With 33 days until the May 5 Republican primary, State Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) is ramping up his Second Amendment messaging on social media — changing his Facebook profile picture to an image of himself aiming a scoped rifle and publicly sparring with the leader of Ohio Gun Owners, whom he called a “fraud.”

The moves come as Click faces a sustained challenge from Republican primary opponent Eric Watson of Tiffin, who completed the Ohio Gun Owners candidate survey with what the organization says was a 100% pro-gun score. Click refused the survey in both 2024 and 2026. Ohio Gun Owners previously gave Click a C-minus rating.

Click updated his profile photo on both his official state representative Facebook page and his personal account on Thursday, replacing his previous headshot with a photo of himself in hunting gear, shouldering what appears to be a pump-action shotgun with a mounted scope.

Ohio Gun Owners targets Click in new video

The profile change came the same day Ohio Gun Owners posted a video to its Facebook page drawing a direct contrast between Click and Watson on gun issues ahead of the primary.

“In the Republican primary for House District 88, this race is pretty simple,” Ohio Gun Owners Executive Director Chris Dorr said in the video. “Eric Watson filled out the Ohio Gun Owners survey 100% pro-gun. He didn’t dodge any of the questions. He didn’t hesitate.”

Dorr said Click refused the organization’s survey in both 2024 and this year, declined to co-sponsor the Ohio Freedom to Carry Act, the Ohio Self-Defense Act, and the Ohio Second Amendment Protection Act.

“In December of 2024, Gary Click broke rank with the majority of House Republicans, joined the Democrats, and voted no on the Second Amendment Protection Act,” Dorr said in the video.

In December 2024, the Ohio House voted 56-35 to table an amendment that would have folded the Second Amendment Preservation Act, or SAPA, into a separate gun-related bill. Multiple Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing the measure. Law enforcement groups, including the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association and the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, had opposed SAPA throughout its legislative journey, arguing that its $50,000 civil penalties for enforcing federal gun regulations would effectively prevent local agencies from participating in federal task forces and joint investigations.

Click fires back: ‘Chris Dorr is a fraud’

Click responded to the video with a lengthy Facebook post calling Dorr a “fraud” and accusing the Ohio Gun Owners leader of altering his survey responses, using profanity toward local law enforcement, and harassing female legislators at the Statehouse.

“I completed his surveys once and he literally changed my answers,” Click wrote. “Why would I ever complete it again?”

Click said Dorr called Seneca County Sheriff Fred Stevens and former Sheriff Christopher Hilton “‘F’ing idiots’ because they asked for amendments to his bill which would defund the police by preventing Seneca County Sheriff’s Office from housing illegal aliens, partnering with a federal drug task force and using NIBIN,” referring to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives database that links ballistic evidence across jurisdictions. Click misspelled the acronym as “NIBEN” in his post.

“I value my local law enforcement’s opinion,” Click wrote. “All Chris had to do is amend the bill. He refused to at the time.”

Click said the latest version of SAPA includes amendments he pushed for, which he said Dorr now refers to as “the Click amendments.” Click said he told Dorr he would vote for the bill with those changes included but refused to fill out the organization’s survey because he does not trust Dorr.

Click also accused Dorr of stalking female legislators in a Statehouse parking garage to lobby them about SAPA.

“He stalked female legislators in the parking garage harassing them about his bill,” Click wrote. “That is creepy.”

Click linked to a 2019 Buckeye Firearms Association article that cited a Cleveland.com investigation raising questions about the Dorr family’s fundraising practices. Click said he is endorsed by the Buckeye Firearms Association.

“I trust our local law enforcement more than a guy from PA with a bad reputation,” Click wrote.

TiffinOhio.net was unable to independently verify Click’s claims that Dorr altered his survey answers, used profanity toward Seneca County sheriffs, or harassed female legislators in a parking garage. Those allegations are sourced solely to Click’s Facebook post.

Dorr responds: ‘You’re a liar’

Dorr responded in the comments section of Click’s post.

“You’re a liar, Gary,” Dorr wrote. “And I’ll deal with your total bull tomorrow.”

As of publication, Dorr had not posted a detailed response to Click’s specific allegations.

The Dorr brothers’ track record

The feud between Click and Ohio Gun Owners reflects a broader pattern of friction between the Dorr family’s network of state-level gun organizations and Republican legislators across the country. Chris Dorr moved to Ohio in 2016 to start Ohio Gun Owners. He and his brothers Aaron, Ben, and Matt operate affiliated gun rights groups in more than a dozen states.

Investigations by The Trace and The Daily Beast, Cleveland.com, and NPR have documented allegations that the Dorr network functions primarily as a fundraising operation, with the organizations funneling donor money through a family-owned for-profit consulting firm called Midwest Freedom Enterprises. The Dorrs’ affiliated groups collectively spent more than $1.9 million on direct mail and related costs between 2014 and 2018, according to tax filings reviewed by The Trace, with much of that money going back to the family business. The Buckeye Firearms Association has called Ohio Gun Owners a “false flag group.”

In 2019, then-Gov. Mike DeWine referred Dorr to state police after Dorr said there would be “political bodies laying all over the ground” if lawmakers pursued gun restrictions following the Dayton mass shooting. The investigation was closed without criminal charges.

The Dorrs’ lobbying tactics have drawn bipartisan criticism from state legislators in Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, and elsewhere. Iowa state Sen. Jason Schultz pulled a constitutional carry bill from consideration in 2019 after Dorr attacked the very committee leaders whose support was needed to pass it.

Dorr has also claimed legislative victories. Ohio Gun Owners was involved in the push for constitutional carry legislation that DeWine signed in 2022, and Dorr’s metadata appeared as the author of testimony two Republican lawmakers used to introduce a permitless carry bill in 2021, according to reporting by WKYC.

Primary context

Click is seeking what would be his final consecutive term in the Ohio House due to term limits. He faces Watson in the May 5 Republican primary. Democrat Aaron Jones of Tiffin is running in the general election.

Watson completed the Ohio Gun Owners candidate survey and has made Second Amendment issues a central part of his campaign platform, including support for SAPA and the Ohio Freedom to Carry Act. At a Sandusky County Republican Women’s forum in March, Watson drew loud applause when he challenged Click on his gun ratings and legislative record.

Click has pointed to his endorsement from the Buckeye Firearms Association as evidence of his Second Amendment record. The two gun organizations — Buckeye Firearms Association and Ohio Gun Owners — have been publicly at odds for nearly a decade over strategy, tactics, and fundraising practices.