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Scott Wiggam| Guest columnist

Ohio has a chance to put an end to corporate entities benefitting from taxpayer-funded contracts while at the same time using that money to deny Ohioans their Second Amendment rights.

It is time for Ohio to enact the Firearm Industry Nondiscrimination (FIND) Act.

More: Ohio bill to ban gun store closures, firearm confiscation during emergencies moves forward

House Bill 297would deny corporations the ability to benefit from taxpayer-funded state or municipal contracts while at the same time holding policies that discriminate against firearm-related businesses.

This legislation wouldnt dictate that corporations cant hold antigun policies. It would simply say those corporations wouldnt be able to profit from state and local municipal contracts and then turn around and spend that money to deny law-abiding citizens their constitutionally protected God-given rights.

It is wrong that taxpayer dollars help to fund those working against their rights.

It is time for Ohio to take a stand.

This proposal wont be without opposition. Big banks especially will howl.

They will point out the billions of dollars they hold in municipal bonds for everything from transaction services with state agencies to projects to build roads and bridges. They will tell lawmakers that this is impossible, that theyre too big to stand up to.

Thats because they have forgotten that it was the taxpayers including Ohios taxpayers that paid the $700 billion bailout in 2008. Now those same banks, including Bank of American and Citigroup, get rich while they impose restrictions on gun companies and fund gun control groups. Those corporate banks are eating away Americas fundamental rights through woke boardroom corporate activism.

Ohio can stand up to these bank bullies. Our lawmakers already have a blueprint to do it too. In 2016 many states, including Ohio, passed nearly identical measures requiring that state contracts not be granted to companies that boycott Israel.

Earlier this Summer, Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott signed the Texas FIND Act. Big banks railed against the proposal, but Texas lawmakers stood strong against corporate special interests and extreme gun control groups that have gotten fat off of taxpayer-funded contracts. They said enough was enough.

More: Mothers of Columbus homicide victims march through streets to call for end to gun violence

Texass law doesnt force the state to end contracts with corporations. It simply requires corporation that seek to do business with the state and local municipalities to certify that they hold no policies discriminating against firearms or ammunition and wont hold those policies while the state contracts are in force.

Corporations that have contracts can continue to compete for them. They just have stop unfairly discriminating against an industry that provides the means for Second Amendment rights.

If those banks and other corporations that provide services to the states dont want to abandon their discriminatory policies, there will be new business opportunities for local entities. Big banks threatened Texas lawmakers that no one could handle the billions in assets they provide to the states.

They forgot about the little guys the state and regional banks. The Independent Bankers Association of Texas said the law wasnt an obstacle, but a business opportunity. Corporations unwilling to abandon their campaign of imposing woke policies could easily be supplanted by local businesses. That keeps taxpayer money flowing to local businesses. For Ohio, that would mean Ohio tax dollars benefit Ohio businesses and dont get carried off to fill fat cat wallets on Wall Street.

Thats not just smart policy. Thats smart business.

In Ohio, over 12,000 jobs are tied to the firearm and ammunition industry. Those jobs pay over a half a billion dollars in annual wages and generate $1.7 billion in economic activity. These businesses paid $202 million in federal and state taxes and an additional $32.7 million in excise taxes that benefits wildlife conservation, including right here in Ohio.

Yet these businesses are targeted by woke corporations because they despise what they represent. They provide firearms that law-abiding gun owners use every day. Firearm-related businesses are especially in the crosshairs of these discriminating corporations because they provide the means to gun owners to exercise their Second Amendment right to lawfully use firearms for recreational shooting, hunting, and self-defense.

Ohio needs its own FIND Act. Ohios lawmakers must make this a priority. Bring Ohio values to the Buckeye State and stop importing woke corporate activism that denies our states citizens their rights.

Scott Wiggam is the State Representative for the 1st Ohio House District, which encompasses all of Wayne County.

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Ohio must stand against companies that deny 'constitutionally protected God-given rights' to firearms - The Columbus Dispatch

(The Center Square) Tennessees State Funding Board is scheduled to approve $22.7 million in FastTrack economic incentive grants at its Monday meeting.

The grants include $10.5 million to Life Technologies Corporations Thermo Fisher Scientific for its technology assembly facility in Lebanon, which the company has invested more than $100 million in and is expected to employ 1,400 people.

The Smith & Wesson Company is set to receive a $9 million FastTrack grant as it prepares to move its operations and corporate office to Maryville in Blount County.

IMC Companies is slated to receive $2 million for a facility in Collierville, and a $1.2 million grant will be awarded to a company that isnt named.

