Buckeye Firearms Association

Canada: Multimillion-dollar 'red flag' regime all show, no go

SHummel — Fri, 15 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

American “red flag” laws (“punishment now, due process later”) have been opposed for years by groups as varied as the NRA and the ACLU because of their shaky science, minimal evidentiary requirements, and significant erosion of constitutional due process and property rights.

Seven years ago, commentators were already warning that the orders weaponized constitutionally protected First and Second Amendment activity into the basis for orders, furnished malicious individuals with a legal means to persecute others, and stripped the gun rights of innocent citizens for imagined future — not actual — offenses.

Canada’s Liberal government, relentlessly pro-gun control and blissfully unconstrained by legal norms, had no problem embracing the concept and, in 2023, introduced new “red flag” orders (Emergency Prohibition Orders and Emergency Limitations on Access Orders) via Bill C-21. A “backgrounder” on the law declared that “[p]rotecting the safety and security of victims of intimate partner violence and gender-based violence is of paramount importance. Victims need to feel protected and fully supported when they ask for help.”

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Under the law, anyone may apply for an order. Initial hearings are ex parte (without notice to the affected person, who is not present to respond to the allegations made), and once granted, the orders mandate the revocation of any firearm license and the removal of a person’s firearms, ammunition and “other weapons or associated items” for anywhere between 30 days and five years (for orders of over 30 days’ duration, the person’s firearms, license, and other items “won’t be returned”).

Bill C-21 was presented as part of a comprehensive plan to “keep Canadians safe from gun violence” and, in March, Frank Caputo, a Conservative member of Parliament, inquired how these orders contributed to public safety and at what cost. His written parliamentary question requested the details of federal government spending “on the ‘Red Flag’ Awareness Initiative 2025 and on other measures promoting the laws” (along with a cost breakdown), the number of “red flag” orders issued since Bill C-21 went into effect, and the total number of firearms obtained or seized by way of these orders.

The response of the Minister of Public Safety was telling, both in what was disclosed and what was not.

As of mid-March, CAD$728,829 had been spent to “raise awareness” of red flag laws, out of a total of CAD$4.8 million committed to the awareness project. In the last two and a half years, though, only a single“red flag” order, in Ontario in 2025, had been reported to the RCMP’s Canadian Firearms Program and recorded in its database. No information was given about that order or the firearms seized, if any: the government-speak the response was couched in advised that categories for seizures “do not provide the level of details necessary to associate a specific firearm to an emergency prohibition order. As a result, the Canadian Firearms Program does not have the information to provide the number of firearm(s) obtained.” Translated into plain English, it seems government records don’t specifically track gun seizures due to “red flag” orders, a peculiar omission if there’s any interest in assessing the purported effectiveness of the new law and the related multi-million dollar investment it has forced on taxpayers.

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The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) confirms that there’s no demonstrated utility in these orders “because no one appears to be keeping track of when, where or how often they are being implemented.” According to the process outlined by Public Safety Canada, courts issuing “red flag” orders are required to inform the regional chief firearms officer of their issuance and any subsequent variations or revocations, all of which must be recorded in the RCMP’s Canadian Firearms Information System, the database used to verify whether a person’s gun license is valid. The CBC’s investigation revealed that the eleven provincial and territorial chief firearms officers (responsible for gun license revocations) had no data on red flag-related seizures, and neither did the Ontario Provincial Police or Sûreté du Québec. As we’ve seen, Public Safety Canada was able to document just one order nationwide. Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree reportedly declined an interview with the CBC and his office advised “it was not in a position to respond to CBC News questions about the data gap.”

One person the CBC did persuade to comment was Christian Leuprecht, a political science professor at the Royal Military College, who summed up the situation perfectly as another example of performative politics:

Much of what we do on gun policy in this country has no grounding in evidence and is all about ideology on the one hand, and about electoral payoff and specific ridings on the other…Usually when government introduces these types of measures, they’re not particularly intended for an effect. They’re intended for a public perception that government wants to be seen as doing something.

For those following events in Canada, this approach is completely consistent with the Liberal government’s stance on lawful gun ownership. In the same way that the government is squandering millions of dollars and the goodwill of Canada’s responsible gun owners by blundering forward with its pointless “assault style” gun ban and confiscation, it appears committed to implementing its “red flag” law for appearances’ sake, lack of public safety impact notwithstanding.

Ohio Wildlife Council approves 2026-27 hunting seasons

SHummel — Thu, 14 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

From ODNR Division of Wildlife

The Ohio Wildlife Council approved 2026-27 hunting and trapping seasons for white-tailed deer, small game, migratory birds, and furbearers during its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, April 29, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.

