by Chad D. Baus

On Friday, Dayton's FOX affiliate reported that Jerome McCorry had planned to stage another protest outside the Bill Goodman Gun & Knife Show at Dayton's Hara arena. What they did not report, as is frequent in news coverage of similar protests staged by McCorry in the past, is that McCorry is a convicted rapist.

Quite obviously, we believe that part of McCorry's past should be a key part of any article that is done covering his actions to "fight violent crime," especially since those actions are focused primarily on taking away the ability of law-abiding citizens to purchase guns for self-defense.

In response to the announcement of the planned protest, we published an article on Friday noting the FOX 45 article had once again failed to note the fact that the gun control extremist planning the protest is listed on the sex offender registry.

We suggested that readers email or send messages through Facebook or Twitter calling on the news station to report on this fact.

We are please to report that the actions of our readers not only resulted in getting some much-needed news coverage of this problem, but also in forcing the organizer to cancel the protest.

From WRGT FOX 45's follow-up article, entitled "Local Gun Control Advocate's History Put Under Microscope":

As the debate over tougher gun regulations roars on, the criminal background of a local man who's calling for stricter gun laws is causing a lot of controversy. Reverend Jerome McCorry who is the head of the Adam Project in Dayton has continuously called for tighter gun restrictions. He typically protests at the Bill Goodman Gun and Knife Show and there's one happening this weekend. There's one group in the Miami Valley that wants to know why anyone would listen to a convicted rapist who wants to limit your access to weapons. McCorry had planned to protest outside the gun show Saturday afternoon, but after several attempts to talk to him on camera about his criminal history, he cancelled the protest citing another planned commitment. McCorry is an outspoken advocate for gun control in our community and on Thursday he spoke to ABC 22/FOX 45 and called for tighter gun control again. He is also listed on the sex offender register as a convicted rapist and that conviction is causing Buckeye Firearm Association to question his credibility. "The gentleman is a convicted felon and rapist. We take offense at the fact that he is going to protest a legal and legitimate gun show business," said Larry Moore, Buckeye Firearms Association.

The article goes on to say that the news station attempted for two days to talk to McCorry about the conviction, but "despite going to his home of multiple occasions, leaving multiple messages and going to a community event he was scheduled to be at Saturday, McCorry only spoke to us briefly on the phone. He said Buckeye Firearms is doing nothing but a smear campaign bringing up something he has talked about in the past."

The report also quoted McCorry from a past interview saying that "we all have a past unfortunately, and once you have done time, once you have put that behind you, you now have the right to participate in a full scale kind of way, when it comes back out to registering and voting."

Note that McCorry did not mention gun rights among the rights in which he wants to "participate in a full-scale kind of way," since the felon's violent record precludes him from ever again owning or possessing a firearm.

Unfortunately, felons who don't care about the law often break the law and obtain firearms, such as happened in this case last week, also in Dayton. And because there will always be violent people doing violent things, Buckeye Firearms Association fights the fight to ensure that law-abiding people have the right and tools to protect themselves from such people.

...Moore says this, "a firearm in the hands of the capable woman could be a great equalizer and perhaps stop that rape attack." McCorry says the Firearms Association is diverting from the real issue which is getting guns off the streets and stopping crimes. But, they say that's not the problem, "we don't see it as a gun problem we see it as we have a violence problem in our society," said Moore. McCorry sent a text to us saying "pray that focus continues on solutions and not character assassination." The Buckeye Firearms Association says this is not a smear campaign, but a real concern. The next gun show is scheduled for May 4th and 5th. It is unclear if protestors will be present.

Leaving aside the question of whether or not there remains any character left in a rapist to be "assassinated," the question of the type of person who would continue to list two public officials as board members of his anti-gun organization so long after they had resigned should be quite easy to answer.

Jerome McCorry as he appeared

on WHIO calling for gun control

Jerome McCorry as he appears in

the Sex Offender Registry

It was after Jerome McCorry's last protest at Hara Arena in January that Buckeye Firearms Association first wrote about his status as a convicted rapist. We noted that Anti-Gun-Protester Jerome McCorry could be seen on WHIO (CBS Dayton) wearing a jacket and being identified in the on-screen graphic as the President of The Adam Project. The Adam Project's website lists its address as 1426 Home Ave., Dayton - the same address as Rapist-and-Convicted-Felon Jerome McCorry.

When we went looking for evidence that McCorry "has the endorsement of respected law enforcement leaders," which WHIO gave as their excuse for why they didn't report on his status as a sex offender, we noted and wrote about the fact that The Adam Project's Facebook page lists both Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer and his Chief Deputy, Scot Landis as board members. Sheriff Plummer quickly contacted BFA to advise us that he resigned from the board of the Adam Project three years ago. He was unaware that he was listed as a board member on the Adam Project Facebook page. He assured Buckeye Firearms Association that he in no way supports The Adam Project and convicted rapist Jerome McCorry's anti-gun agenda.

And yet today, nearly three months after that public statement by Sheriff Plummer that he had resigned from The Adam Project so long ago, The Adam Project's Facebook page still lists Plummer and Landis as board members.

The fact is, character is most certainly at issue, and this man's past as a felon convicted of this type of horrible, violent, degrading crime against women deserves to be discussed each and every time he steps in front of a microphone and demands that potential victims of crime have their gun and self-defense rights forcibly taken from them.

Video of this news report can be viewed on FOX45's sister station, WKEF (ABC 22).

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.

Related Articles:

Convicted rapist organizes gun control demonstration at Dayton gun show; Media fails to note his sex offender status

WHIO-TV (CBS Dayton) admits awareness of anti-gun protestor's status as a convicted rapist; Other news outlets remain silent

WHIO-TV's excuse for quoting rapist-for-gun-control fizzles as Sheriff Plummer reveals he is NOT a Adam Project board member

Sex offender to stage another protest demanding that law-abiding citizens disarm