Divided we fall

By Jim Irvine

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

So what does this have to do with your guns? Everything!

When we fight for CCW rights, the hunters don’t help. When we fight to protect hunting dollars, competition shooters don’t help. When we fight to fix transportation problems, those with CHL’s don’t help. When we don’t stand together, we fail separately.

Over 80,000 Ohio CHL’s have been issued.
Over 300,000 Ohio hunting licenses issued last year.
There are 3 million Ohio gun owners.

The media makes great claims about how much the NRA influences politics and legislation, but our screwed up confusing laws in Ohio are NOT the result of the NRA getting its way at every turn. They are the result of Ohio gun owners failing to work together. By working together, we have the numbers to not only influence the process, but to outright control it! That is one reason we are so feared by our enemies.

Ohio has a wealth of pro-gun groups. Imagine if Buckeye Firearms Association and the Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association and Ohio United Sportsmen and Ohioans for Concealed Carry and The Ohio Gun Collectors Association and The Peoples Rights Organization all worked together.

Imagine if we then joined forces with the The NRA and Second Amendment Foundation and the US Sportsmen’s Alliance and Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever and other national groups. Imagine if we were joined by every gun store and shooting range and hunting or sporting club in the state.

I know all the reasons it “will never happen.” Just like all those reasons we could not pass concealed carry with Governor Taft. (We did) Just like we could not make dramatic improvements in our law with Governor Taft. (We did) Just like we could not defeat the anti-gun Betty Montgomery with huge leads in every poll, huge leads in name recognition and a war chest three times the size of her pro-gun opponent and now Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann. (We did)

What I do know, is that unless we try, we are sure to fail. As the Chinese proverb states, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” It’s time to take that first step.

It does not matter if you are not a hunter, or don’t have your CHL, you should use our letter-writing feature and contact the Ohio DNR encouraging a change in the hunting rules.

It does not matter if you have a CHL, you should still support fixing transportation issues for those gun owners without a license.

It does not matter if you simply enjoy plinking or bullseye or target shooting, you should support hunting issues.

It does not matter if you only shoot on your own land, you need to support range protection laws.

It does not matter if you are a shotgunner who only participates in Trap and Skeet, you need to support black powder rifle shooters.

By helping each other, we help ourselves. And by each supporting each others issues, we all increase our chance of securing those changes that are important to ourselves.

Such change will not come overnight, or even in a decade. There is no simple answer to solve all our problems. But each of us can personally reach out to a shooter of a different discipline and promise to support their issues for their support of ours. Gun stores can increase business by helping their customers stay informed, and letting them know which group to contact for their issue and asking their customers to take a non-shooter shooting for a day.

Each pro-gun group has unique strengths. By combining the best of each group, and letting the strengths of one help where another is weak, we will all be greater than the sum of our parts. Then we will have achieved true greatness, and our laws will reflect our success.

One recent example of a gun owner stabbing other gun owners in the back is Jim Zumbo’s asinine comments on good firearms.

I call them "assault" rifles, which may upset some people. Excuse me, maybe I'm a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity. I'll go so far as to call them "terrorist" rifles. They tell me that some companies are producing assault rifles that are "tackdrivers."

Sorry, folks, in my humble opinion, these things have no place in…

Because he does not like them, you should not own or use one. That is the EXACT same "logic" as the people who want to take all your guns! As a hunter, who is supposed to take pride in a good clean kill, one would think accuracy is something he should be championing for, not railing against. Shameful.

While it would be easy to write a whole story correcting Jim’s short article, he does not deserve the time.

Remington Firearms summed it up well commenting on why they just terminated a long-standing relationship with Mr. Zumbo.

“Remington has spent tens of millions of dollars defending our Second Amendment rights to privately own and possess firearms and we will continue to vigorously fight to protect these rights,” commented Tommy Millner, Remington’s CEO and President. “As hunters and shooters of all interest levels, we should strive to utilize this unfortunate occurrence to unite as a whole in support of our Second Amendment rights.”

There is no place for such nonsense in the Second Amendment community. Few of us partake in all aspects of the shooting sports, but we must learn from those who can no longer own any guns in England and Australia – we must all act together to protect each of our disciplines.

I ask everyone to please support our hunters because you should not have to give up one of your rights, to exercise another.

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It's time to step up!