COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. DeWine was quick with a Mark Twain quote when questioned about the fate of the Strong Ohio gun violence bill.
“I think the report of its demise is a little premature,” DeWine said during a Thursday press conference. “We are having good conversations about a lot of things with the speaker, the senate president and other leaders. This is certainly still on my high list of items, and we’re going to continue to talk about a lot of different things.”
But the future of the bill as a whole looks bleak, even to the bill’s sponsor, State Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls.
“I’m frustrated that we can’t get more movement on Strong Ohio,” he said. “I think it’s been improperly labeled for political reasons as a gun control bill when, in fact, working with Gov. DeWine, we are just trying to stop gun violence in the state of Ohio. It’s frustrating, and if I were involved in the Dayton shooting or any other shooting across this state, I would be very frustrated with us.”
The announcement of the bill was a large production in October 2019. The governor stood flanked by state leaders and mayors, along with members of law enforcement and the medical community.
The goal was to address gun violence in Ohio in the wake of the Dayton mass shooting by building upon the state’s current pink slip laws and increase punishment for sellers who sell to known criminals.
Even then, there was still criticism that the bill did not go far enough to address the problem.
“I know this bill does not go far enough to end gun violence in our communities, but this is an important start,” Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said at the time. “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.”
The bill was then officially introduced and started making its way through the legislative process. But the last movement at all was a committee hearing on Dec. 3, 2019.
“It’s frustrating,” Sen Dolan said. “We could be moving more aggressively on this bill.”
Now there are just weeks left in the legislative session, so passing the bill in its current form is unlikely.
Instead it will likely be picked apart to focus on a few pieces that could get wide legislative support.
Sen. Dolan said there are two main pieces he plans to push – one, to make sure that when someone is deemed to have a ‘disability’, or reason for being prohibited to possess a weapon, that that information is immediately entered in to both state and national crime databases.
And two, expand the crimes with gun specification labels that would enhance penalties.
To make this happen, Sen. Dolan says the current bill could be stripped down to a few pieces to be passed with an amendment, or an amendment could be added to another bill. Failing that, Sen. Dolan says he will re-introduce the legislation next session.
“I believe we can get something done. I’m disappointed we can’t get more done, but I’m hopeful, I’m hopeful,” the senator said.