FastTrack grants are state grants sent to local governments for specific infrastructure improvements or to companies to help offset the costs of expanding or moving into the state with the goal of increasing the number of full-time jobs and the average wages of jobs available in an area.

Smith & Wesson, a leading firearms manufacturer founded in 1852, announced in late September it would be moving and spending $125 million on a new facility that would create 750 new jobs.

Mark Smith, president and chief Executive Officer ofSmith & Wesson, said proposed legislation in their former home of Massachusetts, if enacted, would prohibit the company from manufacturing many of its products,including a bill that would prohibit manufacturers from making guns with a large capacity feeding or assault weapons.

Smith said Tennessee had several key factors in its favor, including support of the Second Amendment, being business friendly, a low cost of living and high quality of life, access to education and qualified labor.

"These bills would prevent Smith & Wesson from manufacturing firearms that are legal in almost every state in America and that are safely used by tens of millions of law-abiding citizens every day exercising their Constitutional 2nd Amendment rights, protecting themselves and their families, and enjoying the shooting sports, Smith said. While we are hopeful that this arbitrary and damaging legislation will be defeated in this session, these products made up over 60% of our revenue last year, and the unfortunate likelihood that such restrictions would be raised again led to a review of the best path forward for Smith & Wesson."

Thermo Fisher Scientific workers will make bioprocess containers and fluid transfer assemblies for biopharma companies to develop and produce therapeutics and vaccines at the facility.

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Tennessee readies to approve $22.7M in business incentives - The Center Square

One criticism of S.B. 8 is that this private enforcement regime would allow blue states to prohibit firearm ownership. I've asked gun rights activists what would happen if California banned the sale and possession of handguns through a private cause of action. Their response: "Come and take it." They would engage in active civil disobedience, and resist the law. They would be happy to get sued, and would win in court every time. Of course, gun rights activists know that Heller is secure. Even if the Court will not expand the Second Amendment to conceal carry in Bruen, there is no realistic chance the Court scales back the right to keep a gun in the home.

Abortion, however, stands in a very different position.Roe and Casey are on the chopping block. There is a chance both precedents are overruled this Term. And abortion providers understand this risk all too well. As a result, with few exceptions, abortion providers have strictly complied with S.B. 8. Indeed, during the brief interregnum before the Fifth Circuit stayed Judge Pitman's ruling, Planned Parenthood refused to provide post-cardiac-activity abortions. Why? Under S.B. 8, the providers would be subject to retroactive liability. And those suits could bankrupt Planned Parenthood.

This fear of prospective liability has largely defined the litigation strategy. Planned Parenthood, as well as the United States, have gone on offense to avoid raising their constitutional arguments in a clean, defensive posture. Today, briefs were filed inUnited States v. Texas. The intervenors make this point directly:

The United States also complains that "the theoretical availability of S.B. 8's 'undue burden' defense has not actually prevented the law from achieving near-total deterrence of covered abortions." Mot. to Vacate Stay at 15. But that is because this Court is currently considering whether to limit or overrule Roe and Casey.28 See Tex. Health & Safety Code 171.209(e) ("The affirmative defense under Subsection (b) is not available if the United States Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) or Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992)"). If abortion providers felt confident that this Court would persist in its support for Roe and Casey, then they could violate the statute without fear of liability. The deterrence comes from the uncertainty surrounding the future of Roe, and there is nothing unconstitutional about a statute that threatens to impose retroactive civil liability in response to a Supreme Court ruling.

The Intervenors argue forcefully that the proper channel to review this law would be in a defensive posture. And they draw an analogy to the wedding provider cases:

[T]his Court has no basis in fact or law to presume that the Texas courts would reject valid constitutional defenses asserted in SB 8 litigation. The United States does not even assert otherwise; it just complains that SB 8 deters abortion providers from defying the law and inviting this litigation. But that objection is misguided and immaterial. It is common that the risk of losing a constitutional defense will deter a party from engaging in protected conductthink of the Christian wedding vendors who are facing threats of private lawsuits if they decline to participate in same-sex weddingsbut the deterrence comes from the uncertainty on whether the courts will ultimately accept their constitutional defense. See Arlene's Flowers, Inc. v. Washington, 141 S. Ct. 2884 (2021) (denying certiorari). What is deterring abortion providers here is not the procedural structure of SB 8 or its threatened penalties, but the uncertain status of the right to abortion given the grant of certiorari in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, No. 19-1392. Few if any rational abortion providers will risk violating SB 8 when this Court is considering whether to overrule Roe and Casey. That is what is inducing Texas abortion providers to comply with SB 8.

Baronelle Stutzman and Jack Phillips were placed in this position.