Deer hunting

The 2026-27 deer hunting seasons are similar to last year. Only one antlered deer may be harvested, regardless of where or how it is taken. Hunting hours are 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. The statewide deer hunting dates for 2026-27 include:

Deer archery — Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, to Sunday, Feb. 7, 2027
Youth deer gun — Saturday, Nov. 21, and Sunday, Nov. 22, 2026
Deer gun — Monday, Nov. 30, to Sunday, Dec. 6, 2026; Saturday, Dec. 19, and Sunday, Dec. 20, 2026
Deer muzzleloader — Saturday, Jan. 2, to Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2027

Deer management permits were approved for use throughout the hunting season on both private land and public hunting areas. Deer management permits may only be used to take antlerless deer.

Deer bag limits increased to three in Defiance, Paulding, and Warren counties. The bag limit in Athens, Meigs, and Washington counties, areas affected by an unprecedented outbreak of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease in 2025, is two deer (no more than one antlerless). The Wildlife Council also approved a season bag limit in the CWD surveillance area of six deer.

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The Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance area was expanded to include all of Allen County, Van Buren Township in Hancock County, and Holmes Township in Crawford County.

Hunters in the disease surveillance area will have additional opportunities to take deer:

Early deer archery — Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, to Sunday, Feb. 7, 2027
Early deer gun — Saturday, Oct. 10, to Monday, Oct. 12, 2026

Additional hunting seasons

The Ohio Wildlife Council also approved 2026-27 hunting seasons for waterfowl, small game, migratory birds, and fall wild turkey. Most season dates are similar to previous years.

Ruffed grouse hunting will be limited to controlled hunting on four designated areas. Hunters may apply for those limited permits in July. Wild turkey hunting during the fall season is permitted only with shotguns using shotshells. No fall turkey hunting with archery equipment will be allowed.

Waterfowl hunting seasons will be split into three zones with new boundaries that were approved in 2025. Find the full list of hunting season dates at wildohio.gov.

Endangered and threatened species

Also during Wednesday’s meeting, the Ohio Wildlife Council voted to update Ohio’s threatened and endangered species list as part of a comprehensive five-year review.

The American barn owl was downlisted from threatened to a species of concern after genetic testing revealed the species likely has a larger contiguous Midwest population. The blackchin shiner was also downlisted from extirpated to endangered following its reestablishment in specific Ohio lakes.

Further changes include the addition of 17 bees and 16 aquatic invertebrates to the state’s threatened and endangered list following comprehensive surveys. These species were previously unlisted.

About Ohio Wildlife Council

The Ohio Wildlife Council is an eight-member board that approves all Division of Wildlife proposed rules and regulations. Council meetings are open to the public. Individuals interested in providing comments are asked to call 614-265-6304 at least two days prior to the meeting to register. All comments are required to be three minutes or less.

Church safety training puts participants through active-killer scenario

SHummel — Wed, 13 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

by John Fryman, THE VILLAGE REPORTER

With church safety and security becoming a hot topic these days, the Buckeye Firearms Association conducted a daylong training seminar for area residents at the Church of Christ at West Unity on Saturday, April 4.

Fourteen area residents took part in the “Protecting Houses of Worship” training, in which they were trained by a pair of licensed firearms instructors, Forrest Sonewald and Angela Armstrong of the Buckeye Firearms Association.

“This training is not only valuable for the people in the house of worship for their day-to-day lives, but we also give them trauma medical training,” said Armstrong. “The more rural areas we do have longer response times. If you got trained knowledgeable people on how to respond to neutralize that threat as soon as possible, it’s very critical.”

The “Protecting Houses of Worship” training program started last year and has been successful so far.

Looking for training? Check out the BFA Events page.

“We’ve got interest from several different states around the country that are interested in bringing us there,” said Armstrong. “Right now, we’re doing it in Ohio, and we do have another class in the area scheduled later this year.”

It also raised an important question: Does your church have a security team ready to go, and are they prepared to counter an active killing event?

The training was designed as an introduction to help identify security needs as well as organizational and team training standards. It focused on hands-on tactics in realistic church scenarios.

“It’s critical that anybody that’s in a safety or security position with a church or any house of worship get training and understand how to respond and neutralize a threat,” said Armstrong. “You think it’s just common sense to call 911 and understand what information needs to be transferred to 911.

“That’s after you secure the scene whether it’s the firearm or getting people out of the area and start providing medical care.”

Armstrong stressed the first part of the training gave participants an idea of the history of active killing events in houses of worship.

