COLUMBUS, Ohio — National gun-rights groups like the NRA long have used hardball political tactics and borderline apocalyptic rhetoric to vanquish their opponents, raise money and accuse liberals of coming for your guns.

A gun-rights group that’s relatively new to the Ohio political scene is following a similar playbook. But they’re focusing the brunt of their ire not on the left, but on fellow gun-rights groups and Second Amendment-friendly Republicans.

And thanks to their confrontational, uncompromising approach, previously honed in other states, they may be gaining a foothold in Columbus.

Ohio Gun Owners made news earlier this month when Chris Dorr, the group’s director and lone employee, posted a video on Facebook threatening “political bodies lying all over the ground” — as in at a future election — in the event that politicians pass any form of gun control.​

The video concerned ​Gov. Mike DeWine’s staff enough that they referred it to the State Highway Patrol, which quickly wrapped up an investigation finding no criminal wrongdoing.

And within days, Dorr was fundraising off the story. In a video posted to his group’s Facebook page, he promised to “double down” in opposition to DeWine​, who proposed a package of gun reforms in the wake of this month’s mass shootings in Dayton, and the “corporate media” for writing about the patrol’s review. (He softened his language slightly, bragging instead that his group kills political “careers.”)

“If you really want to stick it to these people, I’ll tell you how. Go make a donation tonight to Ohio Gun Owners,” Dorr, who didn’t respond to multiple cleveland.com requests to contact him, said in the video.

Dorr and Ohio Gun Owners previously hadn’t received much mainstream media attention in Ohio.

But the video came as no surprise to those familiar with Dorr and his brothers who work together in what amounts to a family business. Chris, Ben and Aaron Dorr have founded similar groups in roughly a half-dozen states, making enemies within pro-Second Amendment circles along the way.

Iowa state Rep. Matt Windschitl, who shepherded through a 2017 bill that created a Stand Your Ground law and allowed Iowans to sue local governments for creating gun-free zones, said Iowa Gun Owners first opposed the bill — in the form of continuous fundraising emails to their members — but weren’t actively involved in talks. They then took credit for its passage, he said, prompting him to call out the group on the floor of the Iowa House as a “scam.”

“They are not motivated by a genuine appetite for advancement of Second Amendment virtues,” said Windschitl, a trained gunsmith. “They are there to stir the pot and make as much animosity as they can, and then raise money off that animosity.”

“I’m all for advocacy,” said Minnesota state Rep. Jim Nash, a leading pro-gun Republican in Minnesota. “But the best advocacy groups go in with the end goal in mind of the legislative outcome they want, not just their personal wealth increasing. And that one you can quote me on exactly.”

And that’s a main criticism of the Dorrs — detractors say their operations are less designed to promote pro-gun legislation, and more to drive fundraising to their growing political operation. In its most recent three years, public tax filings show Minnesota Gun Rights — the only Dorr-run group that has disclosed fundraising expenses — reported spending $601,221, of which 90% was spent on fundraising.

The network’s filings are opaque about how much the Dorrs are paid for their work, but show at least some of the money they take in is re-directed through a political firm in Iowa to which the Dorrs appear to have ties.

In his online videos, Chris Dorr has said his group is open about its need to raise money to pay for the mailers, ads and other advocacy work they perform.

While critics within Ohio’s gun-rights circles dismiss the Dorrs as carnival barkers and marginal political figures, Dorr has expanded his influence in Columbus in the past year, gaining close access to Republican state lawmakers working to loosen gun restrictions.

“He’s exactly as advertised,” said Clermont County state Rep. John Becker, one of the most conservative members of the Ohio House. “He’s no-compromise. So he’s either swinging for the fences or striking out. It’s pretty simple.”

“Does he have influence? Of course he has influence,” said one Ohio Republican state lawmaker. “Because nobody wants to cross anyone who’s a pro-Second Amendment group, especially one that has members.”

So are the Dorrs sincerely trying to drive policy changes through grassroots pressure tactics? Or are they just trying to raise money, via bombastic social media videos, continuous fundraising pitches and a growing number of state chapters?

Or maybe a little bit of both?

Feuding with Ohio gun-rights supporters

Since incorporating Ohio Gun Owners in 2015, registering it to a UPS store in Beavercreek, Chris Dorr has ramped up his presence in the Ohio Statehouse. Usually wearing a suit jacket and sporting a distinctively thick, dark beard, he can regularly be seen recording social-media videos of himself in the Ohio Statehouse commenting on legislation or interviewing state lawmakers.

