Gun proposals unveiled in Ohio
Plan leaves out background-check mandate, ‘red-flag’ bill
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s new proposals to address gun violence in the wake of the Dayton mass shooting don’t include mandatory background-check requirements for gun sales or so-called red-flag legislation to restrict firearms for people perceived as threats, despite his earlier support for those ideas.
Instead, the governor’s administration on Monday unveiled legislative proposals intended to increase and improve background checks on private sales and to expand an alternative method to ensure people don’t have firearms if the courts have deemed those people to be a danger.
Among other changes, the “STRONG Ohio” plan would increase penalties for anyone who provides a gun to someone who is legally prohibited from having one. The plan also would require that certain types of protection orders and arrest warrants be reflected in state and federal law enforcement databases to ensure more accurate background checks.
The plan also would expand the state’s “pink slip” system, which allows 72-hour involuntary commitments for people deemed to have severe mental health problems, The Columbus Dispatch reported Monday. The expanded system would allow for hospitalization of people who are dependent on drugs or alcohol, according to the newspaper.
DeWine said his team consulted with city leaders, lawmakers and many others and worked to produce proposals that he believes will get results, protect people’s rights — and be able to gain approval in the Republican-led Legislature.
“They do not infringe on Second Amendment rights for anyone who has a legal right to own a gun,” Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said of the proposals. “What the plan does is put dangerous people — criminals — on notice that if you’re a threat to yourself or others, you are not legally allowed to possess weapons, and we’re going to build a system to ensure that you don’t.”
Husted said the idea of red-flag legislation that still protected gun owners’ rights proved “inadequate and unworkable” because of the time required for due process and the danger that could pose for law enforcement officers, adding that removal of weapons doesn’t ensure people won’t harm themselves or others. Red-flag laws allow courts to temporarily seize guns from people believed to be a danger to themselves or others.
The plan was announced at a news conference that included the legislation’s sponsor, Republican state Sen. Matt Dolan, along with supportive statements from Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and from Whitney Austin, a gun owner seriously wounded in a Cincinnati shooting last year.
Whaley, a Democrat, recalled how a crowd chanted “Do something!” as she and DeWine attended a vigil after a shooter in Dayton killed nine people in August. The new proposals don’t do enough but are an “important start,” she said.
“This is the first time in my career that I have witnessed our state government seriously consider restrictions on access to guns instead of allowing more dangerous weapons in our communities,” Whaley said.
The top Democrat in the House, Rep. Emilia Strong Sykes, objected to the plan.
“When the people told the governor to do something, they didn’t mean to do just anything,” she said in a statement. “Ohioans want common sense gun safety. STRONG Ohio is weak.”