After one year, not too late to ‘Do something!’
How did “Do something!” get translated by state lawmakers to “do nothing”?
That’s the upshot of 12 months of legislative lethargy since nine people were killed in a few quick bursts of bullets from a high-capacity rifle on a summer weekend evening in Dayton’s downtown Oregon District.
Meanwhile, police in Ohio’s big cities are searching for solutions to escalating gun violence that, in Columbus, is even more troubling because a high prevalence of the victims are juveniles. Of 31 Columbus homicides in the last two months, police say 93% involved guns.
Two groups pushing for state law changes to try to reverse gun violence trends, Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, say more than 1,500 Ohioans have died due to gun violence in the year since the mass shooting in Dayton spurred public outrage and cries for action.
Looking back, it is almost incomprehensible that the 32 seconds it took for a 24-year-old gunman in a bulletproof vest to fire 41 shots in a crowded nightclub have been followed by more than 31,622,400 seconds in this leap year with still no legislative response in the books.
Even worse, the Republican controlled House and Senate have moved in the opposite direction, proposing to reduce restrictions on Ohio gun owners, such as to eliminate the requirement in self-defense claims that someone attempt to retreat before using deadly force.
We’re glad that the GOP legislators have been equally unable to pass ill-informed measures sought by the gun rights lobby as they have been uninterested in enacting regulations such as universal background checks, which polls have shown are supported by 90% of Ohioans.
Gov. Mike Dewine took pains before unveiling what he calls his STRONG Ohio legislative package to land on provisions that he believed could win legislative approval. But even his watered-down plan — lacking the background checks and “red flag” process for seizing guns from dangerous individuals that he had initially touted — has so far proven to be too high a hurdle.
That’s beyond disappointing, but maybe new revelations about what it takes to get legislators’ attention in the Ohio General Assembly help to explain why lawmakers have been reluctant to pass bills with such broad public support.
If campaign cash is the secret to legislative success, as the indictment of former Speaker Larry Householder and several lobbyists contends, it makes more sense that fundraising machines such as Ohio Gun Owners could stymie the reasoned advocacy of grassroots groups like Everytown and Moms Demand Action.
The gun lobby’s brash hold over legislators is apparent even when guns aren’t the issue, such as when well-armed protesters marched on the Statehouse in the spring to demonstrate against action taken by Dewine and Dr. Amy Acton, then-state health director, to try to safeguard Ohioans’ health with stay-at-home orders and shuttered schools and businesses.
We would like to see renewed hope for strengthened gun laws in the recent awakening of legislators that saw Householder booted from his leadership post in a unanimous decision and subsequently replaced by Rep. Bob Cupp, a Lima, Ohio, Republican who has served as an Ohio Supreme Court justice in a long career of respected public service.
Lawmakers who want to demonstrate they are not beholden to moneyed special interests could make a case for their enlightenment by finally enacting Senate Bill 221, as Dewine has asked. Doing something like that is a move in the right direction.
Ah, to be Jeff Bezos. Amazon's founder, the richest man to have ever walked the earth, is now personally worth more than such marquee names as Nike and Mcdonald's.
Bezos' net wealth also exceeds Starbucks, is greater than the market capitalization of 13 of the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average and eclipses "the vast majority of the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 companies," according to news reports.
How astonishing is it that one man can amass $180 billion in net wealth and significantly add to his fortune during a pandemic? Who would have thought that Fortune 500 companies would be rounding errors in Jeff Bezos' portfolio? Or that a hefty divorce agreement made his ex-wife a multi-, multi-, multibillionaire but did not send him clipping coupons for the grocery store?
To view Bezos as just an extremely wealthy man obscures an important part of a dynamic economy. Over time, economic disruption, either by pandemic or innovation, punishes old business ways and rewards newer ones. And while no one wished for a devastating pandemic that has businesses and workers in the Main Street economy struggling to adapt and survive, this also could be the opportunity for the government, individuals and businesses to rethink their tactics.
Bezos' success epitomizes the importance of entrepreneurism, the creative forces that develop the products and services that a radical new economic landscape demands. Meeting this challenge made Bezos wealthy, as it did Microsoft's Bill Gates and countless pioneers who found answers before the rest of us knew to ask the question.
Those breakthroughs created jobs and prosperity, and while it is legitimate to ask tough questions about market power, privacy and other issues, the answer isn't to hinder innovation with shortsighted legislation such as breaking up technology giants.
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Free-market principles that made these entrepreneurs rich and our nation successful must remain in our DNA.
Bezos' genius, for example, was to facilitate convenience at a time when brick-and-mortar stores dominated retailing. Bezos created an online logistics company that could deliver pretty much everything American consumers could think of buying, and a few things we didn't think we needed until an algorithm suggested it.
His insight vastly changed the shopping habits of tens of millions of consumers. When the coronavirus pandemic kept us home, the convenience of shopping at home — from food to masks — became a godsend.
When all of us finally step up and do what it takes to defeat the spread of the coronavirus, the world will not be the same as it was when 2020 started. Our response requires forward-thinking to create wealth, jobs and productivity. Our human capital — whether it is a tech lab or in the creative small businesses on Main Street — must be aided, protected and encouraged.
The road to the future must not U-turn to the past. Competitive advantages no longer exist in many industries, and business models face new market truths. The world is changing and requires new ideas and ways of doing business.
The opportunities for innovation that made Bezos and Gates billionaires and world changers must not become casualties of this crisis. The consumer tech sector directly and indirectly supports 18.2 million American jobs, provides $1.3 trillion in annual wages, contributes $503 billion in annual taxes and adds $2.3 trillion to the nation's economy or about 12% of U.S. GDP, according to a report last year by the Consumer Technology Association.
If we emerge from this pandemic intent on returning to old ways, then we will have missed a golden opportunity to build a more resilient society.
The Dallas Morning News
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