The day after a gunman killed nine people and injured 27 more, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine stood on the brick-lined streets of the Oregon District in Dayton and started to speak.
The former prosecutor turned Republican governor remarked on the crowd size and then a voice cried out: “Do something.”
The tightly packed crowd responded and the chants to “do something” grew louder and louder until they drowned out DeWine’s words.
The governor promised he would act, and indeed rolled out a comprehensive package within days. But as the one-year anniversary of that awful night approaches, Ohio’s GOP-controlled legislature hasn’t voted on a single piece of legislation.
Guns will be just as accessible to people experiencing mental health crises on Aug. 4, 2020 as they were on Aug. 4, 2019. No law has been passed to encourage or mandate background checks for the private sale of firearms. Punishments for certain violent crimes remain the same.
Gun rights groups such as the Buckeye Firearms Association have said that’s OK because even the governor’s plan, which Democrats criticized as watered down, would be “a deprivation of liberty and loss of fundamental rights.”
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Democrats say those groups wield too much power at the statehouse and no gun control bill will ever pass so long as Republicans – especially those in the Ohio House – are in control.
DeWine, a lifelong Republican, told The Dispatch on Friday that he believes a deal is still possible.
“We owe it to the victims. We owe to the families and to all Ohioans to finish the job and get this done,” DeWine said. “I am committed.”
More: Gov. DeWine wants to 'do something' on guns. But can he do anything?
STRONG Ohio
Two months after the Oregon District shooting, the governor rolled out legislation that would implement his plan. DeWine stood with Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, and Dayton’s Democratic Mayor Nan Whaley to introduce a bill called STRONG Ohio that would expand civil commitment or “pink slip” laws, increase the penalties for certain gun crimes and create a voluntary background check system for private firearm sales.
Republicans such as Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, supported the move and even introduced legislation going a step further, such as a bill that would raise the age to legally purchase a firearm to 21.
But others, such as Senate President Larry Obhof and former House Speaker Larry Householder, expressed their reservations.
For example, Obhof told reporters in November 2019 that lowering the threshold for prosecuting a person who sold a gun to someone who couldn’t legally own one from reckless to negligent was problematic because it could effectively make background checks mandatory.
“Our so-called leaders in the Ohio state legislature and the U.S. Senate have still failed to act,” said Shela Blanchard, a Moms Demand Action volunteer whose niece was killed in the shooting. “Sometimes I don’t understand why they can’t feel the pain we feel because if they did – just for 60 seconds – there wouldn’t be any gun safety bills dying on their desks while people continue to die in the streets.”
Dolan told The Dispatch he understands that frustration. He feels it, too.
“Nothing has changed to curb gun violence in Ohio,” he said. “I want to curb gun violence in Ohio. Accomplishing that in a legislative process takes time normally and with all the hiccups we’ve had (a global pandemic, removal of the House speaker) it’s going to take longer.”
His bill hasn’t had a hearing since December 2019.
Rep. Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, said Dolan’s lucky to have gotten that far.
Her “red flag” proposal – House Bill 316 – hasn’t gotten a single hearing since being introduced in August 2019.
“There is an informal rule for any legislation introduced before (May 2020) that you are guaranteed at least one hearing,” Russo said. “You will see in lame duck (session, held after the November election) the obligatory sponsor testimony, which just speaks to the lack of seriousness our Republican counterparts give to this issue.”
Sponsor testimony is the first hearing on a bill where only the lawmakers who introduced it get to speak. The committee doesn’t hear from supporters or opponents. These hearing often last less than 15 minutes.
“Obviously, after something so awful you hope that is the tipping point for real action,” Russo said. “I am extremely disappointed.”
Small steps
DeWine doesn’t need the legislature to make certain changes to the way Ohioans buy firearms, and the Yellow Springs native said that’s something he’s been exploring.
He plans to announce a pilot project in 10 counties – including Hamilton – to prevent people with outstanding warrants from buying firearms.
“We have a real problem with outstanding criminal warrants not getting into state and federal database,” DeWine said.
So, he’s adding a court official to these counties who automatically enters them. State lawmakers could pass a law to make it mandatory for all counties. Republican Reps. Phil Plummer and D.J. Swearingen introduced a bill to do so in October 2019.
The bill was met with resistance from gun rights groups because it tried to modify Ohio’s “pink slip” law.
Still, DeWine said even talking about the issue has helped.
“The number of warrants that are put in have gone up 900%,” he said.
Calling for a vote
Whaley told The Dispatch she’s thought a lot about how the past year has gone at the Statehouse.
“We are no longer in a two-party system,” she said. “We are in a three-party system, and the third party runs the House.”
The Dayton mayor has lost faith that any gun reform law will come out of Columbus.
“I think, in general, there is such a high distrust of government right now that unfortunately people expect the state legislature to do nothing,” Whaley said. “It’s really kind of sad that people think that’s where their government is. They don’t expect more. I think that’s what’s most depressing.”
Sen. Cecil Thomas, D-Cincinnati, agreed: “I think people need to give up hope that the legislators they voted for are going to do something.”
The former police officer says it’s time to ask Ohio voters what they think both in November when they elect new state lawmakers and on the ballot in 2021.
“I’m not interested in any more negotiations,” Thomas said. “Let’s just get it on the ballot because 90% of the people in Ohio (according to a Quinnipiac University poll) want universal background checks.”
150 days and counting
When the clock strikes midnight Dec. 31, Ohio’s two-year General Assembly will end and any bill not passed will have to start over from the beginning.
“If it does not pass, and I am successful in November, I will reintroduce it in January 2021," Dolan said.
And that may be exactly what happens.
The Ohio House isn’t scheduled to return for regular sessions until September, and newly elected House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, suggested it might be even longer.
“I think we should push to start up hearings on regular bills outside of the coronavirus because they are equally important,” Dolan said.
But he acknowledged there simply may not be enough time to move a complicated and politically charged bill across the finish line.
“We’re not satisfied,” DeWine said. “What is in this bill is still very good policy. It will save lives. We have written in a manner that is consistent with the Second Amendment.”
And the images of Ned Pepper’s bar are never far from his mind.
“I’m an old prosecutor, but I have never seen anything like it,“ DeWine said. ”The stillness of that Sunday morning. The quiet. The blood by the vendor’s cart. I will never forget.“
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