Buckeye Firearms makes it official & endorses Rich Cordray for Attorney General

Richard Cordray joins Governor Ted Strickland as the only candidates to be endorsed by both the Fraternal Order of Police and the Buckeye Firearms Association.  Conversely, John Kasich joins Mike DeWine as being the only Republican candidates for statewide office to be endorsed by neither (although the BFA has yet to endorse in the Auditor’s race, but it’s expected they’ll endorse Yost since they endorse him in the primary.)

“The Buckeye Firearms Association represents the interests of an important group of people in Ohio, and I am honored to have received their endorsement,” Cordray said. “The right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment is essential to securing all our other liberties, for without the protections afforded by the 2nd Amendment, all of the other rights and privileges ordinarily enjoyed by citizens would be vulnerable to governmental acts of oppression.”

Cordray has taken many pro-2nd Amendment positions in his time as attorney general. Most recently, he was a lead author of a Supreme Court brief signed by 34 fellow attorneys general in states across the country in support of gun owners? rights. Just last month, the Court decided in McDonald v. City of Chicago that the individual right to bear arms should be incorporated as a protection against state and local governments – a position advocated by Cordray.

The BFA (Strickland and Cordray’s BFF) also noted:

Cordray’s opponent this fall, Mike DeWine, was thrown out of his U.S. Senate seat by voters in 2006, after running around sporting a Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (formerly Handgun Control Inc.) endorsement because “his record really wowed the group.” Shortly before his defeat in 2006, he took a position in opposition to legislation which barred gun manufacturers, distributors, dealers or importers from frivolous lawsuits designed to put them out of business. Human Events Online named him among the Top 10 anti-gun U.S. Senators, noting that he was “consistently the only Republican to speak in favor of anti-2nd Amendment legislation on the Senate floor.”

Buckeye Firearms Association Chair Jim Irvine concluded, “Attorney General Cordray has proven to be a strong pro-gun ally. He has staunchly defended our laws and our rights in court and expanded concealed carry reciprocity agreements. His work as Attorney General continues to bring direct benefits to gun owners in Ohio and across our great country.”

I’ll be honest.  I almost feel bad for Mike DeWine.  Here’s a guy who was a huge part of significant GOP victories in the 1990s, who was the senior member of the U.S. Senate just two years ago, and I have to admit I can’t think of a single organization that is supporting him in the general election.

That’s a stunning reversal of political fortunes for a guy who’s closest thing to a sex scandal was an intern blogging about the snogging she was doing that didn’t even involve DeWine.