“We’re trying to get people to understand because there is an issue, and it can actually happen anywhere,” said Armstrong. “One thing which is eye-opening is what we’re doing here today with the different scenario training and get to see how people respond under stress.

“People learn whether they are a responder or whether they are role players. It’s very valuable training, and we price it very reasonable. We’re hoping to get more people in this training.”

Sonewald, who is also a firearms defensive tactics instructor with the Perry Village Police Department in northeast Ohio and is certified with the Buckeye Firearms Association, gave a presentation on medical training, tactics and active killer response scenarios. He presented a list of hostilities against churches in 2024, which included 55 involving arson, 28 gun-related incidents, 14 bomb threats, 284 vandalism incidents and 47 other incidents.

“Obviously, you have a little better idea on what is going on with the people shooting and being shot,” said Sonewald. “Watch what the congregation does during the shooting, some people get down and some people jump up. The responders then would see when the other people come in.”

Armstrong and Sonewald, along with Archbold Police Department part-time officer Jeff Lehman, who had joined the Buckeye Firearms Association last September, conducted active shooter scenario training exercises throughout the church building.

“Unfortunately, we’re in a society where things are getting worse and tend to be ramping up,” said Lehman. “This is something that is just like CPR, a defibrillator or firefighting. You should be training and pray that you never have to use it.

“Unfortunately, we never know who, where, when or by whom the next attack is going to come.”

He stressed the importance of training as part of the identification of potential threats.

“It’s going to address those potential threats when needed should they have to use violence or extreme violence against the threats,” said Lehman. “They’re going to be prepared and proficient. We’re encouraging today to continue with quality training and to carry this out farther through.”

Among the participants was Greg Brillhart, a law enforcement veteran who took part in the active shooter training drills.

“Unfortunately, we live in an environment where churches are targeted, and it’s a matter of being prepared and not being paranoid,” said Brillhart. “Our ministry is to reach out to people and at the same time, I think we must be cognizant of the fact that we’re in a different world than we were 20 years ago.

“I never would have thought we would see the day I think we were to have this kind of training. It moves churches to be further prepared and people know what to do.”

Republished with permission from The Village Reporter.

DC gun laws failed again at Washington Hilton

SHummel — Tue, 12 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

by AmmoLand Editor Duncan Johnson

Washington, D.C., has spent more than a century proving the same lesson the gun control lobby refuses to learn: Criminals, assassins, and would-be killers do not stop because a city council, legislature, or Congress passed another weapons law.

The latest reminder came at the Washington Hilton, the same hotel where John Hinckley Jr. shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

During the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner April 25, a suspect allegedly tried to breach security while President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, cabinet officials, journalists, and other guests were inside. According to Reuters, the hotel said the event was operating under strict Secret Service protocols when the suspect bypassed a checkpoint on the floor above the dinner and opened fire with a shotgun. A Secret Service agent was wounded, reportedly protected by a ballistic vest, and the suspect was arrested before reaching the ballroom.

The gun control crowd responded the same way it always does. They demanded more restrictions on the people who did not commit the crime.

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CNN’s Brian Stelter quickly used the attack to complain that there would not be any “substantive discussion about access to weapons.” The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms was not impressed.

“In an analysis, CNN’s Brian Stelter insinuated that nobody will consider tougher gun laws to prevent such an incident,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “He should have looked at the facts before going off half-cocked.”

Gottlieb pointed out that the suspect reportedly purchased the shotgun and a handgun from two different California gun stores. The Washington Post, citing an FBI affidavit, reported that the suspect legally purchased the firearms in California in 2023 and 2025.

“He had to pass two California background checks and endure two separate waiting periods,” Gottlieb said. “It is widely known California has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and the suspect was able to complete his legal purchases. Just what more does Stelter think could be done?”

California already has the background checks, waiting periods, gun restrictions, ammunition restrictions, and political class the anti-gun movement keeps trying to impose everywhere else. Washington, D.C., already has the registration laws, carry restrictions, and gun control bureaucracy they insist will make people safe.

Yet a determined attacker still allegedly traveled across the country with weapons, showed up at a protected political event, and tried to get past armed security in the nation’s capital.

Even Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche resisted the media’s rush to turn the attack into another legislative gun control push. On CBS’s Face the Nation, Margaret Brennan pressed Blanche about whether the federal government should consider new rules after the suspect reportedly traveled from California to Washington by train with multiple weapons.

“Look, this isn’t about, in my mind, changing the law or making the laws more restrictive around possession of firearms,” Blanche said.

When Brennan continued pressing the train-travel angle, Blanche again pushed back.

“I don’t think the narrative here is about changing laws or making our laws more restrictive,” he said. “This is about law enforcement who are doing their jobs and a suspect who tried to do something and failed miserably.”

