New attention drawn to gun legislation at Ohio Statehouse following shooting

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Lawmakers at the Ohio Statehouse have introduced several pieces of gun-related legislation over the past year and a half, ranging in approaches. Now, on the heels of a mass shooting over the weekend in Columbus, the issue is gaining more attention.

“It's the leading cause of death for children and teens in Ohio,” Rep. Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson) said. “So, this is a serious problem. Clearly, it's not getting better.”

“It’s a tragedy anytime you see these type of mass shootings in our communities,” Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania) said “There is more that we can do here in the state of Ohio to make sure that we keep guns out of the hands of people that plan on doing these type of mass crimes, mass shootings and people that are not lawfully gun owners.”

The gun-related legislation that's been proposed at the statehouse includes some that are garnering more pushback, like House Bill 51, which would make federal gun laws that contradict with Ohio laws unenforceable in the state. Or House Bill 433, which would limit mass causality weapons in Ohio. 

Others like House Bill 522, which would increase penalties for repeat violent offenders, have more support. 

“When we're talking about gun legislation, I don't look at it as a partisan issue,” Williams said. “I look at it as both a safety issue, a constitutional rights issue.”

“I’m always open to discussing any avenue that we think can keep Ohioans safer and balancing all of our constitutional rights, not just the Second Amendment, but the First Amendment, to freely move around and live in a free and safe community and state,” Weinstein said.

H.B. 522 has yet to have its first hearing. Williams said the legislature should also look at doing things like impact training for children about firearms and increasing penalties for juveniles.

“So, we have multiple opportunities to change the behavior of these young people before it gets to the point of them being kind of out of control,” Williams said. “We need to be able to utilize those opportunities when they're juveniles and young adults to be able to kind of reform their way of thinking and lead them away from criminality.”

Legislation like House Bill 186 – which would exempt firearm safety devices, like gun locks, from sales tax – also has bipartisan support,  but has not had a hearing since October. 

“Incredibly frustrating,” Weinstein said. “These kinds of mass shooting incidents are happening so frequently that I'm afraid people get numb to it, and they get cynical, understandably so, because our government has done nothing substantively to fix the problem.”

But with the enactment of laws to do things like allow firearms in schools, allow permitless carry and “stand your ground" over the past few years, Weinstein said he thinks the Republican-led Ohio legislature has been moving the state in the wrong direction.

“Those are the kinds of bills that we've been passing,” Weinstein said. “So it doesn't surprise me that they don't want to take common sense gun safety steps that might actually reduce the number of deaths that are facing Ohioans every five hours.”

“Someone would have to show me some real statistics that show that we've had an increase in violence directly related to those bills,” Williams said. “Then they can have my ear on those issues.”

Weinstein said he would like to see bills that do things like ensure universal background checks pass the statehouse. 

“We just can't seem to get any Republican support on these bills," Weinstein said. "In the meantime, people are dying. Some folks say, 'Well, there's still people that are going to break the law.' Laws are about trying to get as many people as possible to adhere to them so that we reduce the number of violations of the law.”

Williams said most gun sales in Ohio already have a background check requirement and said he does not think that is where the issue lies.

“I would love to see the statistics on guns used in gun crimes that were purchased through a type of peer-to-peer type sale at these gun shows,” he said. “That's not the driving cause of gun crimes in our community. What it is, is that our penalties are very low.”

Williams said he is also looking for the passage of legislation like House Bill 460, to help decrease recidivism rates. 

“People have that tag of being a felon, making it harder for them to get a job, harder for them to get housing, and that can lead to them going back into criminal activity,” Williams said.

And despite the back and forth between each side of the aisle, lawmakers are frustrated by inaction. 

“We're moving bills like trying to force Apple to give the same color to text messages from Android users. Like that's the priority that we have in Ohio? Like, there's other bills that are important to Ohioans that need to move forward,” Williams said. “I hope, I pray that we can get bills that increase penalties and provide some good deterrent towards these type of criminal offenses in our community and at the same time protect the constitutional rights.”

“Someone is killed by a gun, whether self-inflicted or not, every five hours in Ohio, that's 1,600 gun deaths a year,” Weinstein said. “We have to do something about this. And unfortunately, we will keep having incidents, mass shooting incidents across the state and more people will lose their lives until we take action.” 

State lawmakers are meeting for their final session of the summer this week. They likely will not be back in session until November, so anything that does not move forward or pass on Wednesday will have to wait those four months.