Anyone here a member? Its a cheap membership at $35/annually.

Before I go giving away my hard earned money I want to hear people's input on whether or not they provided enough lobbying at the state level to warrant my membership.

I'm a member, I think they played an important role in the recent changes to gun laws.

BFA is good to go. I'm glad they are fighting for our rights in Ohio.

A year or two back they were recognized by the NRA an influential 2A rights organization for the nation. Can't remember exactly the name of the award.

They are the good guys and on our side.

They are well organized and fight hard for our rights.

I totally agree with your observation!

how do they compare with Ohioans for concealed carry?

I agree that they fight hard but even more importantly they are effective.  I am a member and prior to joining I would contribute whenever they were taking on issues that were important to me.  I have not regretted giving them my money.



 

OFCC is another great organization that has done a lot of good for firearms owners here in OH but I don't know how they would compare. From my perspective it seems like BFA is more visible but I don't know as much about OFCC.



 

BFA has done more for RKBA in Ohio in the past 10 years than all others in the past 30 years combined.

Nate19. PM, email or phone me if you have any specific questions about Buckeye Firearms Association (or Foundation or PAC)

JLE

While I haven't joined the BFA as a member, I do give them $25 every few months for their raffles.

BFA is a great org.  The work they do is worth the $35/year and whatever i spend on raffle tickets.  I actually got to meet one of the leaders (Jim, i think) at a Tac Rifle class at TDI.  He is a genuinely good guy and in the brief conversations I had with him, I got the strong sense that he and BFA are truly vesting in protecting our gun rights.

I know it can be confusing but the Foundation is separateby  from the Association.  Even though most of the leaders and volunteers are the same, they are two totally separate entities. This is mainly to stay legal on taxes and to comply with campaign finance laws.

Buckeye Firearms Foundation - 501c3
The foundation runs the raffles since per Ohio laws only a non-profits can run raffles. This is the nonprofit educational charity where we focus on youth firearm safety and education, we provide free training for any Ohio school who chooses to have armed staff as part of their safety plan and we sue Cleveland every few years when they forget the last time we spanked them.  Donation to the foundation can come from any source and may be tax deductible if you don't get any benefit from your donation (IE. not for raffle tickets). The foundation can NOT influence elections or candidates or support specific legislation.  We have to provide specific public benefit from all our work. The annual Buckeye Bash fund raiser dinner held in Columbus each spring benefits the foundation also.

Buckeye Firearms Association - 501c4
This is the main advocacy organization.  It has the memberships and hosts most of the shooting and seminar events like the Blast at TDI, Masad Ayoob, Greg Elifritz, Dave Spaulding and others.  Donations to the association can come from any source and are not tax deductible.  The association can engage in general advocacy but can not support specific candidates

Buckeye Firearms Association PAC - Ohio Political Action Committee
This is where we started back in 2002 but have since moved most of the opporations to one of the others do to limits on PACs.  A PAC has very strict campaign finance laws we have to follow.  Donations can only come from individuals (no corporations or businesses) and they all must be reported to the Ohio Secretary of State.  This is the only entity which can legally influence election or support specific candidates.  Funding for the PAC currently does not have a good source.  A few donors support the PAC but new sources have to be developed to continue to provide voter guides, issue positions and direct support of candidates.

If you have any specific questions on any of the three groups I will try my best to answer them.

Joe Eaton

I try to give you guys money every time that you do.  It's my penance for living in the city...








 

I guess I wasn't paying attention and didn't know BFA was no longer doing all three of those.  I don't spend much time on the BFA site (it's a fine site, I just spend time elsewhere); maybe get the word out via email in the weekly BFA newsletter?

I have watched Ohio's gun laws go from retarded to pretty damn good over the past 15 years.  If it wasnt for the BFA, our laws would still be on the retard level.  They have accomplished things that everyone said could not be achieved in Ohio.  For an organization that does not have much money, they really have their shit squared away.

I'm a member of Ohioans for Concealed Carry (OFCC). My understanding is that there was a differance in opinion for the future of OFCC, and that "someone" stole some/all of OFCC's treasury money, and started BFA.

Can someone from BFA dispute/verify this?

I have seen some good work done by BFA. It's just that no one has "come clean" on there origin.

Perhaps "Knight of the old code" will comment?

This. Ohio has gotten steadily better and BFA is largely to credit for it.

I was a member over at OFCC when they only had 50 members in the state. There was a lot of butt hurt there concerning BFA and the power brokers were trying to put them out of business.

 
I don't know all the details they were trying to keep it all hush hush. They started getting heavy handed running the show and I left.

That's the last time I was there. When they put an end to all political conversation and the mods started getting too big for their britches, I left and never looked back. There was a lot of great people there. Old man Todd was a great mod for that board. There was also a gentleman in the reloading forum that helped me out tremendously but got the ban hammer for not adhering to the no political talk rule,unfortunately I can't remember his screen name.

I learned a lot from OFCC, and am truly grateful for the good things that they have done for Ohio gun rights. It was a shame that they made a stupid decision and drove some of the members away.

Also, the young guy mod who was a going to school to be a lawyer was a total prick.

They jacked a lot of good people that really made the forums.

 

I have heard this rumor for years.  I know a guy who knows a guy...



It hasn't stopped me from joining BFA because I see the work that they are doing and the progress that they are making.  I still support many of the raffles too.  I trust my source and it sucks if the info is true but at this point I think that the BFA is the more active and effective of the two advocacy groups.  I support both groups when I can.



 

This is totally false.  The OFCC PAC and the OFCC Inc were always separate entities even though there was some overlap in volunteers just as you see in both groups now.  In 2005, the leadership of the OFCC PAC dropped its sponsored status (All this allowed was the PAC to solicit OFCC Incs members a couple of times a year for money, all accounts, leadership and other items were totally separate from each other as required by Ohio campaign finance laws) and broadened the focus beyond concealed carry.  The original OFCC PAC is the entity which became Buckeye Firearms Association PAC after the status change.  (See above for descriptions of all the entities which now separately exist and share the Buckeye Firearms name).  Since 2005, OFCC Inc. has started another corporate sponsored PAC again with the OFCC PAC name.

Here are a couple of statements we had at the time.  (If anyone would like to discuss further, please IM or phone me)
Ohioans For Concealed Carry PAC Changes Name to Buckeye Firearms Association PAC
A Public Statement from Buckeye Firearms Association PAC
OFCC Inc. vs Buckeye Firearms Association PAC et. al.

JLE

Thanks for the shout out! Joe nailed it :) BFA is most def worth supporting!

...well did the OP join!?!?  

...BFA is an essential foundation to advancing gun rights in OH, ...very, very effective ...and all around good folks - sign up for the newsletter, participate in the gun/gear raffles, and attend events scheduled throughout the year!

Very hard