Even after an armed attack at a high-profile political event in Washington, the acting attorney general was not willing to pretend another layer of gun laws was the obvious answer. Blanche said investigators were still working to determine how the suspect got the guns, whether he got them legally, and what additional federal charges may apply. But he made clear the immediate lesson was not “pass another gun law.” The immediate lesson was that Secret Service and law enforcement stopped the attack before the suspect got near the president or anyone else in the room.

Washington already has the kind of gun laws they keep demanding for the rest of the country. D.C. law generally requires firearms to be registered. No person or organization in the district may possess or control a firearm without a valid registration certificate, subject to limited exceptions. D.C. law also makes it illegal to carry a pistol openly or concealed in the district without a D.C. carry license.

So what exactly did those laws stop?

They did not stop a determined attacker from showing up armed. They did not stop him from trying to get past security. They did not stop the first shot. What stopped him, according to the available reporting, was not a registration certificate, a carry ban, a waiting period, or a background check. It was armed people already on scene, ready to meet violent force with immediate force.

Gun control advocates treat the law-abiding citizen as the problem because the law-abiding citizen is the only person their laws can reliably control. The criminal who is willing to commit attempted murder, attack federal officers, or target a public event is not deterred by a paperwork requirement.

If the suspect purchased firearms legally in California, then he already passed through the very system gun control activists claim will prevent these attacks.

California’s gun laws did not stop him. D.C.’s gun laws did not stop him. Armed, prepared people did.

Assassination attempts of U.S. Presidents in Washington, D.C. are unfortunately nothing new. Gun laws have always disarmed the law-abiding, while allowing violent criminals like John Wilkes Booth, Charles Guiteau, and John Hinckley Jr. to commit horrible crimes.

President Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre in 1865, inside the old City of Washington. The city had already enacted an 1858 ordinance prohibiting the concealed carrying of pistols, dirks, Bowie knives, and other dangerous weapons. Yet John Wilkes Booth still carried a pistol into the theater and murdered the President.

President James A. Garfield was shot in 1881 at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C. By then, the District had a 1871 law prohibiting the carrying of concealed deadly or dangerous weapons, including pistols, within the District. Yet Charles Guiteau still carried a revolver and shot the President.

President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981 outside the Washington Hilton. By that time, D.C. had already adopted one of the harshest handgun control schemes in the country. Yet John Hinckley Jr. still got a revolver to the scene and nearly killed a President.

Another interesting note is that the first two would also have been immune from magazine restrictions, semi-auto bans, and numerous other proposed gun control legislation. A person determined to commit violence will do so by any means necessary, gun control or no.

Now, in 2026, the Washington Hilton is again the scene of a violent attack in a city already buried under layers of gun laws.

The pattern is hard to miss.

Gun control does not disarm violent criminals. It disarms the peaceable. It creates soft targets. It tells ordinary citizens to obey, wait, hide, and hope someone else with a gun arrives in time.

Gottlieb put the focus where it belongs: on the attacker and on the hateful political climate surrounding the attempt.

“President Trump referred to the suspect as a ‘whack job’ and after reading his manifesto, that description seems appropriate,” Gottlieb observed. “That’s not to suggest this guy should be allowed to plead insanity, because his writings show he was in complete control of his faculties. He appears to be someone consumed by the vile, hate-filled rhetoric that’s been used against Donald Trump for more than ten years. This was not some spur-of-the-moment act.”

That point is worth sitting with. Tens of millions of American gun owners went through that weekend without shooting anyone, threatening anyone, or attempting to assassinate anyone. They did what they do every day: went to work, raised their families, carried responsibly where legal, and harmed no one.

“Tens of millions of gun owners—people whose rights too many in the media seem to disdain—didn’t hurt anyone Saturday night,” Gottlieb said. “We watched in shock with everyone else, as a California teacher, obviously overwhelmed by fanatical anti-Trump demagoguery, attempt to kill people. He will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but what about those who continue to spread their invective, hoping some harm comes to the president?”

That is the conversation media figures do not want to have. It is easier to blame guns than to examine a political culture that has spent years painting Donald Trump and his supporters as existential threats who must be stopped by any means necessary.

When the threat is seconds away, the answer is not another ordinance, another registration rule, another carry restriction, another waiting period, or another politician promising that the next law will work where the last hundred failed. The answer is immediate armed resistance from someone capable of stopping the threat before more innocent people are hurt.

At the Washington Hilton, that role fell to armed federal law enforcement. In the rest of America, it is often the armed citizen, the concealed carrier, the homeowner, the store clerk, the church volunteer, or the parent who refuses to be helpless.