Part of the Dorrs’ playbook in other states has been to antagonize existing leading Second Amendment groups for being too compromising. In Ohio, Dorr has set his sights on the Buckeye Firearms Association.

In social media videos and online posts, Dorr repeatedly has insulted BFA’s leaders by name, criticizing them for endorsing DeWine during last year’s governor’s race, accusing its leaders of colluding with anti-gun Republicans to stab Second Amendment supporters in the back and encouraging its members to join Ohio Gun Owners instead.

Among the Ohio lawmakers Dorr has picked as a foil is Rep. Kyle Koehler, a Springfield Republican who supports gun rights.

In 2018,​ Koehler's refusal to fill out an Ohio Gun Owners survey led Dorr to insult him online. After additional back-and-forth, Koehler eventually filmed a video of himself using a handgun to shoot paper copies of the survey, hung on targets at what he said was his own personal gun range. He posted a copy on Ohio Gun Owners’ Facebook page.

Dorr responded with his own video, mocking Koehler as “Cowardly Kyle.”

“He’s a little bit unhinged,” Dorr said in the video.​

Koehler told cleveland.com he thinks Dorr has opposed “every piece of good gun legislation” since he’s arrived on the scene in Columbus.

“I think this is a time where we need to be looking very closely at all of the gun laws… and decide on how we can improve them without impeding on someone’s Second Amendment rights,” Koehler said. “I don’t think Ohio Gun Owners has that in mind. I believe their motivation is dollars, not good gun laws in Ohio.”

But in the case of a proposed law change that would allow Ohioans to carry a concealed rifle, shotgun or handgun without a permit, Dorr this year found himself in a lead role, negotiating changes on behalf of the bill’s sponsor.

Negotiating permit-less carry

Becker chairs the House committee that in June advanced the legislation, deemed “Constitutional Carry” by its supporters. During negotiations about possible bill amendments proposed by critics, Becker said Dorr acted as a spokesman for bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ron Hood, a Pickaway County Republican.

“I would reach out to Ron Hood and ask, ‘What do you think of this, what do you think of that?’ Ron would refer me to Chris,” Becker said. “And he said he was opposed to this, opposed to that. So, for whatever reason, he was effectively speaking for Ron Hood… And we ended up with a purist bill.”

Committee Democrats, with the help of three Republican members, managed to temporarily change the bill so it preserved a current requirement that gun sellers provide buyers with a pamphlet summarizing Ohio gun laws. And the committee advanced the bill, recommending it for a vote by the full House.

Dorr loudly protested the change. ​Here’s how he described it in an online fundraising message: “Representative Kyle Koehler (R-Springfield) joined with 4 radical anti-gun Democrats and two turn-coat Republicans to ram through an amendment to HB178 that, until Ohio passes a Stand-Your-Ground law, could get innocent gun owners killed.”

His reasoning? The pamphlets would include a description of an Ohio law that requires someone to attempt to retreat before using lethal force.

House Speaker Larry Householder, a pro-gun Republican who filmed himself in a campaign commercial last year wielding a camo-patterned shotgun, responded in a Facebook post. He wrote he received “hundreds of form emails” referencing the Ohio Gun Owners’ claim about the change.

“I take statements like that very seriously,” he wrote.

My office received many emails from Ohio Gun Owners telling the House of Representatives not to allow HB 178 to be voted... Posted by Larry Householder on Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Citing the emails, Householder sent the bill back to committee, which removed the pamphlet requirement before later passing it again. And Koehler was among those who voted to advance the bill.

But Householder since has assigned it to another committee for further review, where it remains. While its future is unclear, DeWine has said he supports the concept behind the law change.

Fundraising

So how much money are Ohio Gun Owners and the group’s other state chapters bringing in?

In 2015, the group’s first year in existence, Ohio Gun Owners raised $10,904, according to a federal tax filing. In 2016, the group’s fundraising increased more than tenfold to $123,827. In 2017, the group said it made $89,483.

Minnesota Gun Rights from 2016 to 2018, the most recent three years tax records are available, raised about $225,200 annually. It reported spending about $200,000 annually, reporting 90% went toward fundraising expenses, according to its tax filings.

Another chapter, Iowa Gun Owners, raised $946,681 from 2015 to 2017, the most recent three years for which filings are available. It spent $953,951, of which $121,883 went to TV and radio advertising, and $216,765 went to “direct mail fees”. It reported spending $0 on fundraising.

