Gun ban extremist announces candidacy for governor

In a move which ended heavy speculation that began in the hours after Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman quit the race for governor, anti-self-defense State Sen. Eric Fingerhut has announced that he will challenge NRA A-rated Congressman Ted Strickland in the Democrat's gubernatorial primary.

And unlike many Democrats who have recently expressed concerns that their anti-gun positions have been hurting their ability to get elected, Fingerhut is quickly making it clear he will not try to hide his opposition to your Consitutional right to bear arms.

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From a Columbus Dispatch story covering Fingerhut's first campaign press conference:

Fingerhut — former president of the Cleveland-based Handgun Control Federation — criticized Strickland’s support for the National Rifle Association’s agenda, including a bill that would "preemptively wipe off the books" gun restrictions passed by communities....

Referring to the...NRA agenda, Fingerhut said, "I don’t think that’s what the people of Ohio want, and I definitely don’t think that’s what voters in a Democratic primary want."

Strickland said he had not taken a formal position on the residency bill but was worried about the potential "profound effect on the family" of an employee being forced to live in the city where he or she works....He affirmed his support for a "state approach" to gun laws "rather than a patchwork of local jurisdiction decisions."

The Dispatch reports that when Fingerhut was asked whether he worried that state Rep. Chris Redfern, new chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party and a Strickland backer, would try to orchestrate the state party’s endorsement for Strickland, Fingerhut said, "That’s up to him, but I do think this election should be decided by Democratic voters, and that’s whose judgment I’ll follow." Redfern, like Strickland, supports Ohioans' right to carry.

On the day the Buckeye State's concealed carry bill passed into law, Fingerhut told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that "It's going to lead to tragedies and accidents of all kinds." And in 2001, he told the Cincinnati Post that "the presence of a gun is actually likely to escalate violence."

He could not have been more wrong then about the law, and he could not be more wrong now for Ohio gun owners.