That is why the Second Amendment matters. It is not a government-granted privilege for ideal conditions. It is a constitutional protection for the real world, where police cannot be everywhere, security checkpoints can be breached, and violent criminals do not care what the statute book says.

Proponents of gun control should stop hiding behind the claim that one more law, another infringement, or restriction is what they are looking for. They will not be satisfied until they have banned civilian ownership entirely.

The gun control lobby will look at Washington, D.C., and demand more of what failed. Gun owners should look at the same facts and draw the obvious conclusion: laws that burden only the law-abiding do not stop evil men. Armed, prepared people do.

That was true in 1865. It was true in 1881. It was true in 1981. And it is still true today.

Republished with permission from AmmoLand.

Federal bill portrays national firearm prohibition agenda as 'Virginia model'

SHummel — Mon, 11 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Virginia has recently been featured in a lot of headlines about gun control, for all the wrong reasons. A number of them have mentioned a federal gun control bill pending in the U.S. Senate, sponsored by Tim Kaine (D) and Mark Warner (D) of Virginia.

Dubbed “The Virginia Plan to Reduce Gun Violence Act of 2026,” the Senate bill tries to portray Virginia as a gun control leader whose policies could serve as a model for the rest of the nation. But, like most firearm prohibition branding, this framing is not only untrue; it is the opposite the truth. Virginia, in reality, is the victim of a national gun control agenda, not the progenitor of one.

The latest slate of gun control laws unleashed on Virginians by their Democrat-controlled legislature and governor are not some thoughtful or tailored set of policies that organically arose from Virginia’s unique public safety picture or the particular dynamics of its crime. Instead, it is a grab bag of generic policies pushed by national gun control groups, approved by their billionaire donors, and modeled on a globalist paradigm arising in nations that have no constitutional rights to arms. Virginia is simply an opportunist expansion market for these concepts, not their origin point.

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What is being cheered as “groundbreaking gun safety policy” was never part of a homegrown effort, nor was it ever for Virginia, by Virginia. National firearm prohibition groups don’t grade states based on their innovative local policies and responsiveness to local concerns. They grade them according to a predetermined slate of policies the groups hope to enact in every state. That opportunity in Virginia came in the form of Abigail Spanberger and the investment in her gubernatorial campaign of over $1 million by billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety.

Everytown brags about itself as the pipeline for gun control candidates from coast to coast. These candidates sign on to Everytown’s agenda, and in return, they receive massive amounts of financial support. It is top-down and cookie cutter in operation, AstroTurf in presentation.

As for “The Virginia Plan to Reduce Gun Violence Act of 2026,” don’t be fooled. This same federal bill with its core policies has been regurgitated in various forms since 2019, a time when Virginia was still a moderately pro-gun state.

Claiming the effort “would build on Virginia’s commonsense framework to reduce gun violence,” this latest 50-plus-page federal legislation comes straight from the Everytown and Giffords playbook and includes:

An “assault weapons” ban to prohibit the sale, manufacture, and importation of semi-automatic firearms and magazines that have the ability to hold more than 15 rounds of ammunition.
Rationing gun purchases to one handgun per month.
A federal "red flag" firearm seizure law.
Incentives for states to implement their own red flag laws.
Penalizing lawful gun owners for lost or stolen firearms with arbitrary reporting requirements that can give rise to criminal penalties.
One-size-fits-all mandatory storage requirements.
A ban on the purchase, sale, and possession of privately made firearms.
More “gun-free zones” throughout the states.

This Virginia plan is the California plan, which is the Everytown plan, which is the Bloomberg plan, which is the Australia plan. It has nothing to do with the citizens of Virginia or with the Old Dominion’s culture and values. What an ignominious fall from grace for a state that produced some of the most important and influential of America’s Founding Fathers. In evaluating this fall, it is important to recognize that the core elements are being driven, not by ordinary Virginians, but by globally orientated billionaires, national public interest groups, and a Democratic National Committee that would love to see Richmond morph into the San Francisco of the East Coast.

Beware the rhetorical shift and media narrative to flip the script and make an established national policy package appear more locally grounded and politically palatable, even though its underlying structure has remained unchanged for years.

Further beware that your state may be next. If it can happen in the cradle of American Constitutionalism and the home of NRA’s Headquarters, no gun-owning American should believe it could never come home to him or her.

USDA announces $52M to boost public access to private lands for hunting, fishing

SHummel — Fri, 08 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

From U.S. Department of Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing $52 million to help state and tribal governments encourage private landowners to allow public access to their land for hunting, fishing, and other wildlife-dependent recreation through the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program (VPA-HIP). USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is accepting applications through June 8, 2026, at Grants.gov for this program that benefits landowners and the public.

