John Kasich can learn a lot from Ted Strickland on the gun issue

By Gerard Valentino

Sunday night was the annual United States Sportsmen's Alliance dinner held at the Aladdin Shrine Temple in Columbus. Governor Ted Strickland made his second appearance as key-note speaker.

Also for the second time at the USSA event, Governor Strickland said the words conservative gun owners are dying to hear from John Kasich.

"While I am Governor, no anti-gun bill will ever pass in Ohio."

While the crowd was still cheering, Strickland then stated that he will use the veto pen to kill such a bill.

The Governor, a Democrat, made his statements without any prompting - he did it because he values the gun owners and hunters as a vital piece of Ohio's cultural make-up.

When given the same chance to make a pro-gun statement at a Tea Party event in Cincinnati, John Kasich failed the test, yet again.

You can see Kasich's exchange with Joe Eaton from Buckeye Firearms Association (BuckeyeFirearms.org) on youtube.com:

Many conservative gun owners were looking for a strong fiscal conservative to run for Governor in Ohio. John Kasich could be that candidate, but his past anti-gun sins are compounded by an inexplicable stubbornness on the issue.

Mr. Kasich simply refuses to acknowledge how deeply Ohioans value gun rights. The sad fact is it seems his campaign is starting to claim conservative gun owners are somehow being unfair to him over his vote for the 1994 Clinton Gun Ban. Some of his supporters claim gun advocates are just one issue voters who can't see the big picture.

Nothing can be further from the truth, since most conservatives with ties to the gun movement know that without making amends with the gun vote in Ohio, Mr. Kasich simply can't win. It is, in fact, the goal of conservative gun owners to help Mr. Kasich become our next governor, and changing his message on the gun vote is a key piece to that puzzle.

At the moment, there is very little gray area in how the grassroots gun owner views him and his message.

The sad fact is the Kasich campaign has received the benefit of the doubt from the pro-gun movement for so long because the leadership leans conservative and wants him as our next governor. If he wasn't so strong on other conservative issues, his attitude toward gun owners would have forced him to be written off months ago.

Nobody expects Mr. Kasich to champion the gun issue if it isn't in his heart to do so. However, the pro-gun leadership does expect him to state loudly that his vote for the 1994 Clinton Gun Ban was a mistake, and that if elected governor he will use the veto pen to kill any anti-gun bill that makes it to his desk.

Considering the actions of GOP governors on the gun issue in the past, that isn't unreasonable, and asking him to do so doesn't make pro-gun Ohioans one issue voters without regard for some of the big issues facing the state.

The Kasich campaign claims the economy, health care and job creation are the key issues to turning around the economy and the long term future of Ohio. There are few who doubt that is the case. Their lack of understanding about how hunting, guns and sportsmen fit into the equation is where they fail.

Hunting rights, gun ownership and a love of the outdoors is as vital to Ohio culture as rooting for the Buckeyes, attending the State Fair, or love of family.

Clearly, his campaign doesn't see it that way, and that will be his undoing.

Gerard Valentino is Buckeye Firearms Foundation Treasurer, and author of the Valentino Chronicles (paperback) now available through Amazon.com. His address is [email protected] and he invites comments.