Issue 1 Defeated: What’s Next?

In case you haven’t seen the news, Issue 1 was voted down on the statewide ballot on election night.

Here is a visual county-by-county breakdown of the vote:

(The counties in orange voted ‘No’ and the counties in blue voted ‘Yes’ on Issue 1)

By a vote of 1,744,094 “no” votes to 1,315,346 “yes” votes, the votes from cities and suburbs ran roughshod over rural Ohio, as you can see above.

With Issue 1’s defeat, dangerous precedent has been set:

The leftwing billionaire class has learned that state constitutions are vulnerable to attack, and might be the only way they can implement their Marxist agenda in a Republican-dominated state government.

But is all lost? Is the “writing on the wall?”

Hardly.

Now what?

We need to pass more pro-gun bills into law, plain and simple. Let me unpack that for you.

In legislative and electoral politics, it is easier to defend what is already law or already codified than it is to get it passed or codified in the first place.

As an example, long-term OGO members can look at the 5-year battle to repeal Ohio’s “duty to retreat” law – it took several years of hard work to accomplish.

At the same time, Ohio’s concealed carry law, which was passed in 2004, has been on the books for a long time and has not come under serious attack with a repeal attempt in many years.

So while leaving the threshold for changing the Ohio Constitution at 50% does leave Article 1, Section 4 of the Ohio Constitution more vulnerable than otherwise, the important part is that it IS already in the Constitution.

And we damn sure plan on defending it.

But while we know an attack on our Constitutional right to bear arms is coming in the future, right now is our obligation to use the political power of the Ohio General Assembly majorities to pass the Second Amendment Preservation Act into law.

Don’t forget: Republicans still hold a super-majority of votes in our General Assembly.

It is also important that, after SAPA gets passed, we come back and pass what was left on the table during the fights for Stand-Your-Ground law and Constitutional Carry.

Getting pro-gun laws passed now positions us to better defend the Ohio Constitution when they come after our gun rights through a Constitutional Amendment gun-control attack.

Here’s why:

With each day that goes by after pro-gun laws go into effect, the more gun owners will be used to exercising those rights, and the harder it will be for out-of-state billionaires and the degenerate, fake-news media to convince Independents, union members, pro-gun Democrats and poorly-informed gun owners to vote to give up their freedom.

Because that’s what gun owners are. They’re free.

We fully expect that the Radical Left will make a push to put a constitutional gun-control amendment on the ballot in 2024, if for no other reason that to drive turnout for Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.

The goal is simple: they want to put Red Flag Gun Confiscation, Universal Gun Registration, a so-called ‘Assault Weapons’ ban, Mandatory Gun Lockups, and Magazine Capacity Restrictions straight into our Ohio Constitution.

And thanks to the ‘NO’ vote on Issue One, it will be easier for them to do it.

We need to gear up now for that battle.

What can I do?

I’m asking you to do two things right now:

First, become a member of Ohio Gun Owners, because we have a multi-front fight going on right now and we need your help.

The battle to pass the Second Amendment Preservation Act is kicking into high gear in mid-September, and the fight against Red Flag gun confiscation in Ohio is about to kick into high gear as well (we’ll have more information on that soon).

Without the financial resources to do our jobs and put pressure and pain where needed, OGO is combat ineffective and cannot fight for you.

*Note: If you are already a member and can afford an additional contribution, please make that HERE.*

Second, please email your State Representative and urge them to PASS SAPA immediately when they get back into session next month!

The Radical Left is no doubt looking to build on the momentum from their success in backing and funding the Vote NO campaign, and they want to carry that momentum into the Statehouse and defeat the pro-gun bills we aim to pass.

And don’t forget, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb made it very clear that the gun-control /Vote-NO crowd intends to immediately work at getting their attack on gun rights ready through a constitutional amendment vote.

And if we know anything about the Left, is that they follow through on their promises.

Sadly, today wasn’t a day for celebrating a victory for safeguarding the Ohio Constitution.

But today IS a damn good day to set to work preparing for the next battle in the war to protect and expand our gun rights.

#RememberIssue1, and fight forward.

Chris Dorr, Director
Ohio Gun Owners