Gun owners strongly urged to vote NO on Issue 1

Editor's note: This article originally was published Sept. 10.

State Issue 1 on the ballot this fall is billed by its misleading proponents as a way to eliminate gerrymandering of legislative district maps in Ohio. Yet what the constitutional amendment would actually do is cause a level of gerrymandering that could obliterate our gun rights.

Proponents falsely claim Republicans unfairly draw maps in their favor to retain power. Of course, in the 1970s and '80s, when Democrats led the state and were in charge of drawing the maps, they thought it was fantastic. Now that Republicans have been in power, it's bad and unfair.

ICYMI: Tim Walz' debate contradictions should be alarming to all gun owners

On its face, the amendment's objective is worthy, right? After all, it would create an Ohio Citizen Redistricting Commission of 15 "citizens, not politicians" — five Democrats, five Republicans, and five "independents" — who would together draw what they view as fair and impartial districts. And it supposedly would ban current and former politicians from serving on the commission.

But as the certified ballot language indicates, it does the exact opposite of what it claims to do, which is why the group pushing it is suing over the language.

As New Albany resident and retired business owner Philip Derrow, a frequent contributor to The Columbus Dispatch, opined recently:

Ohio’s Constitution is a bloated monstrosity. Passage of Issue 1 this November will only make it more bloated — and, ironically, even less constitutional. ...

While Issue 1 will replace a few thousand words, it’ll add over 7000 new ones. It’s 17 pages long. Read the language for yourself, if you can spare 20-30 minutes. Few will. I never vote for issues I haven’t read and understood myself.

Worse, Issue 1 is profoundly anti-democratic and elitist.

'Independents' are not nonpartisan

Who are these independents? Are they nonpartisans who are purple in nature and don't support conservative or liberal causes? Of course, not.

The Pew Research Center — far from a conservative think tank — describes the political leanings of these so-called "independents."

An overwhelming majority of independents (81%) continue to “lean” toward either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Among the public overall, 17% are Democratic-leaning independents, while 13% lean toward the Republican Party. Just 7% of Americans decline to lean toward a party, a share that has changed little in recent years. This is a long-standing dynamic that has been the subject of past analyses, both by Pew Research Center and others.

An article by The New Republic — also not a conservative media outlet — elaborated further on independents not being nonpartisan.

“The interesting thing about independents is that they do have affiliations to political parties,” said University of Michigan political scientist Yanna Krupnikov—who, with the University of Arizona’s Samara Klar, literally wrote the book on political independents, 2016’s Independent Politics: How American Disdain for Parties Leads to Political Inaction. “They typically have a preference, but it’s potentially different from the deep-seated attachment that a strong partisan might have. But a large portion of them do seem to prefer one party or the other.” Roughly three-quarters of independent voters are known as “leaners”—they typically turn out to vote for one party or the other. Most independents, in other words, aren’t so independent.

Who appoints the members of the commission?

According to the amendment, the screening panel would consist of four judges, two who affiliate with Republicans and two who affiliate with Democrats. Think of judges like former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, who is among those spearheading this effort.

Justice O'Connor said it wouldn't be politicians on the commission. But she herself, a retired justice, was a politician elected as state lieutenant governor. All judges and justices in Ohio run for office and appeal to a particular political demographic. That, by definition, makes them politicians.

Worse, O'Connor, a RINO who served under fellow RINO Gov. Bob Taft, has shown recently she's no friend to the gun-rights community. For example, she sided with liberal justices in a 4-3 decision in 2021 that would force school staff to take 700-plus hours of peace officer training that is required by police departments before they carry a firearm while at work. Her opinions also would mean the state's preemption laws could be at risk. After all, she has said in reference to home rule and preemption, gun owners don't need to “research a patchwork of regulations to avoid violating the (local) law.”

In 2020, O’Connor led the majority in saying Ohio law restricts the right to bear arms in dangerous situations, upholding the conviction of a Clermont County man who had carried a shotgun around his home while intoxicated.

What would stop this screening committee, which could be very politically motivated, from appointing five RINOs or five left-leaning "independents"?

Follow the money and the support

As with all things political, it's important to follow the money and to see the organizations that favor a particular ballot measure.

Out-of-state money is pouring in to support Issue 1. With campaign funding approaching $30 million, roughly 85% of it is coming from outside the state, with some even coming from outside the United States.

As Ideastream Public Media pointed out:

"The largest donation was $6 million from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a progressive dark money group that's received contributions from Hansjörg Wyss, who's from Switzerland but lives in Wyoming and is estimated to be worth $10 billion."

As for support, pro-Issue 1 group Citizens Not Politicians has garnered the endorsement of groups like ACLU of Ohio, American Federation of Teachers, OAPSE-AFSCME, and Ohio AFL-CIO, to name a few.

Man behind the curtain

Let's meet the guy in charge of this Trojan horse effort to put Democrats back in power forever — Sean Soendker Nicholson. Here's a snapshot of Nicholson's bio, according to a webpage on the Ohio Senate website:

• Vice President at Kennedy Communications, a Democratic communications and research shop in Washington “specializing in campaign persuasion mail” for progressive, issue-based campaigns targeting “the most persuadable voters.”

• Executive Director at Fired Up! Missouri, “a digital marketing agency and political consulting firm for campaigns, businesses, and progressive causes,” targeting “mean-spirited, self-righteous, close-minded, divisive, irresponsible, loud-mouthed, fear-mongering politicians.” (Gee...I wonder who they could mean...?)

• Executive Director and Founder of Progress Missouri, a “liberal and progressive advocacy group,” and “a marketing department for progressive ideas – a campaign that never stops.”

• Campaign Director for Clean Missouri election campaigns in 2018 and 2020, a “transpartisan coalition of organizations and grassroots leaders” to “persuade and mobilize the voters” to fall for a far-left redistricting scheme.

• A Principal at GPS Impact, helping “Democrats, progressive organizations and initiatives, and elected officials win in red states, including Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Louisiana and Ohio” using “communicators, influencers, problem solvers, storytellers.”

• Campaign Director for Citizens Not Politicians, “a collection of voting-rights groups that’s yet to share many details of their campaign plans.”

This is why we at Buckeye Firearms Association tried last year, albeit unsuccessfully, to raise the bar to 60% on amending the Ohio Constitution. A simple majority vote on Issue 1 could result in the creation of a group of anti-gun zealots who would love to undo the progress we have made here in Ohio.

As Rob Sexton, BFA's legislative affairs director, told "Keep and Bear Radio" podcast host and BFA executive director Dean Rieck recently, if Issue 1 passes, "folks like the Second Amendment community, we're going to have to fight for our rights harder than we ever have."

It is critical that Ohioans who support gun rights vote against this deceptive measure. Please vote NO on Issue 1!

Joe D. "Buck" Ruth, a longtime small-game hunter and gun owner who spent nearly three decades in the news industry, is the website and social-media manager for Buckeye Firearms Association.