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Ohio’s marquee statewide races make for a strange summer double feature: Dirty Harry and Bambi.

In one, the Democrat and the Republican are sniping over who supports gun rights more. In the other, the candidates have gun control groups doe-eyed.

“It’s night and day,” said Jim Irvine, chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Association. “One doesn’t have a good candidate. One doesn’t have a bad candidate.”

Which is which depends on perspective.

Mr. Irvine’s organization and other pro-gun groups praise both Republican Ken Blackwell and Democrat Ted Strickland, the leading candidates for governor. Gun-control proponents prefer Republican Mike DeWine and Democrat Sherrod Brown, who are running for Mr. DeWine’s U.S. Senate seat.

Both contests have drawn national attention, but the gubernatorial candidates are firing more freely on the gun issue.

Mr. Strickland is a southeast Ohio congressman who touts his “A” rating from the National Rifle Association and says he’s bucked party leadership for years on guns, though he does not own one personally. He voted against President Bill Clinton’s ban on assault weapons and for a measure last year to shield gun manufacturers from liability in crimes involving their products.

In a press release last week, Mr. Strickland criticized Republican leaders in the Ohio legislature for not passing a bill that would wipe out municipal gun restrictions in several cities, including Toledo.

Mr. Blackwell, Ohio’s secretary of state, is a gun owner who traces his Second Amendment support to his days on Cincinnati City Council. He opened a trapshooting tournament on Tuesday; his campaign and the state Republican Party spent part of the rest of the week questioning Mr. Strickland’s commitment to gun rights.

In an interview, Mr. Blackwell criticized a 1976 quote from Mr. Strickland — reportedly: “I personally do not like guns and I do not own a gun” — and his choice of gun-control advocate Lee Fisher as his running mate. He said Mr. Strickland’s gun support came from his constituents, not his own convictions.

If Mr. Strickland wins the governor’s office, “I believe that the intensity of his support for Second Amendment freedoms will be lessened, if not abandoned,” Mr. Blackwell said, adding later, “I think that gun owners and Second Amendment rights advocates will have a choice on this.”

Mr. Strickland said his votes show he’s committed to gun rights. “I’m the guy who has the record,” he said, “and he’s the guy who doesn’t.”

Some pro-gun groups, such as Buckeye Firearms, are sitting out the race so far. Mr. Blackwell won the endorsement of Ohioans for Concealed Carry, in part because of Mr. Fisher’s presence on the Strickland ticket and in part because Mr. Blackwell returned a candidate survey that Mr. Strickland did not.

Still, said Jeff Garvas, the group’s president, “From our position, whoever gets elected, we’re going to have someone who’s good for our cause.”

That leaves gun-control advocates cold.

“What’s bothering us right now is that they all seem to be hiding under the cloak of being a hunter and being pro-gun,” said Toby Hoover, executive director of the Toledo-based Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence. “When you talk about crime control, you need to talk about guns.”

Contrast that to the Senate race, where Ms. Hoover said both Mr. DeWine and Mr. Brown have “excellent records.” Mr. DeWine won an endorsement this week from a leading gun-control group, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which has rated Mr. Brown highly in the past as well.

Mr. Brown and Mr. DeWine say they support the Second Amendment. Neither said he knew much about his opponent’s gun stances or how much the issue would affect the race.

Some pro-gun groups are angry with Mr. DeWine for voting against the bill to shield gun manufacturers from lawsuits. Mr. Irvine of Buckeye Firearms called Mr. DeWine “one of the few politicians who I can’t respect as a man” and said he wouldn’t vote for him.

Mr. DeWine said he did not expect voters to hold the issue against him. An Ohio State University Second Amendment scholar and history professor, Saul Cornell, said candidates must strike a simple balance on guns this fall.

“All the polling data shows that Americans believe that citizens should be able to own guns and that we need more robust and effective laws,” Mr. Cornell said in an e-mail. “Anyone who hits both themes will be fine.”

Contact Jim Tankersley at: jtankersley@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.

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