Ohio Gun Owners in 2016 spent $99,936, including $26,252 on printing, postage and mail, and $6,055 on advertising. It reported spending another $53,296 on “direct mail fees” and $3,500 on “consulting.” In 2017, it spent $80,784, including $21,462 on direct mail fees, $18,500 on consulting, $6,965 on advertising and $5,397 on card-processing and copywriting. It did not disclose fundraising costs.

Georgia Gun Owners, an affiliate run by someone outside of the Dorr family, has raised an annual average of $235,100 in the three most recent years tax filings are available. It’s reported 30% of its spending goes toward fundraising.

The Dorrs have founded affiliates in Missouri, Idaho, Tennessee, Virginia, New Hampshire and Wisconsin that haven’t reported raising above $50,000, the threshold that triggers greater disclosure under IRS rules for nonprofits.

They recently also founded a national organization, the American Firearms Coalition, which the Dorrs used to protest the National Rifle Association for being too compromising at an April convention in Indianapolis.

“The difference is they’re [the NRA] swamp monsters and we’re grassroots people from across the country," Patrick Parsons, executive director of Georgia Gun Owners, told an Indianapolis TV station.

How much do the Dorrs ​make from their work? When it comes to that, their tax filings are opaque, which their critics, including an anonymously run Facebook account called “The Truth About Iowa Gun Owners,” frequently point out.

The IRS requires nonprofit organizations to disclose compensation paid to their top employees. But the various Dorr groups for which tax filings are available report paying their employees zero compensation.

For example, the 2018 tax filing for Minnesota Gun Rights says Ben Dorr worked 70 hours a week for the group, while Chris Dorr worked 15 hours a week. The 2016 filing for Iowa Gun owners says Aaron Dorr worked 70 hours a week. The 2016 filing for Ohio Gun Owners says Chris Dorr worked 40 hours a week.

But none were paid, according to their tax filings.

When questioned by critics in the past about their compensation, Ben Dorr on social media has pointed to management fees reported elsewhere in their filings and a company called Midwest Freedom Enterprises. Tax filings for Iowa Gun Owners say the firm performs all its management functions. They also say from 2015 to 2017, IGO spent $ 205,362 on management.

There is scant mention of Midwest Freedom Enterprises on the Internet, but the company appears to be connected to the Dorrs. The firm previously was registered to a West Des Moines address also used by Iowa Gun Owners. A review published for Labrinth Inc., a company that helps people with paperwork for nonprofit organizations, identifies Aaron Dorr as Midwest Freedom Enterprise’s director of marketing. Iowa campaign finance filings show the company has performed paid political work like advertising and direct mail.

Cleveland.com asked Scott Hubay, an Ohio attorney who specializes in campaign finance law, to review the filings for the Minnesota, Iowa and Ohio chapters. He said the combination of the Minnesota chapter’s high fundraising expenses, the management fees paid by the Iowa and Minnesota chapters to a Dorr-tied political firm and the lack of disclosure about employee compensation raises questions about how the Dorr groups spend their money in general.

“It seems to me like what they’re doing is using them just to drum up business to themselves,” he said.

The next fight

One of the Dorr network’s stated goals has been to block DeWine from passing red-flag laws in Ohio. The term generally refers to a legal method through which a judge can order the seizure of someone’s guns if, following a process that doesn’t have to include criminal charges, they are deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.

​The package of reforms ​DeWine proposed after the Dayton shooting includes expanded background checks on gun purchases — so they apply to private sales and not just those from a federally licensed gun dealer — as well as what he called a “safety protection order,” a variation of a red-flag proposal. The DeWine administration, with Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, has worked with gun groups, including the Buckeye Firearms Association, to try to come up with a proposal that could win over pro-gun Republicans.

DeWine invited gun-rights groups to the Statehouse news conference announcing the plan earlier this month. But Dorr, armed with a video camera, filmed himself being denied entry to the event.

He later posted a video outside the governor’s ceremonial office calling universal background checks “universal gun registration" that will “end private gun sales in Ohio,” and “red flag” laws “gun confiscation.” He called DeWine an “absolute shriveling cockroach,” the Buckeye Firearms Association “in the drink for gun control” and Husted a “big tall dumb doof.”

“Look, the choke point is the legislature,” Dorr said. “And it’s the weakest members of the Republican caucus in both chambers that are our targets. That’s the killing fields for law-abiding…”

He paused before resuming. “That’s the choke point for gun owners in the election season. That’s where we put an end to political careers for people who stab us in the back.”

He then recruited viewers to join the group — registration fees range from $35 to $1,000 — or make a donation to pay to amplify their message.

“We have a huge fight on our hands here,” he said. “We need resources. That’s how we fight it.”