2012 Events and Goals for Buckeye Firearms Association

7:00am Wednesday, January 25, 2012

by Jim Irvine

Recently, leaders of Buckeye Firearms Association met to discuss and plan the coming year. Concealed carry and firearms legislation, elections and endorsements, and fun events were all on the agenda. It's going to be an exciting year.

Events

On the events front, we start with the Buckeye Bash on February 11. This event is a huge amount of work for us, but the items for auction continue to come in and I'm really looking forward to a fun evening.

Register now to attend this event!

Later this year, we will hold shooting events at Oxford, and one with Dave Spaulding similar to last year's.

We will have Dave Grossman back this fall in the Cincinnati area to present his "Bullet-proofing the Mind" seminar.

We are also looking into hosting a shooting event between Columbus and Cleveland, and possibly a fall shoot that will be fun and something completely different.

Finally, Buckeye Firearms Foundation will again sponsor a youth shooting event.

Legislation

Traditionally, only one significant gun bill passes the Ohio legislature in a legislative session, and that is almost always in the second year of the two-year session. In the first year of his first session, Governor Kasich has already signed two important bills eliminating nuisance restrictions on vehicle carry, permitting licensees to carry in restaurants (while not consuming or under the influence of alcohol) and correcting our restoration statute to comply with Federal law.

There are many items that still need fixing with Ohio firearms laws, and there will likely be legislation soon to address some of them. Items currently being discussed include improvements regarding reciprocity, training requirements, definition of loaded, duty to notify and victim zones.

In fact, just this week The Columbus Dispatch reported that Rep. Ron Maag is about to introduce two pro-gun bills: "One would allow people to bring a gun to the Statehouse parking garage, and the other no longer would require people to tell law officers during a traffic stop that they are carrying a gun."

Endorsements and elections

All the national media is focused on the Presidential race, which is obviously critical to gun owners. All 99 Ohio State Representatives, half of Ohio State Senators, three Ohio Supreme Court justices and numerous county and local elections will also take place that are also critical to gun owners.

Buckeye Firearms Association will soon be making announcements for the March 6 primary election. These are a great opportunity to get to know the people who will become your legislators, and more importantly, let them get to know you and understand what is important to you.

We cannot express strongly enough the importance of gun owners volunteering for endorsed candidates and getting involved. The amount of grassroots involvement for our endorsed candidates will directly impact the scope of legislation that becomes new law this year.

Both our Foundation and PAC start the year stronger financially than we have ever been. The ideas and goals we have for the coming year dictate that we must continue to exceed our prior year's performance. We thank all those who make our lofty goals a possibility, and ultimately, a reality.