Update: Shortly after I wrote this post, the Firearms Policy Coalition filed an amicus brief in support of DOJ inU.S. v. Texas. The group sees S.B. 8 as the type fo law that could be used to violate gun rights:

FPC is interested in this case because the ap-proach used by Texas to avoid pre-enforcement re-view of its restriction on abortion and its delegation of enforcement to private litigants could just as easily be used by other States to restrict First and Second Amendment rights or, indeed, virtually any settled or debated constitutional right. FPC takes no position on whether abortion should be protected by the Con-stitution but believes that the judicial review of re-strictions on established constitutional rights, espe-cially those protected under this Court's cases, cannot be circumvented in the manner used by Texas.

What do I know?

See the rest here:
Why Aren't Texas Abortion Providers Actively Resisting S.B. 8? - Reason

During a December 5 rally in Georgia last year Donald Trump turned his focus to a local official, showing supporters a video of Richard Barron, the Fulton County elections director.

"So, if you just take the crime of what those Democratic workers were doing," Trump told attendees, "that's ten times more than I need to win the state."

VICE reports it was then that Barron started getting attacked in a deluge of voicemails, many of which "were graphic and specifically called for his death."

"Hey, Rick," one racist and homophobic voicemail said. "Two hundred and thirty four years ago, the founding caucasian fathers of America gave us the Second Amendment. Time's running out, Richard. We're coming after you and every motherfucker that stole this election with our Second Amendment, subpoenas be damned, you're going to be served lead, you fucking enemy enemy communist cocksucker. You will be served lead."

"Hey, Rick," another said. "Watching this video of you on YouTube. I can't believe you can't count votes in Fulton County. It's absolutely incredible. How deceivious? How deceitful you are? You need to get your act together or people like me really may go after people like you."

"If you have a hand in this," another caller said, "you deserve to go to prison, you actually deserve to hang by your goddamn skinny-ass soyboy neck."

Reporting on what it says is a "mass exodus" of elections officials some, like Barron who have decades of irreplaceable experience and expertise VICE says it spoke with over a dozen who were the targets of death threats and other attacks.

"Officials across the United States experienced physical stalking, explicitly violent phone calls, racial slurs, home surveillance, bomb scares, and threats of mass shootings. For some officials in Georgia and Pennsylvania, the threats have continued for nearly a year. And now, many of these officials want to quit," VICE adds.

One local Pennsylvania city commissioner, Al Schmidt, who had been targeted by named by Trump had to leave home and live under police protection after the death threats sent to him and his wife started.

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Death Threats Are Creating a Mass Exodus of Election Officialswww.youtube.com

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'You actually deserve to hang': Elections chief reveals death threats after Trump targeted him - Raw Story

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Hey, Rick, the voicemail said. Two hundred and thirty four years ago, the founding caucasian fathers of America gave us the Second Amendment. Time's running out, Richard. We're coming after you and every motherfucker that stole this election with our Second Amendment, subpoenas be damned, you're going to be served lead, you fucking enemy enemy communist cocksucker. You will be served lead.

This was just one of the nearly 150 voicemails that were left for Richard Barron, elections director of Georgias Fulton County, an area that includes Atlanta, during the week from Christmas to New Years Day 2021.

On December 5, former President Donald Trump singled Barron out at a rally in Valdosta, Georgia. He showed a video of Barron to the hundreds of attendees, and voiced conspiracies about voter fraud in Georgia. So, if you just take the crime of what those Democratic workers were doing, said Trump, thats ten times more than I need to win the state. When Barron appears on the screen, the audience begins to boo.

Thats when the voicemails started coming. Many of them were graphic and specifically called for his death. Hey, Rick, another said. Watching this video of you on YouTube. I can't believe you can't count votes in Fulton County. It's absolutely incredible. How deceivious? How deceitful you are? You need to get your act together or people like me really may go after people like you.

And again: If you have a hand in this, you deserve to go to prison, you actually deserve to hang by your goddamn skinny-ass soyboy neck.

Barron had been working in elections around the country for more than 20 years, but hed never seen anything like this before. It wasnt just Barronhis entire election staff became a target. We started receiving lots of disturbing phone calls, Barron told VICE News. My staff is almost exclusively African American, and they started receiving calls laced with racial slurs.

Physical threats began as well. We also began to see people just across the street from the warehouse where we are now, Barron added. They started to do surveillance on my staff, taking pictures of all of the individuals that would come in and go in and out of the warehouse, they would take pictures of their license plates.

Months after the election, Barron continued to receive threats. His situation, unfortunately, is not unique.