“The Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program is a critical source of funding for increasing public access to private lands for hunting and fishing while also supporting farmers and contributing to habitat conservation efforts,” said NRCS Chief Aubrey J.D. Bettencourt. “This program is about opportunities for landowners and the public.”

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The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) restored funding for the VPA-HIP [which funds the Ohio Landowner/Hunter Access Partnership (OLHAP) Program]. OBBBA strengthens the ability of NRCS to support farmers, ranchers, and partners in tackling conservation challenges at the landscape scale.

States and tribal governments may apply to use VPA-HIP grant funding to create new or expand existing public access programs or provide incentives to improve habitat on land enrolled in their public access programs.

For example, through previous awards:

Arizona Fish and Game Department opened 4.8 million acres of private and land-locked public lands in Arizona for public use.
Missouri Department of Conservation enrolled 30,000 acres into the Missouri Outdoor Recreation Access Program to increase and enhance wildlife habitat for small game and other wildlife species on private land in the state.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife offered 75,000 acres to the public for hunting wild turkey, pheasant and big game, at no cost to the user. These acres are spread over six large counties.

VPA-HIP is a competitive grants program available to state and tribal governments. Projects may last up to three years. Projects could receive up to $3 million, and project sponsors may use up to 25% of funds to provide incentives to landowners to improve wildlife habitat on enrolled public-access program lands.

See the notice at Grants.gov for information on how to apply. For more information on VPA-HIP, visit the NRCS website.

90% of BFA PAC-endorsed candidates win in 2026 primary election

drieck — Thu, 07 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

by Dean Rieck

BFA PAC-endorsed candidates turned in a strong performance in Ohio's 2026 primary election on May 5. See the winners here.

In a contested Republican gubernatorial race, A+ rated Vivek Ramaswamy won a commanding 82.5% of the vote. This sets up a battle between Ramaswamy and Democratic nominee Amy Acton for the Governor's mansion. While Acton is running a disciplined campaign with no overt statements about gun control, we can certainly read between the lines when she talks about gun violence as a public health issue. It will be important for all gun owners concerned about the Second Amendment to vote for Vivek Ramaswamy in the general election if we want any pro-gun bills signed into law.

In other statewide races, Keith Faber won unopposed for Attorney General, Robert Sprague won against a challenger for Secretary of State, Jay Edwards took home the win for Treasurer, and Frank LaRose won unopposed for Auditor.

In the contests for open Justice seats on the Ohio Supreme Court, Andrew King lost to Colleen O'Donnell, but Dan Hawkins won unopposed. Although we are a nonpartisan organization, I'll say that it is crucial for Republicans to hold on to their control of the court to ensure that Second Amendment cases will be decided based on the Constitution and the law, rather than on personal opinion and a notion that our Constitution is a "living document" open for reinterpretation based on current events. Republicans now hold a 6-1 majority.

In federal races, A-rated Jon Husted became the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate while F-rated Sherrod Brown won the Democratic primary. This tees up what many pundits expect to become an expensive and ultra high-profile race in November’s midterm elections that could determine control of the Senate, depending on other races.

In the races for U.S. House, all but one BFA PAC-endorsed candidates won, including Jim Jordan and Mike Carey.

For Ohio, our key concern is always state legislative races, because this is the gauntlet bills must run if they are to land on the governor's desk to be signed into law. We saw many victories in both chambers and will continue to support those who support our bills.

BFA PAC played a key roll in all these victories, grading and endorsing in races across the state, consulting with campaigns at all levels, and running "get out the vote" campaigns targeted to specific districts in key races.

We'll continue our work leading up to the 2026 general election on November 3. And BFA PAC will once again grade and endorse candidates to help you decide at the ballot box.

In the meantime, please support BFA with a generous donation or paid membership. It is only with your support that we're able to fight for your Second Amendment rights in the Buckeye State.

Dean Rieck is Executive Director of Buckeye Firearms Association, a former competitive shooter, NRA Patron Member, former #1 NRA Recruiter, and host of the Keep and Bear Radio podcast.

CNN using assassination attempt at WHCA dinner to push gun control

SHummel — Wed, 06 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

by Lee Williams

Just minutes after the third attempt to kill President Donald J. Trump, in addition to senior members of his staff, CNN Idiot-in-Chief Brian Stelter was calling for more gun control.

“As CNN anchor Victor Blackwell put it when I joined him on air this morning, ‘The people in that room were confronted with what schoolchildren and moviegoers and congregants and people at grocery stores have been confronted with, and that is the threat of gun violence.’” Stelter wrote about the incident at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in an analysis piece titled “An extraordinary moment for America’s media elite is all too ordinary in America.”

