A Dark Day for Freedom in Washington

by Chad D. Baus

Barack Obama, who has been termed the most anti-gun president in American history, has won a narrow victory and will return to the White House for a second term. While the president will be held somewhat in check by a Republican Congress (which looks to have expanded its pro-gun majority), he is expected to expand his anti-gun, anti-freedom policies through executive orders and bureaucratic rules, both of which he has wielded as dictatorial mandates.

Efforts to take the U.S. Senate also fell short. As such, under continued Democrat leadership, pro-gun legislation such as national right to carry reciprocity will continue to face a long road to passage. Gun owners will still be exposed to the threat of ratification of anti-Second Amendment United Nations treaties, and perhaps worst of all, Barack Obama's anti-Second Amendment Supreme Court nominees will face a much easier road to confirmation.

At the state level, the prospects for Ohio gun owners look much better. Buckeye Firearms Association will continue to evaluate election results and update our endorsement pages throughout the day, but the early picture suggests that our pro-gun majority has improved yet again.

Buckeye Firearms Association issued endorsements in 17 of 18 state Senate races, and we won 100% of our endorsed candidates.

In the Ohio House, we endorsed in 74 races, and 57 of our endorsees won - a 77% rate of success.

Two of three BFA-endorsed candidates for state Supreme Court won their races - Justice Terrence O'Donnell (R) won re-election, and Sharon Kennedy (R) defeated former Gov. Ted Strickland's anti-gun appointee, Yvette McGee-Brown (D).

Buckeye Firearms Association is thankful for the hard work of our many volunteers. In this election cycle:

• We researched and graded over 250 candidates in Ohio.
• We distributed over 100,000 printed voter guides.
• Over 17,200 people used our online voter guide.
• Over 12,600 people downloaded our voter guide in PDF form.
• Over 9,600 people created a custom voter guide.
• We provided information on endorsed candidates to more than 100,000 unique website visitors in October.
• We sent out well over 1 million emails with election information, including district-targeted candidate information.
• We mailed postcards to thousands of gun owners in select races around Ohio.

At the state level, we have much to be encouraged about. But the growing storm in Washington D.C. threatens much of our freedoms, and that is certainly going to be the thing gun owners remember most about Election Day 2012.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.