VICE News spoke with over a dozen election officials who had experienced death threats and felt endangered during the 2020 election period. Officials across the United States experienced physical stalking, explicitly violent phone calls, racial slurs, home surveillance, bomb scares, and threats of mass shootings. For some officials in Georgia and Pennsylvania, the threats have continued for nearly a year. And now, many of these officials want to quit.

They started to do surveillance on my staff, taking pictures of all of the individuals that would come in and go in and out of the warehouse, they would take pictures of their license plates.

The stories of these officials represent a small proportion of the number of threats made in this election cycle, though the total number is unknown because many of the threats went unrecorded and unanswered by law enforcement, Reuters reported. However, in a survey published in June by the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, one-third of election workers report feeling unsafe.

In election hotspots like Georgia, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, many of these threats came directly after Trump mentioned election workers (like Barron) at events and in tweets.

In Pennsylvania, City Commissioner Al Schmidt was forced to leave his home and lived under 24-hour police protection after a slew of threats targeted his children by name and included photos of his home.

Like Barron, Schmidt had also been called out by President Trump in a tweet that accused Schmidt, a Republican, as being a RINO, or Republican in name only. At that point, votes in Philadelphia were still being counted. Trump also stated that Schmidt refused to look at corruption & dishonesty.

Not long after the former president tweeted at me, I received the first specific threat to my phone, to my personal number on my phone, Schmidt told VICE News. The details included in the voicemail were terrifying: You lied, you're a traitor. Perhaps cuts and bullets will soon arrive. The voicemail named members of his family, gave his address, called him a RINO, and said he stole the election.

Schmidts wife also started receiving threats in her work email, some describing physical harm to their two young kids and including a photo of their home.

The first email that my wife received with the subject line, Albert RINO Schmidt, committed treason, Schmidt said. It continued: Your husband should tell the truth, or your three kids will be fatally shot. The email went on to mention their childrens ages and their address, and said that the cops couldnt help them. The email was also signed Q, in likely reference to QAnon. Then, the email included a link to a picture of their home.

The Schmidt family had 24-hour-a day police protection and were forced to leave their home for several weeks. Months after returning home, the impact of the threats still lingers.

It certainly changed the way I look at this job, said Schmidt. I won't be running for reelection again a couple of years from now. I had made that decision before any of this. But having gone through it, I think it's confirmed that it's the right decision.

Your husband should tell the truth or your three kids will be fatally shot.

Outside of Atlanta and Philadelphia, officials were also receiving threats. An administrator in Scott County, Iowa, received a phone call where the speaker threatened to burn down the elections building. In Paulding County, Georgia, the director of elections received an email that said, We'll make the Boston bombings look like child's play at the poll sites in this county .... Detonations will occur at every polling site set up in this county. No one at these places will be spared.

And its not just physical intimidation. Election workers across the country are facing a new kind of threat: state laws that criminalize election officials if they make a mistake on the job.

In Iowa, Senate File 413, passed in February, limits the autonomy of election officials to run elections in their counties. It also adds new felony punishments for infringement of the new law and imposes a fine of up to $10,000 for technical infractions.

Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Alabama have followed Iowas lead and also passed laws that impose harsh penalties on election workers. In Florida, an election worker can be fined up to $25,000 for failing to monitor a drop box. Republican state legislatures have introduced a similar bill in Michigan, and other states are expected to do the same.

Laws like Iowas can have a chilling effect on election officials. Roxanna Moritz, who has worked as an elections auditor in Scott County, Iowa for 14 years, said the passage of this law pushed her into early retirement.

When I heard about Senate File 413, it was the determining factor that I was going to retire from my position or resign from my position, said Moritz.

You can probably name them the half a dozen or dozen or two dozen people across the country who, if they hadn't done their jobs, this whole thing of ours, this whole system of government could have fallen apart.

I'm capable of taking quite a bit. But 2020 was a little too much for me and my office, she added. And the criminalization of what might be a mistake just really cemented it for me.

Aside from the loss of institutional knowledge, election officials are concerned about who takes their jobs once they leave. A third of Pennsylvanias county elections have left in the last year and a half, the AP reported. In Wisconsin, more than two-dozen clerks have retired since the presidential election and more retirements are expected at the end of this year.

I think we're at a dangerous spot, not only because so many election administrators will likely be leaving after this last presidential election, but who could potentially be filling their places? said Schmidt. You can probably name them, the half a dozen or dozen or two dozen people across the country who, if they hadn't done their jobs, this whole thing of ours, this whole system of government, could have fallen apart.

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Death Threats Are Creating a Mass Exodus of Election Officials - VICE