Ah, the poor media elite felt confronted. Really? The bad guy didn’t even enter their room. Many media elites never even heard any gunshots.

Stelter quoted another CNN hack, Jim Sciutto, whose comments you can probably already imagine.

“One thing we know is that there will be a lot of discussion afterwards about security measures. (A discussion about) rhetoric, perhaps, as well. There won’t be any substantive discussion about access to weapons, right? There just won’t,” Sciutto reportedly said.

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Stelter cited his own reply in his column.

“I told him that Americans skip that part of the conversation, and then the rest of the world looks at us and thinks we’re crazy,” he said.

The suspect hadn’t even been booked yet, much less made his first court appearance, but Stelter was calling for more gun control, and we’re crazy?

Stelter, who is only 40, cohosted CNN’s “Reliable Sources” for nearly 10 years until it was cancelled in 2022 because its ratings were abysmal. Stelter wasn’t pleased to be unemployed, but he defended his role at the highly partisan show.

“It’s not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy and dialogue,” he reportedly said in defiance.

Sure.

CNN brought Stelter back in 2024, but only part time. His role was extremely reduced. He wrote a newsletter for CNN’s website and appeared on air occasionally, but he no longer hosted his own show. He had no show to host.

Nowadays CNN is dying. Its ratings are terrible. According to Adweek, in March Fox News had almost 3 million primetime viewers while CNN only managed 898,000 total viewers, and their ratings actually increased because of the war.

CNN didn’t have one show in the Top 15 news programs. Fox News had 13 and MS NOW had two.

Evidently, this didn’t bother Stelter, who used the assassination attempt to increase his own personal ratings. Just minutes after the suspect had been hauled away, Stelter appeared on dozens of websites and social media accounts, not saying much of substance since he didn’t see anything, but blasting guns and our gun rights.

Stelter joined the media right after college. In other words, he’s never done much of anything substantive. I doubt he’s ever even fired a gun. I doubt he knows the difference between an AR and an AK. So, how does he disparage our Second Amendment rights? The answer is simple. He works for CNN.

Every single time CNN covers a gun-related issue it fails. Remember their graphic of what they claimed was a bump stock?

Every gun-related story the network produces has a simple overall message: Guns are bad and must all be banned.

That’s how rubes like Stelter keep their small roles at the network. If he keeps telling his dwindling viewers that guns are bad, he’ll keep his job.

Lee Williams is chief editor of the Second Amendment Foundation's Investigative Journalism Project. Republished with permission.

Still armed, still free - citizen militia endures as Founders intended

SHummel — Tue, 05 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

by Sean Maloney, for AmmoLand

In Wolford v. Lopez (No. 241046), the U.S. Supreme Court granted review (hear audio) of whether Hawaii may presumptively prohibit licensed concealed carry holders from carrying firearms on private property that is open to the public absent express permission from the owner — a rule critics call the “vampire rule.”

As Americans await the court’s decision, one fact is undeniable: The modern American militia is not theoretical — it is vast, practical, and alive.

Numbers are unmistakable

Conservative estimates place civilian-owned firearms in the United States at roughly 500 million — more guns than people — based on manufacturing and import data compiled by industry and federal reporting agencies. Industry analysis from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) shows that 491 million firearms were in civilian hands from 1990–2022, and this number has almost certainly grown to well over 500 million today, consistent with the estimates cited earlier in this article.

Also from Sean Maloney: How to handle a traffic stop with firearms in your vehicle

While comprehensive annual ammunition figures aren’t consolidated in a single federal database, reporting from the firearms industry indicates that U.S. ammunition production is measured in the billions of rounds each year — with past estimates showing as many as 8.1 billion rounds produced for the U.S. market in a single year. When accumulated over decades of lawful purchase and storage, civilian stockpiles of ammunition likely exceed one trillion rounds, reflecting the scale and preparedness of America’s private, law-abiding gun owners.

These are not numbers of idle hobbyists. Many Americans do not hunt, nor participate in organized shooting sports, yet continue to purchase and store firearms and ammunition. They do so because it is the fabric of who we are as a free nation. History has taught us from our earliest education that Americans have repeatedly had to fight—for independence from a tyrant king, for freedom across the world during WWII, and for the ability to pass liberty to future generations. We prepare and maintain our arms not out of fear, but because it is our responsibility as Americans, reflecting a citizen militia that is ever ready to defend the freedoms enshrined in our Constitution.

