President's Statement in February/March 2008 "Gunsmoke"

My name is David Johnson, and I am the new President of the Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association. ORPA is made up of people who give generously of their time and money to support the shooting sports and our fundamental rights as Americans and Ohioans, and it is an honor and a privilege to be elected to head this fine organization, which is preparing to celebrate its 75th anniversary.

Most of you do not know me, so I wanted to give a bit of my background and interests. I am a Silver-Level ORPA Life Member, an Endowment Life Member of the National Rifle Association, a Life Member of the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, and a member of the Greene County Fish and Game Association. I am a native Ohioan from the Dayton area and have been a resident of Ohio my entire life. I am a materials-behavior researcher, an adjunct professor at a major private university, and a Marine veteran. I am interested in all shooting sports and am an avid firearms collector, hunter, and highpower-rifle competitor.

As ORPA President, I certainly plan to help continue the high-quality competitive activities in the various shooting disciplines for which ORPA is justly famous. However, I do have three primary focus areas which I see as helping to broaden our membership and increase our visibility.

The first focus area is in technology. In today’s world, an organization’s web-site is its face to the world. I want to make sure that we are taking full advantage of this opportunity of reaching millions of people at a relatively small cost. Also, we hope to introduce the opportunity of paying and renewing membership on-line with a credit card, and we have other ideas in the area of technology that we shall pursue. To further this goal, my immediate predecessor initiated a Technology Committee, for which I am the chair. Any suggestions or offers to help would be greatly appreciated.

The second focus area is in reaching out to the hunting community. We in Ohio are privileged to have hunting opportunities second to nowhere in the world, and we have hundreds of thousands of hunters that take advantage of this bounty. I am one of these Ohio hunters, and I hope that hunters can become more aware of ORPA and that we can encourage them to become active OPRA members and supporters.

The third and last focus area is more active involvement in government at the state level. Our model in this regard is the National Rifle Association at the national level. Many or possibly even most NRA members join the NRA because the NRA is seen as fighting for our Second Amendment rights at the national level, and ORPA should be seen in a similar light, working at the state level. Our status as a non-profit does limit our ability to support individual candidates, but we can certainly support issues of importance to shooters, hunters, and all people interested in the outdoors. The success in passing the concealed-carry law is a good example of such an effort, and, as a concealed-carry-permit holder, I see the benefit of such efforts. There are many other such state-level issues which ORPA can support, and there will be many more in the future. ORPA will firmly stand for the rights of law-abiding firearm owners in the discussion and resolution of these issues.

I would like to thank my immediate predecessor, G. Martin Capito, for all of his hard work in leading this organization for three years. Marty has agreed to continue to serve ORPA as its Secretary, and I know that, along with his work in this new position, his experience and advice will be a great help to me and to ORPA.

In conclusion, as ORPA prepares to celebrate its 75th year, I hope you will become more involved in the organization, even if it is by just recruiting a few new members. If you have any suggestions or comments, please send them to me via US Mail or e-mail. Even more important than supporting ORPA, I hope you will work to get more people involved in the shooting sports and in hunting. Each person that participates, even one time, is one less person susceptible to the arguments of those who would portray shooters and hunters in a negative light and who would attempt to take away those rights which have been secured at such a high cost to many Americans, including many Ohioans.

David Johnson, Ph.D.
President, Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association