COLUMBUS, Ohio — It's been a year and a half since the state changed a law allowing people to conceal carry without a license. Since then, many cities, including Columbus, have tried to challenge the law and create their own regulations to lower gun violence.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said a change in the state’s concealed carry law is not why violent gun related crimes happen in Ohio cities.
The data comes from a study done by the Center for Justice Research.
"The numbers actually went down in six out of the eight major cities. They went down quite a bit,” said Yost.
The study looked at gun violence reported in the year before and after the law changed and the relationship between permitless carry and crime involving firearms.
Meanwhile, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein said the reason why numbers may be down is because of the people.
"Investing in people and making sure folks have a great opportunity to succeed... it's police getting guns off the street, it's prosecutors and judges making sure that people who use guns go away to jail for a long time,” said Klein.
He believes a big contributor to gun violence is eliminating what he calls “common sense” gun laws.
"I think it's the mindset of eliminating all of Ohio’s common sense gun laws over the past decade that has attributed to the rise of gun violence generally, “said Klein.
Both agree there needs to be a solution to ending gun violence.
"We need to get the people who are doing the gun crimes off the streets so that they don't do more of them,” said Yost.
The study showed a significant decrease in the number of crimes involving guns in Akron, Columbus and Toledo, and across all eight cities combined.