Citizen militia — not just a concept but a responsibility

Wolford v. Lopez raises a critical question under the Second Amendment and the court’s Bruen decision framework: can a state effectively nullify the right to public carry by making “no guns” the default on private property open to the public unless invited?

The court heard oral arguments on January 20, 2026, and the transcript is publicly available from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Founders’ vision of an armed citizenry

The framers spoke repeatedly about an armed citizenry as essential to liberty:

George Mason: “To disarm the people … [is] the best and most effectual way to enslave them.”
James Madison: “The advantage of being armed … forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition.”
Thomas Jefferson: “No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”
George Washington: “A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined …”
Richard Henry Lee: “To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms …”
Samuel Adams: “Peaceable citizens [must not] be prevented from keeping their own arms.”

These historical voices remind us that an armed citizenry was essential to liberty, not optional.

Why this matters today

In an era of terrorism, violent crime, and emergencies, law enforcement cannot be everywhere. Seconds matter. A prepared citizen can protect families and communities when official responders are not immediately available.

“Freedom survives only in the hands of the prepared. The citizen militia envisioned by our Founders still lives.”

America’s 250th anniversary: a time to reflect and defend

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the United States, the Founders’ vision — an armed, responsible, and capable citizenry—still exists. But freedom is never self-executing; it must be defended in the courts, the culture, and in the public square.

The citizen militia lives. The Republic endures. The responsibility to protect both remains with us.

Call to duty for future generations

We are the inheritors of sacred trust. The Founders forged a nation on the principles of liberty and self-governance, and every generation since has carried that torch forward through courage, sacrifice, and, when necessary, with their lives. It is our duty to ensure that freedom does not erode, that the Constitution’s God-given rights are defended, and that the flame of liberty burns brighter in the hands of those who come after us.

Aug. 22 at Makoy in Hilliard: Register now for the 2026 Patriot Fest

We must equip future generations with knowledge, instill in them the discipline to act, and awaken in them the desire to protect what was so dearly fought for and won. The fight for liberty never finishes; it continues as long as we are willing to stand as the bedrock of freedom, safeguarding the inheritance of our children, grandchildren, and all who will call America home.

Above all, we must ensure that this great experiment in self-government endures and that the freedom we enjoy as Americans remains constant for generations to come.

Sean Maloney is a criminal defense attorney, cofounder of Second Call Defense, and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He also serves as legal counsel for Buckeye Firearms Association. Republished with permission from AmmoLand.

SAF files motion in case challenging ATF frame and receiver rule

SHummel — Mon, 04 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and Defense Distributed on April 24 filed a motion for summary judgment in Defense Distributed v. Blanche (formerly VanDerStok v. Bondi), challenging the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) rule that expands the definition of “firearm” in the efforts of the Biden administration to regulate so-called “ghost guns.”

In April 2022, the ATF published its Final Rule amending the regulatory definition of the term “firearm” to encompass precursor parts that, with enough additional manufacturing operations, could become functional firearms frames or receivers, but in their current state were nonfunctional — and critically, non-firearm — objects. In seeking to regulate these “non-firearm objects” the ATF’s Final Rule directly contradicted Congress’ definition of “firearm” set forth in the Gun Control Act of 1968. The ATF’s re-definition of “firearm” in the Final Rule establishes a practical ban on the private manufacture of firearms — a constitutionally protected tradition.

In another court case: BFA and partners ask court to strike down NFA rules on suppressors, short-barreled rifles

“This rule was one of the primary attacks by the Biden Administration on the ability of peaceable citizens to acquire arms,” said Bill Sack, SAF senior director of legal operations. “Self-manufacturing firearms for personal use is a time-honored tradition that countless citizens still practice, and one that is entirely legal under federal law. The frame and receiver rule that we have challenged here was promulgated with the goal of making self-manufacture so legally confusing as to dissuade Americans from exercising their rights.”

In December 2022, SAF filed to intervene in an existing lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas then known as VanDerStok v. Garland. The case challenged the lawfulness of ATF’s regulatory re-definition of a “firearm” under the Administrative Procedures Act. SAF scored a major victory in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which vacated significant portions of the Rule. The Biden Department of Justice, however, appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled on only a portion of the lawsuit. Today’s motion for summary judgment seeks vindication on the remaining claims.

“We would love for the current administration to pre-emptively rescind the Biden era rule and fix the problems it creates,” said Alan M. Gottlieb, SAF founder and executive vice president. “But unless and until the ATF acts of its own accord, we have a duty to our members and supporters to push these claims full steam ahead. The rule as it stands has major legal infirmities that need to be aired out in court if the rule is going to be left in place as written.”

Republished with permission from the Second Amendment Foundation.