COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mayor Andrew Ginther was joined Tuesday by other community leaders to call on state lawmakers to pass new laws to help in the efforts to end gun violence.
“The Statehouse continues to move in the wrong direction. Stand your ground, now permit-less carry, putting our officers’ lives at risk more than ever before. More guns, less training, fewer permits are precisely what we do not need,” Ginther explained.
Ginther has allocated $250,000 for city prosecutors to work with the U.S. Attorney’s office to prosecute the most violent gun offenders.
Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein also called on judges to seriously consider bond for those suspects who use guns.
“We need our judges to step up when it comes to violent offenders and people have no regard for human life. It's happening too much in our community and we have to draw the line and put pressure on the judges to make a difference here,” Klein said.
So far this year, the Columbus Division of Police has recovered 1,500 guns.
Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant says a partnership with the ATF has also worked to trace guns faster, linking crimes to additional crimes and getting suspects behind bars.
10TV asked where suspects, especially teens get guns, Bryant responded, “That's a very good question, which is why we are tracking and why it's so important that we are a part of the correlation center.”
Chief Bryant says there was a long backlog to tracing guns. She says they can now run the tests and get results within just a couple of days-which helps investigators solve cases.
Earlier this year, Ginther declared gun violence a public health crisis and the city has considered invoking a state law that would treat it as a public nuisance.