti-gun groups like OCAGV during Obama's time there. From the story:
The foundation funded legal scholarship advancing the theory that the Second Amendment does not protect individual gun owners’ rights, as well as two groups that advocated handgun bans. And it paid to support a book called “Every Handgun Is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns.”
...During Obama’s time on the Joyce board...the foundation gave seven grants totaling more than $2.5 million to a group that wants Congress to take much more proactive action: the Violence Policy Center.
The D.C.-based nonprofit, which calls itself “the most aggressive group in the gun control movement,” for years has argued for a national handgun ban....
The Politico.com story goes on to say that the foundation maintains that it doesn’t take “detailed policy positions,” but rather uses its grants to “fuel a dialogue about how to address public policy issues like reducing gun violence.” Spokespeople maintain the majority of funding goes to study the "public health effects of gun violence."
That appears to be the purpose of a majority of the 83 gun-violence grants totaling nearly $24 million approved by Joyce’s board from 1997 (the first year for which the foundation has posted its annual report online) through 2002.
But in 2000, the foundation also awarded a $20,000 grant to a publishing group to support Sugarmann’s book, “Every Handgun Is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns.”
And in 2002, Joyce gave $10,000 to a nonprofit group called Handgun-Free America. The purpose of the grant was “to support a student grass-roots gun violence prevention campaign.” But the organization billed itself as “dedicated to ending the handgun epidemic in America through the sensible act of banning private handgun ownership.”
The Ohio State University’s Second Amendment Research Center, whose director Saul Cornell is well known in the Buckeye state for his anti-gun positions, got $525,000 from Joyce during Obama’s time on the board.
The report goes on to say that former Joyce officials told Politico that funding was typically approved by the board unanimously, and Politico could find no board members who served with Obama that recalled him raising a protest over grants to groups interested in banning handguns nationwide.
Hoover, whose Wild West-type predictions about what would happen if Ohio passed a concealed carry law have failed to come true, has long been known for making radical anti-gun positions.
On her website, Hoover encourages homeowners to "download a weapon free zone sign to legally prohibit guns in your home or business". One has to wonder if Hoover takes her own advice, posting "rob me" signs outside her Perrysburg, Ohio residence...
After Ohio's concealed handgun licensure (CHL) law took effect, Hoover went on record encouraging businesses to consider a potential new-hire's status as a CHL-holder before hiring, apparently oblivious to the civil rights lawsuits that could ensue from such blatant discrimination.
Hoover has even opposed educating elementary students on what to do if they find a gun ("Stop. Don't touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult."), claiming "there isn't a program out there that has proven effective." The nurses behind the Journal of Emergency Nursing Online study heartily disagree.
Obama seems hopeful that Ohio gun owners are either stupid, or have very short memories. This week, instead of coming here with a borrowed shotgun like John Kerry did in 2004, he has sent American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) President Ray Schoenke "to shoot a couple clay pigeons and talk about how the Second Amendment comes into play in the presidential campaign."
According to the Lancaster Gazette, Schoenke, who has funded campaigns of anti-gun candidates including Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, and Ted Kennedy, posed for a photo op at the Mid-State Gun Club in Clarksburg on Wednesday. From the story:
Schoenke said he believes Obama supports Second Amendment rights, including the right to bear arms, in the same manner as his opponent, John McCain. As a hunter, however, he thinks Obama would do a better job preserving land.
"His conservation stance and protection of the land is strong," Schoenke said. "As a hunter, what good is a gun if you have no land to hunt on."
Logan resident Mike Budzik, co-chair of the Ohio Sportsmen for McCain campaign, disagrees.
"Obama is an enemy of the Second Amendment," said Budzik. "He's opposed to concealed-carry laws, which we care about here in Ohio."
Obama has said on the record he would favor legislation tracking guns and gun owners who trade and sell guns illegally.
"His track record shows he is anti-gun, and Biden is also the same," said Budzik, pointing out the National Rifle Association has given him an "F" rating.
As Barack Obama continues to try and hide his anti-gun past and convince gun owners that he isn't interested in taking their guns ("I don't have the votes in Congress"), Midwestern gun owners (you know, those "bitter" small-town yokels who cling to their guns and religion) would do well to pay attention to the company he keeps.
Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.
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