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2016 Ohio Statehouse Candidate Survey

NOTE: If you are a judicial candidate, do not fill out this survey. Go here instead:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2016BFA_PAC_Judicial

All other candidates use this survey.

Your answers on this survey will help us determine your level of support for the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms. This is part of our process for choosing candidates to endorse and support in the upcoming election.

There are 24 questions on this survey, which should take you about 10-15 minutes to answer. If you need to explain an answer or share additional information, use the text box with each question.

Many questions require an answer. When a "Yes" or "No" do not accurately represent your view, chose the answer that most closely represents your view and then use the associated text box to further explain your position.

NOTE: You may print this survey by clicking "print" in your browser, take time to consider your answers, then enter them here at another time. If you want a copy of your completed survey, please click print in your browser BEFORE you submit your survey.

When you click on the "Submit" button at the end, your answers will be submitted to our endorsement committee and your survey will be closed. You will not be able to print it after you click "Submit."

Please complete this survey as soon as possible, but no later than January 8, 2016. We plan to start issuing endorsements soon after the filing deadline (BEFORE the deadline) in some races.

According to our candidate selection criteria, to be considered for grading and/or endorsement in a general election, candidates must show that they have run for public office before and received at least 10% of the votes cast in that race, or are currently polling at least 10% in a reputable 3rd party survey, or their party received at least 10% of the vote in the previous statewide general election.

If you have any questions about this survey or our endorsement process, call BFA PAC Chairman Jim Irvine at 440-503-3011 BEFORE submitting your survey.
1.Please provide complete information.(Required.)
2.Campaign information:
3.Party?
4.Office sought?
5.District. State House/Senate enter number, other races enter county, city, area, etc.
(Required.)
6.Have you ever held public office?
7.Which firearm or sporting organizations are you a member of, or have you financially supported ? Choose all that apply.(Required.)
8.Please tell us about your personal experience with firearms. Choose all that apply.(Required.)
9.Which statement below best approximates your attitude about gun ownership? Choose one.(Required.)
10.For which of the following reasons do you support firearm ownership? Choose all that apply.(Required.)
11.Which statement below best approximates your attitude about hunting? Choose one. (Required.)
12.Who should set policy for fishing & hunting?(Required.)
Questions 13 through 18 refer specifically to concealed carry by licensed individuals.
13.Which of the following firearm no-carry zones (victim zones) should be eliminated? Choose all that apply.
14.As noted in question #13, Ohio has a long and haphazard list of locations where carrying a firearm is prohibited.

Will you support requiring the State to prove a compelling need to prohibit carrying of firearms in specific locations, similar to the threshold to restrict other constitutional rights?(Required.)
15.Are there any new areas where carrying a firearm should be prohibited?(Required.)
16.Ohio law specifies felony penalties against gun owners for infractions that clearly have no criminal intent. Ohio also assigns greater penalties for licensed individuals discretely carrying a gun than unlicensed open carrying in the same location.

Will you support eliminating such status offenses or changing them to lessor misdemeanors?(Required.)
17.All 50 states have restrictions on operating a motor vehicle after the consumption of alcohol. Many/most states apply the same limit to operating a firearm. Ohio law specifies zero consumption.

Will you support changing Ohio’s law so that the BAC limit to possess a firearm is the same as to operate a motor vehicle?(Required.)
18.ORC Sec 2923.126(C)(2)(a) grants private employers who deny license holders the ability to possess a firearm on their premises immunity from any resulting damage to the license holder.

Will you support eliminating immunity for businesses that seek to deny people the basic right to self-defense (with a firearm)?
(Required.)
The rest of the questions often pertain to license holders, but also effect many gun owners and activities not associated with concealed carry.
19.In Ohio, when faced with imminent death or serious bodily injury, a victim has a "duty to retreat" before using lethal force to protect his or her life or the lives of loved ones. This "duty" does not apply to someone in their occupied dwelling or car, but does on a front porch, in a detached garage, or in the yard between a car and home.

Will you support eliminating the duty to retreat for any victim facing imminent death or serious bodily harm, who is attacked in a place they have a legal right to be?(Required.)
20.The presumption of innocence is a foundation of American Criminal Law. Peculiarly, Ohio is the only State that places the burden of proof on the victim who has been forced to defend his or her life or the lives of loved ones. Accordingly, in Ohio the burden of proof is on the victim to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he or she was justified in using lethal force.

Will you support bringing Ohio in line with the other 49 States by changing the law so that a victim is "innocent until proven guilty" by placing the burden of proof on the State?(Required.)
21.An employee is able to exercise most constitutional rights within his or her personal vehicle, even when the personal vehicle is located on the property of the employer. For instance, an employee may keep the following in a personal vehicle without fear of being fired by the employer: a Bible, a Koran, the draft of a letter to an editor, a bumper sticker supporting a political candidate, and campaign literature for a door-to-door literature drop after work.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled twice that the right to self-defense is a fundamental constitutional right, yet under Ohio law the employer may fire the employee for exercising the right of self-defense while traveling to and from work.

Will you support amending Ohio employment law to specify that possession of a firearm within a personal vehicle located on employer property should be treated the same as the exercise of other protected constitutional rights within the employee’s personal vehicle?(Required.)
22.Currently, the Lautenberg amendment (Federal Law) prevents anyone convicted of Minor Misdemeanor Domestic Violence from ever owning firearms. The Lautenberg amendment is applied ex post facto (retroactively). For example, a conviction for Minor Misdemeanor Domestic Violence in the 1980's results in a permanent loss of Second Amendment rights even though the law did not go into effect until 1996.

In Ohio, a Minor Misdemeanor Domestic Violence conviction often results from a loud argument with no physical contact.

Would you support an effort to redefine "Minor Misdemeanor Domestic Violence" in Ohio in order to prevent NON VIOLENT offenders from permanently losing their Second Amendment rights?(Required.)
23.Please include any other information or statement that would help define your position on gun rights and the Second Amendment.
24.AUTHORIZATION: Do you attest that the information provided in this questionnaire accurately represents the views of the candidate named above? (Required.)
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