Buckeye Firearms Association and third party candidates

Buckeye Firearms Association has received several inquiries about why there are no third party candidates listed among our graded and endorsed candidates for the 2010 general election.

BFA has received surveys from some third party candidates in this election cycle. In the primary, we did choose to grade candidates in several contests where there were contested races on a third party ballot.

However in the general election, due to limited volunteer resources, we had to utilize a selection criteria to keep the process manageable. This year none of the third party candidates who submitted surveys met our candidate selection criterion.

Since we are nonpartisan, we do not factor in party membership or issues not directly related to gun rights. However, we must consider the realities of our abilities. We have many ideas that deserve more attention, but we simply lack the resources to act on everything we wish we could do.

Regarding endorsements, we need to focus on those who are most likely to get elected and work with us to move gun legislation. While it is our wish that more third party candidates who support the Second Amendment would get elected, it is not our mission to promote parties or try to change the system. We realize this is unsatisfying to many of our supporters, but we do not make our decisions lightly.

Please keep in mind that we have given hands-on support to organizations such as the Ohio Liberty Council and various "TEA party" groups in Ohio. Some of our leaders and supporters are Libertarian. We never work against third parties. And we can only hope that, while those who support third parties disagree with us from time to time, they would not work against us. We do have common interests and objectives, though our methods may differ.