COLUMBUS, Ohio — State Representative Willis Blackshear Jr. (D - Dayton) testified Tuesday in the first committee hearing for his bill to ban mass casualty weapons.
"The inception of the idea of this bill comes from a tragic event that is personal to me and those in my district," Blackshear told members of the House Government Oversight Committee.
Blackshear was referring to the 2019 shooting in Dayton's Oregon District that left nine dead and many wounded.
"The shooter had a 100-round magazine, and he did a lot of damage to those that were in that area," Blackshear told 10TV in an interview after the hearing.
House Bill 433 defines mass casualty weapons as any semiautomatic firearm designed or specially adapted to fire more than 31 cartridges without reloading.
"There's no reason why someone should have a 100-round magazine," Blackshear said. "There's no reason."
Eric Delbert owns L.E.P.D. Firearms and Range in Columbus. He has concerns about the bill.
"The first take on it was it appeared to effectively ban almost all the guns in our store," Delbert said.
That's because of the wording in the bill that says any semi-automatic firearm designed to fire more than 31 cartridges. With a small semi-automatic handgun that typically comes with a six or seven-round magazine, he demonstrated that it can also accept a magazine with more than 31 rounds.
Rep. Blackshear says the bill does not ban the guns, but the combination of the gun with the magazine that can fire more than 31 rounds.
"Let me be clear, we are not trying to take away nobody's gun," Blackshear said. "We're trying to make sure that we have restrictions in place just to make sure that we have responsible gun owners."
Delbert feels the bill is an infringement, intentional or not, on Second Amendment rights.
"If there is merit whatsoever in this, it's going to apply to the law-abiding people and have no effect on the criminal element," Delbert said.
Blackshear says he understands the bill faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled legislature. He just hopes there will be more hearings for people to tell lawmakers how they feel about the bill one way or the other.